A preliminary study on sediment records of possible typhoon in the northern South China Sea during the past 6500 years

Abstract

Typhoon is an important meteorological phenomenon that affects the living and development of human beings on the southern China coast. However, there is still lack of clarity in the paleo-typhoon history and its influence on the evolution of the ancient human settlement environment since the mid-Holocene. Here, we identify six typhoon-like deposits from a core retrieved from the northern South China Sea shelf, close to the Pearl River Estuary, based on accelerated mass spectrometry 14C dating, grain size, and geochemistry. The sand fractions, CaO, Sr, SiO2/TiO2, and SiO2/Al2O3 were used to indicate the typhoon-like deposits. Results show that the ages with high-frequency typhoons are present ~200–300 cal yr BP, ~800–1000 cal yr BP, ~1500–1700 cal yr BP, ~2000–2100 cal yr BP, ~2400–2500 cal yr BP, and ~2700–3000 cal yr BP. Our results are comparable to the records from adjacent regions. Significantly, the vast tides occurred in the duration of ~2700–3000 cal yr BP in southern China, which probably caused the ancestors’ migration to the inland. Further studies are needed to deeply study the paleo-typhoon history in the southern China coast to verify our results.