Provenance tracking of macroelements in surface sediments from the Yalu River estuary, China

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe sources of macroelements SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3, K2O, Na2O CaO, Fe2O3, TiO2, MgO, P2O5, and MnO can be traced using provenance discrimination functions and by analyzing background values, coefficient of variations, and enrichment factors as well as performing Q and R cluster analyses. In this study, the surface sediments in shallow sea adjacent to the Yalu River estuary were determined to be the “sources” of macroelements rather than the “sinks”. The sediments obtained from the downstream regions of the Yalu River and East Branch were comprised of not only materials transported from the Yalu River to the sea, but also materials transported from adjacent shallow sea toward the land. The sediments obtained from the West Branch were influenced by “re-suspension” as well as modern fluvial transport. The “re-suspended” sediments primarily resembled the characteristics of sediments from the West Branch, which acted as the main channel before 1941. The sediments collected from the Northern Yellow Sea coast predominantly consisted of sediments from the Ai River and Dayang Rivers, followed by “re-suspended” sediments and sediments from the shallow sea.