Based upon analyses of grain-size, rare earth element (REE) compositions, elemental occurrence phases of REE, and U-series isotopic dating, the sediment characteristics and material sources of the study area were examined for the recently formed deep-sea clays in the eastern Philippine Sea. The analytical results are summarized as follows. (1) Low accumulation rate, poor sorting and roundness, and high contents of grains coarser than fine silt indicate relatively low sediment input, with localized material source without long distance transport. (2) The REE Contents are relatively high. Shale-normalized patterns of REE indicate weak enrichment in heavy REE (HREE), Ce-passive anomaly, and Eu-positive anomaly. (3) Elemental occurrence phases of REE between the sediments with and without crust are similar. REE mainly concentrate in residual phase and then in ferromanganese oxide phase. The light REE (LREE) enrichment, Ce-positive anomaly, and Eu-positive anomaly occur in re- sidual phase. Ferromanganese oxide phase shows the characteristics of relatively high HREE content and Ce-passive anomaly. (4) There are differences in each above mentioned aspect between the sedi- ments with and without ferromanganese crust. (5) Synthesizing the above characteristics and source discriminant analysis, the study sediments are deduced to mainly result from the alteration of local and nearby volcanic materials. Continental materials transported by wind and/or river (ocean) flows also have minor contributions.
Sediment samples were collected from the lower channel of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River and the contents of rare earth elements (REEs) were measured. In addition, some historical REEs data were collected from published literatures. Based on the δEuN-ΣREEs plot, a clear boundary was found be-tween the sediments from the two rivers. The boundary can be described as an orthogonal polynomial equation by ordinary linear regression with sediments from the Yangtze River located above the curve and sediments from the Yellow River located below the curve. To validate this method, the REEs con-tents of sediments collected from the estuaries of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River were meas-ured. In addition, the REEs data of sediment Core 255 from the Yangtze River and Core YA01 from the Yellow River were collected. Results show that the samples from the Yangtze River estuary and Core 255 almost are above the curve and most samples from the Yellow River estuary and Core YA01 are below the curve in the δEuN-ΣREEs plot. The plot and the regression equation can be used to distin-guish sediments from the Yangtze River and the Yellow River intuitively and quantitatively, and to trace the sediment provenance of the eastern seas of China. The difference between the sediments from two rivers in the δEuN-ΣREEs plot is caused by different mineral compositions and regional climate patterns of the source areas. The relationship between δEuN and ΣREEs is changed little during the transport from the source area to the river, and from river to the sea. Thus the original information on mineral compositions and climate of the source area was preserved.
From systemic research of microstructure, geochemistry, uranium-series and 10Be isotope dating on a new-type deepwater ferromanganese crust from the East Philippine Sea, the paleoenvironment evolu-tion of the target area since the terminal Late Miocene was recovered. The vertical section changes of microstructure and chemical composition are consistent in the studied crust, which indicate three major accretion periods and corresponding paleoenvironment evolution of the crust. The bottom crust zone was formed in the terminal Late Miocene (5.6 Ma) with loose microstructure, high detritus content and high growth rate. Reductions of mineral element content, accretion rate and positive Ce-anomaly degree at 4.6 Ma indicate temporal warming, which went against the crust accretion and finally formed an accretion gap in the terminal Middle Pliocene (2.8―2.7 Ma). The more active Antarctic bottom sea-waters in the Late Pliocene (2.7 Ma) facilitated the fast transfer to the top pure crust zone. Hereafter, with the further apart of volcanic source and the keeping increase of eolian material (1.0 Ma), although surrounding conditions were still favorable, mineral element content still shows an obvious reducing trend. It thereby offers new carrier and data for the unclear paleoceanographic research of the target area since the terminal Late Miocene.
XU ZhaoKaiLI AnChunJIANG FuQingLI TieGangMENG QingYongJIN Ning
