Development of stratigraphy and sediment distribution in the northeastern Yellow Sea during Holocene sea-level rise

Abstract

A succession of Holocene deposits in the northeastern Yellow Sea were interpreted in a sequence-stratigraphic context, and sedimentology of each deposit was characterized, based on analyses of high-resolution seismic profiles and sediment cores taken along a transect. Thin (similar to 3 m) transgressive sediments that accumulated through shoreface erosion during the rapid sea-level rise in the early Holocene overlie a subaerially eroded, low-gradient, late Pleistocene platform on the present day inner shelf region. Cores reveal marine sands over tidal/estuarine sandy muds with an intervening, rather indistinct ravinement surface. In the deepest shelf area, these early Holocene tidal/ estuarine deposits remain exposed at the seabottom, In the mid to late Holocene, two contrasting deposits of the highstand type (deltaic clayey mud and tidal sand ridges) began to accumulate in response to slower rates of sea-level rise. A series of tidal sand ridges in the nearshore area migrated offshore over the transgressive sand sheet, and a deltaic watery mud prograded discordantly over consolidated tidal/estuarine deposits in the central shelf. The transgressive facies relationships present a model for macrotidal, epicontinental sea settings subject to low wave energy and reduced sediment supply.