Sedimentary records off the modern Huanghe (Yellow River) delta and their response to deltaic river channel shifts over the last 200 years

Abstract

The modern Huanghe (Yellow River) delta sedimentary complex has developed since 1855, when the lower river channel migrated northward from the Yellow Sea to the Bohai Sea. As a result, the river-laden sediment accumulated rapidly on the lowlying plain and formed the mega-delta. Here we present high-resolution sedimentary sequences based on 137Cs and 210Pb dating and grain-size parameters of two sediment gravity cores collected near the present river mouth (core A11) and in adjacent Laizhou Bay (core A26). Based on these sedimentary sequences, the different responses of the sediment records to natural and artificial channel shifts are presented. The average sedimentation rates of the two cores A11 (1951–2006) and A26 (1808–2006) were estimated to be 2.25cm/year and 0.80cm/year, respectively. The results indicated that the geometry of the delta (e.g. the location of river mouth and changing coastline) and sediment supply from the river played an important role in the sedimentation of the subaqueous delta. The channel shifts in 1976 and 1996 shortened the distances from the river mouth to the location of core A11, resulting in the local accumulations of relatively coarse particles from the river mouth. The sedimentation of core A26 indicated four major channel shifts in 1855, 1904, 1947 and 1976. When the river mouth approached the core location, the accumulated sediment became finer; otherwise, the active resuspension due to strong hydrodynamics resulted in the accumulation of coarser sediment. The sediment records preserved in the two gravity cores illustrated different sedimentary responses to the lower channel shifts of the Huanghe and sediment supply from the river at centennial scales, which is critical to understanding the evolution of the modern Huanghe Delta in the past and to predicting the future trend.