Recent 2000-year geological records of mud in the inner shelf of the East China Sea and their climatic implications

TitleRecent 2000-year geological records of mud in the inner shelf of the East China Sea and their climatic implications
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2005
AuthorsXiao, SB, Li, AC, Jiang, FQ, Li, TG, Huang, P, Xu, ZK
JournalChinese Science Bulletin
Volume50
Issue5
Pagination466-471
Date PublishedMar
ISSN1001-6538
Accession NumberWOS:000228944700015
Abstract

AXIS(14)C dating and grain-size analysis for Core DD2, located at the north of the Yangtze River-derived mud off the Zhejiang-Fujian coasts in the inner shelf of the East China Sea, provide us a high-resolution grain-size distribution curve varying with depth and time. Data in the upper mud layer of Core DD2 indicate that there are at least 9 abrupt grain-size increasing in recent 2000 years, with each corresponding very well with the low-temperature events in Chinese history, which might result from the periodical strengthening of the East Asian Winter Monsoon (EAWM), including the first-revealed maximum temperature lowering event at around 990 a BP. At the same time, the finer grain size section in Core DD2 agrees well with the Sui-Tang Warming Period (600-1000 a AD) defined previously by Zhu Kezhen, during which the climate had a warm, cold and warm fluctuation, with a dominated cooling period of 750-850 a AD. The Little Ice Age (LIA) can also be identified in the core. It starts around 1450 a AD and was followed by a subsequent cooling events at 1510, 1670 and 1840 a AD. Timing of these cold events revealed here still needs to be further verified owing to some current uncertainty of dating we used in this study.

DOI10.1360/03wd0571