Assessment for the Coastal Sedimentary Environment in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) Region, China by Using 14C Dating

Abstract

Since late Quaternary, the intense change of coastal sedimentary environment in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region has resulted in accumulating the thick sedimentary layers with the different causes and properties which were influenced by the fluctuation of sea levels, the change of ancient climate and human activities. Based on the interpretation of high resolution of these sediments, such as the period, sedimentary facies and discontinuous faces, we can infer the evolution of the ancient climate of regional Quaternary environment in the background of global change to know more details about the formation of the PRD. Taking the Xilin Hill fault as the example, we explained the reason of the PRD formation, inferred its interactions with local/regional climate and sea-level changes, and analyzed the evolution of the PRD formation and its controlling factors of the coastal sedimentary environment by using 14C dating technology. It is noted that the neo-tectonic movement and the fault activities played a critical role in controlling coastal geological environment. This is helpful to further investigate the evolution of the PRD coastal sedimentary environment, the history of inversion region, and the sedimentary facies model of the interaction between land and sea. More investigations will be conducted in the near future.