SEDIMENTARY ORIGIN AND PROVENANCE OF THE MUDDY DEPOSITION IN THE CENTRAL SOUTH YELLOW SEA

This paper summarizes the study status of sedimentology for the muddy sediments in the central South Yellow Sea.The key issues of the study are the sedimentary processes,dynamics mechanism and the provenance of the sediments.Though the sedimentary processes and the sources of the muddy sediments have been well studied,most researches focused on the Chinese rivers-derived sediments using qualitative methods,and few research involved in the fluvial discharges from the Korean Peninsula.Moreover,the sediments resulting from the erosion of bedrock by sea water and from the reworking and resuspending of seafloor sediments caused by the Yellow Sea Warm Current also contribute to the muddy sediments.Many researches have reported the influence of the Yellow Sea Cold Water and the upwelling currents in the sea on the formation of the muddy sediments.Presently the source study of the muddy sediments is concentrated mainly on sediment grain sizes,detrital and clay minerals,and element chemistry.