Composition and provenance of heavy minerals in surface sediments in the southwestern Bohai Strait

The Bohai Strait is the channel connecting the Bohai Sea to the Yellow Sea for material and energy exchange, which has complex topographical conditions and abundant sediment types. It is one of the hotspots to study the marine dynamic systems. Thirty-two surface sediments collected in 2021 from the southwestern Bohai Strait were analyzed on the heavy minerals in terms of their composition, distribution, and provenance. Results show that the mineral assemblages were characterized by hornblende-epidote-biotite-orthite and they were from three mineral assemblages/provinces: the Miaodao Islands (I) has a hornblende-epidote-ilmenite-garnet assemblage derived mainly from the scours of the Miaodao Islands, the Central Zone (II) has a hornblende-epidote-biotite assemblage largely attributed to the Yellow River materials, and the Western Zone (III) has a hornblende-epidote-biotite-orthite assemblage that is a mixture of the Yellow River sediments and scours from the Shandong Peninsula and Miaodao Islands. Materials from different sources were transported and deposited under overall marine forces, which eventually resulted in the differences in mineral assemblages of the area.