14 - Yellow Sea

Abstract

In the Yellow Sea, the Holocene transgression commenced in the topographic lows and subjected to strong tidal currents. Tidal sand ridges and relict sands are reflective of landward retreats of the shoreface. The sheetlike mud wedge in the central Yellow Sea represents deposition of suspended mud derived from the Huanghe River. The Heuksan mud belt originated from the Geum River, controlled by tidal and thermohaline fronts. Due to low sediment input from the hinterland, most tidal flats have formed a retrogradational, coarsening-upward succession during sea-level rise in the Holocene. Tidal flats of the open-coasts are largely composed of sands and exposed to significant wave action, despite the existence of a large tidal range. An integrated sea-level curve of the Korean coast shows a relatively rapid rise, up to −5m about 7ka, followed by a gradual rise to the present level from about 3ka without discernable fluctuations.