Holocene sediment source-to-sink processes and their controlling factors in the central South Yellow Sea mud area

The central South Yellow Sea mud area is an ideal object for the study of sediment provenance because of the large amount of terrigenous sediments discharged from neighboring rivers. However, the transport processes and controlling factors of these sediments in this area remain unclear. To understand the sediment source-to-sink processes and their controlling factors in the study area since the Holocene, the grain size and element geochemistry of sediments in core YSCW-1 from the mud area were analyzed. The AMS¹⁴C ages of core YSCW-1 indicate that the time of deposition is since 9.3 ka, and the formation of the mud depocenter occurred around 6.5 ka. The sediments are mainly composed of sandy silt, clayey silt, and silt. Relevant geochemical indices reveal that, the sediment sources in the study area are mainly from the Huanghe (Yellow) River and the Changjiang (Yangtze) River. Before 6.7 ka, sediments were mainly derived from the Hanghe River. After 6.7 ka, contribution from the Changjiang River increased, which may be related to the establishment of the modern circulation system in the Yellow Sea. Marine fronts may have limited the transport of sediments from the Huanghe River and Korean rivers to the mud area in the central South Yellow Sea.