The History of the Yangtze River Entering Sea since the Last Glacial Maximum

Journal of Coastal Research202599–604West Palm Beach,Florida Spring2004 The HistoryMaximum:600Xiao et al.Figure 1.Thecurrent systems of the ECS during winter times (Modified from QIN et al.(1987)and XU (1999))Figure 2.Sea-level curves in the East China Sea during the past 30ka.level varies from 120to 160m below the present level during 15–20ka B.P.The value is 140m according to C HEN et al.(1985),130m according to Z HAO et al.(1982),and is 160m according to Z HAO et al.(1979),Z HU et al.(1979)and F ENG (1983).However,S AITO (1998)estimated that the value was only about 120m after reviewing all 14C ages available for the East China Sea and Yellow Sea.This value is in agree-ment with that from Y ANG and X IE (1984).The Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea disappeared during that time,and the ECS was reduced by almost 50%(W ANG ,1990).The climate began to warm and the sea-level began to rise after the LGM.The sea-level rose with a rapid rate of 18.2mm/a during 15–10.5ka B.P.,and with a speed of 4.6mm/a during early Ho-locene to 6ka B.P.The highest sea level occurred around 6ka B.P.,with an elevation of about 3m above the current sea level (Z HAO et al.1979).A small fall in sea level has occurred since the mid Holocene.There are three sub-marine terraces in the shelf of the ECS corresponding to Ϫ110m,Ϫ60m and Ϫ40m respectively,which were formed at stagnation stages during the deglaci-ation,corresponding to 13,12and 10ka B.P.respectively (F ENG ,1983).THE PALEO-YANGTZE RIVER ESTUARY SINCETHE 8KA B.P.TO THE PRESENTThe Yangtze River inputs the ECS in the north part.Most of the carried sediment deposits at the river mouth and forms the Yangtze River delta;the rest is mostly carried by littoral current and settles down as the alongshore mud of Zhejiang and Fujian (X U ,1990),and a small amount sediment is trans-ported northeast to the Okinawa Trough.The first systematic research on the forming and evolution of the Yangtze River began in 1922by L I ,especially on the Chongming Island,Tongqian sand beach and Pudong Pen-insula.Recent researches suggest that the present Yangtze River delta system began to form around 8ka B.P.and pro-graded between 6and 7ka B.P.(L I et al.,2000;H ORI et al.,2001;H ORI et al,2002).The average progradation rate of the delta front was approximately 50km/ka over the last 5ka and increased abruptly ca.2ka B.P.,going from 38to 80km/ka (H ORI et al.,2001a).The Yangtze River mouth migrated southeast during the last 6ka from Zhenjiang and Yangzhou,the apex of the delta,to the present river mouth,the south of Qidong County(L U¨et al.,1999;L I et al.,1984b;Y ANG ,1989;L I ,1991;Z HAO ,1984).The process was divided into six periods,i.e.,Hongqiao,Huangqiao,Jinsha,Haimen,Chongming and Changxing Pe-riod (The Geology Department of Tongji University,1978).Further conclusions were made about the formation and de-velopment model of the Yangtze River mouth:the south mar-ginal band extending,the north sand island joining to the land,the mouth narrowing,channel forming and the riverbedwedging (C HEN et al.,1979;W U et al.,1996;L U¨et al.,1999).THE PALEO-YANGTZE RIVER MOUTH BEFORE8KA B.P.There was little knowledge about the paleo-Yangtze River mouth from the LGM to 8ka B.P.due to the changed or overlaid sediment records,and lack of historical documents.As far as the Yangtze River entering the sea is concerned during that time,two opposite theories exist.One theory is that the Yangtze River input a lacustrine in the north of Jiangsu province that was defunct in middle Ho-locene.This theory is based upon the absence of the type of mud that deposited in Holocene (Z HAO ,1984).Zhao thought the Yangtze River channel was controlled by a tectonic line601 History of the Yangtze River Entering the SeaFigure3.The topographic map of the East China Sea((1),(2),(3)-paleochannel,from ZHU et al.,1984)before Holocene,which started from Hukou,by way of Nan-jing and the north of Jiangsu Province,and extended to the Yellow Sea.As a result,the conclusion was drawn that the Yangtze River entered into the Yellow Sea instead of the ECS before Holocene.The theory was supported by satellite im-ages(Z HONG D ELIN et al.,1983).Furthermore,ZHAO pre-sented the river was once dry and desertization of the shelf of China happened during the LGM(1991).The other theory was that the Yangtze River still existed and entered the Okinawa Trough during the LGM,but schol-ars share different opinions on which course the river ran across and which place the river input the trough.A course was incised in today’s Yangtze River delta area during falling sea level of␦18O stage3,and a huge incised valley was formed during the sea-level lowstand(stage2);the infilling of the incised valley took place during the postglacial sea-level rise,and the delta formation occurred at a late stage of the postglacial transgression according to L I et al.