LATE QUATERNARY SEQUENCE STRATIGRAPHY AND SEDIMENTARY ENVIRONMENT OF EAST CHINA SEA CONTINENTAL SHELF

Sea level fluctuations caused by globe climate change during Late Quaternary are the main reason to form the stratigraphic sequences of the sediments on the East China Sea Continental Shelf. 6reflections, i. e. QT₀, QT₁, QT₂, QT₃, QT₄ and QT₅, or 5 stratigraphic sequences, can be recognized on the seismic profiles across the whole continental shelf of East China Sea for the sediments 120m below the sea bottom. Comparing the structure and reflection characteristics of the sequences with drilling data, it is found that every stratigraphic sequence is composed of a regressional sub-sequence and a transgressional sub-sequence. Using sequence stratigraphy as a tool, this paper described the stratigraphic sequences since Middle Pleistocene, and the depositional environment of the region was deduced accordingly. A conceptual model was then proposed as a clue for stratigraphic correlation.