Distribution of the Carbonate Clast Size and the Provenance Analyses of the Surface Sediments in the Northern East China Sea

Abstract

Surface sediments taken from the Northern East China Sea , the Yellow River and the Yangtze River were divided into many sub-sections with an interval of 1/4Ф or 1/2Ф by means of sieving method. Then, the content of carbonatse in each sub-section was analyzed. It indicates that: ① for the samples from the East China, the content of carbonatse is between 10% to 16%; carbonate clast is rich in the coarse section; the distribution of the carbonate clast appear dispersal with poly-mode; ② for the samples from the Yellow River, the content of carbonatse is a bit high; the carbonate clasts are mainly stored and accumulated in the fine-section (of which grain-size smaller than 0.045mm); ③ for the samples from Yangtze River, carbonate content is apparently lower than that in the samples from the Yellow River; the content of carbonatse in each sub-fraction is similar apart from some increases occurring in the coarse fraction because of the mixing of biogenic clast. The carbonate content, distribution and accumulation pattern of the sediments from the muddy center suggest that the sediments in this area be the mixing one of the Yellow River matter, Yangtze River matter and re-worked suspended matter adjacent to the mud area.