Younger Dryas Event and formation of peat layers in the northern Yellow Sea

TitleYounger Dryas Event and formation of peat layers in the northern Yellow Sea
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2010
AuthorsLi, T, Chang, F, Yu, X
JournalEarth Science Frontiers
Volume17
Issue1
Pagination322-330
Date Published2010
ISBN Number1005-2321
Keywordsnorthern Yellow Sea, peat layer, sea level, Younger Dryas Event
Abstract

Peat layer, which formed under the humid climatic conditions and during the stagnated phase of sea level changes, is an important vehicle for information of paleoenvironmental evolution. Results of study on four sections of peat layer from the northern Yellow Sea indicate that all of them are located on the mouth of Bohai Sea strait between 50 and 54 meters water depth. The AMS 14C ages of peat layer are in the range between 10650 and 10100 a BP, which are highly coincident with the age of the Younger Dryas event that was the most significant cold climatic event during the last deglacial warming and occurred between 11000 and 10000 14C a BP. This coincidence indicates that the formation of peat layers in the northern Yellow Sea may be closely correlated with the global impact of Younger Dryas event and can be regard as an evidence of the response of the northern Yellow Sea area to it. The mass appearance of peat layer implies that during the Younger Dryas event a few stagnated periods existed in the postglacial process of sea level rising, the sea level had reached the outside of Bohai Sea strait and may have lingered for about thousand years. The above results and records of pollen suggest that during the period from 10600 to 10200 14C a BP, the northern Yellow Sea was in a cold and humid environment. The humid condition in the northern Yellow Sea area during the Younger Dryas event was distinctly different from the most terrestrial and oceanic records of Younger Dryas event in the global, which shows distinctive effect of Younger Dryas event in different region, and it is irresponsible to diagnose the characteristics of response to Younger Dryas events in different regions based on a single dry and cold mode.