Rare earth elements in bottom sediments of major rivers around the Yellow Sea: implications for sediment provenance |
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| Authors: | Zhaokai Xu Dhongil Lim Jinyong Choi Shouye Yang Hoisoo Jung |
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| Institution: | (1) Department of Oceanography, Kunsan National University, Kunsan, 573-701, Korea;(2) Key Laboratory of Marine Geology and Environment, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266071, China;(3) South Sea Research Institute, Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute, 391 Jangmok-ri Jangmok-myun, Geoje, 656-830, Korea;(4) Laboratory of Marine Geology, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China;(5) Marine Geoenvironment and Resources Research Division, Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute, Ansan, P.O. Box 29, Seoul, 425-600, Korea; |
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| Abstract: | Rare earth elements (REEs) of 91 fine-grained bottom sediment samples from five major rivers in Korea (the Han, Keum, and
Yeongsan) and China (the Changjiang and Huanghe) were studied to investigate their potential as source indicator for Yellow
Sea shelf sediments, this being the first synthetic report on REE trends for bottom sediments of these rivers. The results
show distinct differences in REE contents and their upper continental crust (UCC)-normalized patterns: compared to heavy rare
earth elements (HREEs), light rare earth elements (LREEs) are highly enriched in Korean river sediments, in contrast to Chinese
river sediments that have a characteristic positive Eu anomaly. This phenomenon is observed also in primary source rocks within
the river catchments. This suggests that source rock composition is the primary control on the REE signatures of these river
sediments, due largely to variations in the levels of chlorite and monazite, which are more abundant in Korean bottom river
sediments. Systematic variations in ΣLREE/ΣHREE ratios, and in (La/Yb)–(Gd/Yb)UCC but also (La/Lu)–(La/Y)UCC and (La/Y)–(Gd/Lu)UCC relations have the greatest discriminatory power. These findings are consistent with, but considerably expand on the limited
datasets available to date for suspended sediments. Evidently, the REE fingerprints of these river sediments can serve as
a useful diagnostic tool for tracing the provenance of sediments in the Yellow Sea, and for reconstructing their dispersal
patterns and the circulation system of the modern shelf, as well as the paleoenvironmental record of this and adjoining marginal
seas. |
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