Different dynamics and routes of modern pollen transport in the northern and southern parts of the South China Sea

Abstract

The pollen distribution patterns of surface marine sediments indicated that the mechanisms of pollen transportation, the routes of pollen dispersal and their source areas are distinctively different between the northern and southern parts of the South China Sea. The maximum loadings of most palynomorphs which usually adapted to wind transport and flotation (e.g. pine pollen and spores) occur in the northern part, adjacent to the convergence of the Taiwan Strait and Bashi Strait rather than the estuaries of big rivers, suggesting that the transport of N-E winter monsoon and monsoon-forced current is primarily responsible for pollen distribution in this area. The pollen source area should be quite large, including probably not only the south of mainland and adjacent islands but also the southeastern part of China. There is another group of pollen, smaller and denser such asQuercus and tropical-subtropical forms, which is clustered close to the continent and islands. Such a pattern is a result of fluvial transport and the pollen might come from the adjacent areas. In the southern part, however, the pollen concentrations are much lower, and decrease with distance from the shore or the depth of water, implying the effects of fluvial and offshore current transport and also the relatively local pollen source area, e.g. Borneo