Seasonal Accumulation Pattern and Preservation Potential of Tidal-flat Sediments: Gomso Bay, West Coast of Korea

Seasonal changes of topography, sediment grain size and accumulation rate in the Gomso-Bay tidal flat, west coast of Korea, have been studied in order to understand the seasonal accumulation pattern and preservation potential of the tidal-flat sediments. Seasonal levelings across the tidal flat show that the landward movement of both intertidal sand shoals and cheniers accelerates during the winter and typhoon periods, but it almost stops in summer when mud deposition is instead predominant at the middle and upper tidal flats. Seasonal variations of mean grain size were largest on the upper part of middle tidal flat where summer mud layers were eroded during the winter and typhoon periods. Measurements of accumulation depths from sea floor to basal plate reveal that accumulation rates were seasonally controlled according to the elevation of tidal-flat surface. The upper tidal flat where the accumulation rate of summer was generally higher than that of winter was characterized by a continuous deposition throughout the entire year, whereas in the middle tidal flat, sediment accumulations were concentrated in winter relative to summer and were intermittently eroded by typhoons. The lower tidal flat were deposited mostly in winter and eroded during summer typhoons. Can cores taken across the tidal flat reveal that sand-mud interlayers resulting from such seasonal changes of energy regime are preserved only in the upper part of the deposits and generally replaced by storm layers downcore. Based on above results, it is suggested that the storm deposits by winter storms and typhoons would consist of the major part of the Gomso-Bay sediments.