A review of sediment provenance methods applied to the fluvial sediments in the East Sea based on clay mineralogy and Sr-Nd isotope

Abstract

Studying sediment provenance in the marine environment particularly plays an important role in interpretation of paleoclimate, lithology of the source regions as well as tectonism controlling weathering, erosion, transportation, and deposition processes (source-to-sink analysis). However, defining sediment sources and controlling elements require quantitative data and micro-analysis as they are influenced significantly by many factors such as lithology, tectonics, and climate condition in the source regions as well as sea-level changes, oceanic circulation, and their differential setting in the sea. A number of methods are employed to elucidate sediment provenance, but not all of them are useful in the East Sea. In this study, clay mineralogy and Sr-Nd isotope of sediment cores and surrounding river sediments in this region from previous studies are reused to evaluate their effectiveness in determining sediment provenance. In comparison between sediment cores and river sediments indicates that clay mineral assemblages and Sr-Nd isotopic composition of river sediments frequently contain feature information of the source regions that are preserved in marine sediments well, implying they contain valuable information of sediment provenance. Thus, these methods have been widely utilized to identify sediment provenance in the East Sea. This study displays that sediment provenance methods based on clay mineralogy and Sr-Nd isotope are effective tools in elucidating sediment provenance in the East Sea.