(2000). Two paleochannels((1)&(2)in Figure3)were discerned in today’s shelf by Z HU et al.(1984)according to the geometry and sediment characters.Further,Y UAN(1992)pointed out that the paleochannel(2)was formed during27–12ka B.P., and the paleochannel(3)was formed during42–28ka B.P. and11–8ka B.P.respectively according to the subbottom pro-files,sediment character and conventional14C dating. Some paleochannels mouths and deltas were discovered by other researchers(C HEN et al.,1991a;C HEN et al.,1986;N IU, 1983;C HEN et al.,1991b;T ANG et al.,1986;H UANG et al.,1985; W ANG et al.,1998),but most of them are disperse and frag-mental and yet to be verified.Recently,X U et al.(1999)compared planktic foraminiferal characteristic species and oxygen isotope from two cores that were located in the north and middle of the Okinawa Trough respectively.They concluded that the temperature of the sur-face sea water in the northeast of the Okinawa Trough was lower than that in the middle,i.e.,the influence of fresh wa-ter from land in the northeast of the Okinawa Trough was greater than in the middle,which means that the influence of the Yellow River was much greater than that of the Yang-tze River.However,the Yellow River drainage area was dry and it was impossible for the Yellow River’s to enter the ECS (X IA,1996).Based on the stratigraphic and buried geomorphic analysis of seismic profiles(records produced by SIG600J sparker) located in the inner and outer shelves of the ECS,out of the current Yangtze River’s mouth,and together with some rel-evant geologic cores and Quaternary researches on the mod-ern Yangtze River Delta,L IU et al.(2000a),X IA and L IU (2001)found that there were no paleo-sediments and paleo-channels of the Yangtze River formed in the ECS during the LGM.Therefore,it was inferred that probably the Yangtze River probablyflowed along the boundary of the ECS and the Yellow Sea instead of the ECS shelf and entered the north end of the Okinawa Trough.However,based on an overlap-ping grid of approximately14,000km of2D,high-resolution seismic data in a300,000km2and approximately10,000km higher-frequency chirp sonar,together with chronostrati-graphic constrains of two cores,W ARREN and B ARTEK(2002) discerned two distinct channel systems–unfilled andfilled that occurred during the LGM in the ECS shelf.Portions of unfilled incisions are obvious in present bathymetry at the mouth of the Yangtze River and various locations across the shelf.The infilled system is either an older incised valley sys-tem associated with the Yangtze River or a differentfluvial system altogether.Seismic evidence shows many of these sys-tems terminating at lowstand deltas that prograded out over the shelf-slope break.The high-resolution of the latter may cause the result to be different from with the former.More and more evidences show that the Yangtze River ac-tually input the ECS during the LGM.Table1shows that the sedimentation rate in the Okinawa Trough is the highest during15–20ka B.P.,the lowest during in Holocene,and intermediate during10–15ka B.P.(All dating data in table 1are dated by AMS14C method.).A big increase of sedimen-tation rate in the Okinawa Trough during the LGM indicates that a big increase of terrigenous sediments.This conclusion is supported by U JIIE´et al.(2001),who studied six piston cores which were collected along the NW-SE line in the Oki-nawa Trough close to the Chinese continental shelf edge.On a time scale toϳ19ka,the ratio of total organic carbon to total nitrogen concentration(C/N ratio),lignin phenol content and ratio of C28fatty acid to C16fatty acid content showed gradual decrease toward the present,which was explained by the landward retreat of continental river mouths in response to the post-glacial rise of sea-level.ISSUES AND PROSPECTSAccording to L I and Z HANG(1995),thefilling time of the paleochannels in today’s Yangtze River delta area was10–14602Xiao et al.Table 1.The sedimentation rate in the Okinawa Trough scine the LGM.Core NumberLongitudeLatitudeSedimentation rate cm/kaϳ10ka B.P.10–15ka B.P.15–20ka B.P.Data fromKH82-4-14RN94-PC3RN80-PC3DGKS9603E017RN93-PC4RN93-PC8129Њ02.1E 131Њ51.1E 127Њ22.1E 127Њ16.238E 126Њ01.02E 125Њ40.5E 123Њ44.9E 31Њ44.4N 30Њ55.7N 29Њ04.428Њ08.869N 26Њ34.02N 26Њ33.4N 24Њ33.6N 11.98.7113.35.913.121.117.1281320.51349.462.72278.894.113.6X U AND M OTOYO (1999)U JIIE AND U JIIE (1999)X U AND M OTOYO (1999)L IU ET AL .