Sediment supply to the continental shelf by the major rivers of China

Abstract

The Yalu, Luan, the Yellow, Changjiang and Pearl Rivers, discharge 90% of China’s total annual input of 20.14 × 10 8 t of sediment to the sea. This huge volume of sediment is deposited in the river mouths and in the vicinity of the inner shelves in the form of deltas or submarine sandy ridges depending upon the dominant processes or dynamics of the area. Even though the continental shelves of the China Seas were coastal plains during the Late Pleistocene, modern river sediments rarely extend to the outer shelves except in response to changes in sea level.