DISTRIBUTION AND CONTROLLING FACTORS OF MAJOR ELEMENTS IN SEDIMENTS OF THE YALU RIVER ESTUARY

Contents of major elements in the sediments of the Yalu River estuary were tested, and multivariate statistical analysis methods were used to analyze the characteristics of major element distribution in the study area. The major element contents show a small fluctuation in sediments in the tidal flat and in the west area of the estuary, and the fluctuation is more obvious upstream and at the river mouth of the Yalu River. Two peaks appear in the estuarine turbidity maxima zones. R-mode main factor analysis results show that grain size effect plays a dominant role in distribution of the contents of major elements, with the variance contribution of the first principal component up to 76.55%. Q-mode cluster analysis classifies the stations into two types, which suggests that difference of depositional dynamic environment is the main factor affecting geochemistry division pattern of the major elements. In addition, the major elements content in sediments of the Yalu River estuary is similar to that of the Korea River,to granite at Sino Korean paraplatform and Korean Peninsula, and different from that of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River.