(2000b)This paperU JIIE AND U JIIE (1999)U JIIE AND U JIIE (1999)Figure 4.The distribution of mud in the ECS (Modified from QIN et al.,1987)ka B.P.,and the age of the underlying sediments was over 30ka.It can be inferred that the paleochannels was formed during some stage in 14–30ka B.P.instead of the whole pe-riod.Furthermore,it’s not conclusived regarding the location of the paleo-mouth of the Yangtze River from the LGM to 8ka B.P.,which was the most convincing evidence about the river’s inputting the sea.The previous research of the Yangtze River were carried out based on the present situation of the river without con-sideration of the channel metamorphosis resulting from changes in climate and sea-level.The evolution of the pa-leoenvironment and corresponding events were not taken into account either.Therefore,the next objectives may be the following.(1)The history of Yangtze River can be traced by further research of the paleo-coastlines,the paleochannels and the paleo-deltas of the Yangtze River.This approach is a direct and practical one.However,the reconstruction of the paleo-coasts,the size,formation and filling time of paleochannels,and the runoff,the sediment quantity and its component of the Paleo-Yangtze River must be paid attention to.(2)Another direct way is to study the mud deposited in the ECS.The distribution of the sediments and environment in the shelves of the ECS is well known according to Q IN et al.(1987),X U (1985),and L IU (1990)The suspended sediments of the Yangtze River are mainly composed of fine silt and clay.They can be transported far away under strong hydrodynamic environment because of their small size,low density and sheet shape.We have mas-tered important knowledge about suspended sediments of the Yangtze River (S UN et al.,2000;Y ANG et al.,1992;S HEN et al.,1992;G U ,1985;L I et al.,2001;H E and S UN ,1996).Ac-cording to Y ANG et al.(1992)and S UN et al.(2000),the sus-pended sediment of the Yellow Sea and the ECS are ‘‘being stored in the summer and transported in the winner’’.In the summer,they are stored in the shelf instead of being carried into the Okinawa Trough because of the obstruction of the Kuroshio’s ascending westward.Some of them are carried into the Yellow Sea by the Taiwan Warm Current and the Yellow Sea Warm Current,and then broken into two branch-es in west of the Cheju Island,of which one joins into the Korea Littoral Current,and the other inputs into the Yellow Sea basin.In the winter,30percent of suspended sediment of the Yangtze River are transported southward and deposit as the alongshore mud zone parallel to the coast of Zhejiang and Fujian province (Figure 1and Figure 4).Some of them are carried southeastward to input the Okinawa Trough be-cause of the recession of the Kuroshio Warm Current,and some enter into the Yellow Sea.Another mud area is located in the southwest of the Cheju Island.There is of high correlation between the mud area and the location of the Yangtze River’s entering into the sea.It’s well known that the East Asia Monsoon and the ocean current system in the marginal seas adjacent to eastern China have changed little since the LGM(W ANG ,1998).So,it’s difficult to comprehend that not only mud deposits are scarce in the very wide outer continental shelf of the ECS,but also there is no mud zone corresponding to the two deeper ones (i.e.,Ϫ110m and Ϫ60m)of the three sub-marine terraces mentioned above (Figure 4).The mud area that is located in the southwest of the Cheju Island (Figure 4)is a key.Not only because the suspended sediment of the present Yangtze River are carried there,but also it is a conflux of the paleo-Yellow River and the paleo-603 History of the Yangtze River Entering the SeaYangtze River(L I et al.,1993).Therefore,it’s highly likely to gain some knowledge about the Yangtze River’s entering the sea during the Epipleistocene by studying on the mud area, and even that of the Yellow River.