In order to interpret the marine clastic record preserved in the sedimentary basins of the East Asian marginal seas, it is important to understand how sediment transport and chemical weathering affect the composition of sediment enroute to its sink. Here we present a new data set for fine-grained sediment (<63 μm) from the Yangtze River and its major tributaries, which represents a baseline for interpreting sediment in the East China Sea. We demonstrate that there is no significant coherent downstream variation in the major element contents, which are generally more enriched than the average upper continental crust, except for water-soluble elements including Sr, Rb, Na, and K. Nd isotopes show that most of the sediment comes from the eastern and middle Yangtze Craton, as well as the Songpan-Garze Terrane. Chemical weathering varies significantly across the basin with upstream tributary sediments being relatively unweathered compared to those in the lower reaches. However, sediments in the main Yangtze stream show no trend in chemical weathering along its course, with some of the least weathered materials being found closest to the delta. Grain size and the abundance of hydrodynamically sorted heavy minerals affect the bulk geochemistry, especially the rare earth elements (REEs).

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The formation of the Pamir salient and the Tashkorgan‐Yarkand River is highly debated with the ages ranging from pre‐Cenozoic to late Miocene. One approach to resolve these issues is to draw support from the sedimentary record in the surrounding basins. A volcaniclastic sequence, which divides into Lower and Upper Members, was identified in the southwestern Tarim Basin. The Lower Member was transported by dilute streamflows, which likely flowed during or soon after eruptions, while the Upper Member was formed by a syneruptive volcanic debris flow. Chronological, petrologic, and geochemical data consistently indicate that the sequence was derived from the Central Pamir at ~11 Ma. The ~11 Ma emplacement of the volcaniclastic sequence provides unique constraints for the evolution of the Tashkorgan‐Yarkand River and the Pamir salient. Provenance data indicate a multistage evolutionary history of the Tashkorgan‐Yarkand River. The paleo‐Tashkorgan River was initially formed in the piedmont of the Pamir marginal range before ~15 Ma. This river cut back into the Tashkorgan region at ~15 Ma, after which it has eroded the Central Pamir by ~11 Ma. The N‐S trending upper reaches of the Tashkorgan River and the Yarkand River were established after ~11 Ma. The emplacement of the volcanic debris flow, together with regional deformation evidence, indicates limited strike‐slip motion between Pamir and the Tarim at least since ~11 Ma, which refutes hundreds of kilometers offset between the Pamir and the Tarim after this time and supports an earlier indention of the Pamir salient.

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The Asian summer monsoon exerts a strong influence on the hydrologic cycle in East Asia. Moreover, the distribution of heavy precipitation in the Yangtze River basin, which covers a large area of South China, is sensitive to changes in monsoon intensity. Thus, the paleo-distribution of heavy precipitation in the Yangtze basin is key in reconstructing the paleo-monsoon intensity. In this study, we established proxies for distinguishing sediments from the northwestern and southeastern parts of the Yangtze River basin, with the goal of using them to reconstruct the paleo-distribution of heavy precipitation in the basin based on changes in the provenance of detrital sediments, as determined using sediment records at the river mouth. The proxies included the electron spin resonance (ESR) signal intensity and the crystallinity index (CI) of quartz in modern riverbed sediments along the mainstream and tributaries of the Yangtze River. The data revealed that the fine-silt fraction of the sediments (which represents suspended particulate matter, SPM) from each major tributary can be distinguished on the basis of ESR signal intensity and CI values. The values for each tributary reflect the age and type of bedrock in the tributary basin and show distinct regional variations according to the distribution of geological blocks within the Yangtze basin. In addition, the analyzed ESR signal intensity and CI values of the fine-silt fraction of riverbed sediments below mainstream-tributary junctions agree well with values calculated according to a simple mixing model of SPM discharged from the tributaries and the mainstream.