Rare earth elements(REE) compositions and discriminant function were successfully used to examine high resolution sediment source changes in the northern Okinawa Trough over the last 24.1 ka,especially for the influence from the Yellow River and the Tsushima Warm Current(TWC) that has not been well solved.Variations of these parameters were clearly divided into three distinct depositional units.During Interval 1(24.1-16.0 ka BP),the paleo-Yellow River and the paleo-Yangtze River mouths were situated near the studied area and could have played major roles in the sedimentation therein.In Interval 2(16.0-7.3 ka BP),these river mouths gradually retreated with global sea-level rise,leading to less fluvial inputs from them to the northern Okinawa Trough.Meanwhile,formation of the TWC could carry some sediment loads of Taiwan to the studied core,especially during its late phase(8.0-7.3 ka BP).Modern oceanographic conditions,with a predominance of the TWC,were finally established since the beginning of Interval 3,causing more terrigenous contribution from Taiwan to the studied area.Sub-sequently,modern depositional environments mainly influenced by the Yellow River,the Yangtze River,and the TWC were finally formed.
To synthetically realize the character of major-element compositions as well as its significance for provenance and paleoenvironment recorded in core sediments of the West Philippine Sea over the last 700 ka,grain size and major elements of 221 bulk sediments,together with major-element compositions in the detrital phase of 16 typical samples,in core MD06-3047 collected from the Benham Rise were analyzed.Both discrimination plot and R-mode factor analysis indicate that vertical changes of major elements are mainly controlled by the sedimentation of nearby volcanic matter and the eolian dust input,whereas influences from marine biologic deposition and hydrothermal activity are minor.In particular,Al2O3 and K2O are representative of an eolian dust factor.The variation in the eolian dust factor score is characterized by the obviously glacial-interglacial periodicity and can be well compared with the paleotemperature record of the Antarctic ice core and the evolution of the East Asian winter monsoon(EAWM) recorded in the Chinese loess sequence,and then offers a new proxy for the evolution history of eolian dust input into the study area that is controlled by the EAWM intensity and aridity in the continental source regions of atmospheric dust.
Based on a δ18O chronology,rare earth elements(REE) and other typical elements in sediments from core MD06-3047 in the western Philippine Sea were analyzed to constrain the provenances of the sediments and investigate quantitative changes in the Asian eolian input to the study area over the last 700 ka.Among the competing processes that might affect REE compositions,sediment provenance is the most important one.Provenance analysis suggests that the study sediments have two provenance end-members;local volcanic sources are dominant,and eolian dust from the Asian continent has a smaller contribution.During glacial periods,eolian input to the western Philippine Sea was enhanced.In contrast,material supply from local volcanics increased during interglacial periods.Changes in eolian input to the study area were probably related to the strength of the East Asian winter monsoon(EAWM) as well as aridity in the Asian continent on an orbital time scale,and were partly influenced by local control factors on shorter time scales.Therefore,we propose that the present study expands the application of the REE-based method for quantitatively estimating the eolian component from the mid-latitude northern Pacific to the low-latitude western Pacific.Additionally,the study preliminarily confirms the influence of EAWM-transported eolian material on sedimentation in the western Philippine Sea since 700 ka.
