Distribution of Clay Minerals in Surface Sediments of Kunsan Basin, Yellow Sea and their Transport Pathway

Abstract

To understand the transport pathways of muddy sediment of the Kunsan basin in Yellow Sea, grain sizes and clay mineral of 32 surface sediments and a sediment core were analyzed. In the study area, illite is predominant (63.4~71.9%), followed by chlorite (15.1~20.2%), kaolinite (10.3~17.2%) and smectite (2~6.9%), According to the spatial distribution of the clay minerals, illite, kaolinite+chlorite and smectite show relatively higher contents in the center of the north, northeast, and the south of the study area, respectively. Considering the spatial distribution of clay mineral contents the sand ridge alignments and tidal current pathways, the smectite particles were probably derived from the south of the study area, but kaolinite and/or chlorite particles were mainly transported from the Korean coastal zone. Meanwhile, down-core variation in the contents of clay minerals of the core revealed a distinct change in fine-grained muddy sediment provenance: muddy sediment input from the Korean coastal areas has increased while the input from China has decreased since the last 5,000 year ago, by showing the amount decrease of smectite and the increase of kaolinite+chlorite at the top layer of the late Holocene muddy sediment unit of the core.