Composition of minerals in surface sediments of the Yellow Sea and their provenance

Based on the grain size, clay mineral and detrital mineral data of 66 surface sediment samples collected from the Yellow Sea, this paper is devoted to the grain size distribution and mineral composition characteristics of the samples with a detailed discussion on sediment provenance. The results suggest that the average grain size of surface sediments in the Yellow Sea is around 5.2Φ, with poor sorting. Clay minerals are characterized by the assemblage of illite-kaolinite-smectite-chlorite. Illite dominates and smectite is the lowest. The distribution of detrital minerals shows a similar pattern as the mean grain size. The light minerals mainly consist of quartz and feldspar. Heavy minerals mainly occur in the southern part of the Yellow Sea, dominated by hornblende and epidote. Study of material sources suggest that the sediments in the northeastern Yellow Sea are mainly from the Yalu River, while the provenance of the northern part is the modern Yellow River. In the western South Yellow Sea, sediments are mainly from the modern Yellow River either transported by coastal currents, or resuspended from the abandoned Yellow River delta in the northern Jiangsu Province. In the central South Yellow Sea, sediments are mainly from the Yellow River, followed by some supplement of sediments from the Yangtze River.