Paleoenvironmental changes and depositional history of the Korea (Tsushima) Strait since the LGM

Abstract

Two deep cores (SSDP 102 and SSDP 105) from the southeastern inner shelves of Korea were examined in order to reconstruct the paleoenvironmental history of the Korea Strait during postglacial sea-level fluctuations. The results of the lithofaces, organic geochemical components, foraminiferal assemblages, and stable isotopes show that the Korea Strait was influenced in different ways by river discharges and open-ocean currents, according to their temporal and spatial variability. The results of core SSDP 105 indicate that the southeastern coast of Korea was probably a shallow coastal environment, such as a shoreface or beach, by about 17.5 cal ka. The area remained a coastal environment that was affected by high energy conditions and partly by freshwater input during the transgressive period of 17.5–8.1 cal ka. The area has changed to a modern-type shelf environment influenced by the inflow of the Tsushima Current and by the high supply of fine-grained sediments derived from the Nakdong River since 8.1 cal ka. Meanwhile, the results of core SSDP 102 taken from the Nakdong River mouth reveal that the river mouth area was most likely a terrestrial or fluvial environment at least before 13.9 cal ka. It then changed to the estuarine (deltaic) environment that was directly affected by the Nakdong River between 13.9 and 7.0 cal ka, and established a modern-type shelf (prodeltaic) environment, which is similar in many respects to the southeastern coast of Korea after temporarily undergoing erosion between 7.0 and 6.1 cal ka.