(3)It is an important issue to study the metamorphosis of the Yangtze River since the LGM.Great progress influvial response to climate and sea-level change has been made since P OWELL(1875)defined the base level as the lower limit to which rivers can erode their valleys.F ISK(1944)investigated the Lower Mississippi Valley and provided a well known model that braided-stream surfaces formed when gradients decreased during latest Pleistocene to middle Holocene sea-level rise,with a transition to a meandering regime during the late Holocene sea-level highstand.The concept of channel metamorphosis was discussed based on the studies of the Murrumbidgee River,southeast of Australia(S CHUMM,1968). Studies of sediments along Nile River showed that channel metamorphosis of the river developed into a braided channel during the LGM,and only a little stream existed in sandy floodplain,whose width was10–20%of that of the current river(A DAMSON et al.,1980).However,it’s infrequent to deal with the Yangtze River’s response to climate and sea-level change in glaciations,and current knowledge is fragmental and unsystematic(Y ANG, 1989).The study of the Yangtze River’s channel metamor-phosis and evolution since the LGM plays a key role in the studies of the scale,property and transportation of the river, which is highly related to the reconstruction of the river’s entering the sea.According to W ANG(1992),the runoff of the lower Yangtze River was95–60%less than that of today during Epipleis-tocene and34–55%less than that of today during early Ho-locene,which means the scale of the river during those times was much smaller than that of today.This may explain why there was no big incised paleo-valley during the LGM in the ECS shelf(X IA and L IU,2001),because the erosion power of a river is due to itsflux and gradient.The study on the interaction between the Yangtze River and paleo-environment needs to be carried on systematically too.For example,the response of the river and the ECS to several climate events since the LGM,such as Heinrich, Youger Dryaers,and Little Ice Age,are to be further studied. Other issues include the changes of salinity,temperature, turbidity caused by the changes of the Yangtze River’s runoff, sediment transportation,channel metamorphosis and chang-es in its route,which results in the changes of assemblege biology,sedimentation rate and the distribution style of sed-iment in the ECS.If we could make great progress on the above issues,we could gain more knowledge about the ocean current system in the ECS and the induced climate change. Therefore,it’s helpful to study uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Pla-teau and the changes in global environment.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSWe thank Professor Qin Yunshan,at Institute of Ocean-ology Chinese Academy Sciences(IOCAS),for making sug-gestions for the manuscript.Thanks are also expressed to Professor Li Congxian at Tongji University and two unknown reviewers,for elaborating their opinions and good advice un-selfishly.This research was sponsored by an innovation fund from IOCAS and the CAS(Chinese Academy of Sciences)pi-lot project of the National Knowledge Innovation Program (project No.K7CX3-SW-220).LITERATURE CITEDA DAMSON,D.A.;G ASSE,F.F.A.,and W ILLIAMS,M.A.J,te Qua-ternary history of the Nile.Nature,288,50–55.C HEN,Y.;P ENG,G.,and J IAO,W.,1985.Radiocarbon dates from the East China Sea and their geological implications.Quaternary Re-search,24,197–203.C HEN,J.;Y UN,C.;X U,H.,andD ONG,Y.,1979.The growing model of the Yangtze River estuary since the last2ka(in Chinese).Acta Oceanologica Sinica,1(1),103–110.C HEN,Z.;Z HOU,C.;Y ANG,W.,and W U,Z.,1986.The modern geo-morphy and deposit outside the Yangtze River estuary(in Chi-nese).Donghai Marine Science,4(2),28–36.C HEN,Z.;X U,S.,and Y AN Q.,1991a.Sedimentary facies of Holocene subaqueous Changjiang River delta(in Chinese with English ab-stract).Oceanologia et Limnologia Sinica,22(1),29–37.C HEN,Z.and Y ANG W.,1991b.Quaternry paleogeography and pa-leoenvironment of Changjiang River estuary region(in Chinese with English abstract),Acta Geographica Sinica,46(4),436–448.F ENG,Y.,1983.The sea-level changes and the lowest sea-level in the East China Sea since the late40ka(in Chinese).Donghai Marine Science,1(2),36–42.F ISK,H.N.,1944.Geological investigation of the alluvial vally of the Lower Mississippi River.Vicksburg,Mississippi:U.S.Army Corps of Engineers,Mississippi River Commission,78p.G EOLOGY D EPARTMENT OF THE T ONGJI U NIVERSITY,1978.Formation and development of the Yangtze River in Holocene(in Chinese). 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