The role of sea-level rise, monsoonal discharge and the palaeo-landscape in the early Holocene evolution of the Pearl River delta, southern China

Stratigraphic sequence and episodes of the ancient Huanghe Delta along the southwestern Bohai Bay since the LGM

“…LST, lowstand system tract; TST, transgressive system tract; HST, highstand system tract; and RST, retrograding system tract. The material of the Yangtze, Pearl River, Song Hong and Mekong deltas are from references (Hori et al, 2001;Ta et al, 2002;Tanabe et al, 2003aTanabe et al, , 2006Tamura et al, 2007;Nguyen et al, 2010;Wang et al, 2012;Zong et al, 2012;Song et al, 2013 …”

“…The LST of these deltas consists of fluvial facies, which formed during the LMG-10.8 ka BP for the ancient Huanghe, Yangtze and Pearl deltas along the east coast of China (Hori et al, 2001;Zong et al, 2012;Song et al, 2013), and during the LMG-13 or 15 ka BP for the Song Hong and Mekong deltas along the west coast of the South China Sea (Ta et al, 2002;Tanabe et al, 2003aTanabe et al, , 2006Tamura et al, 2007;Nguyen et al, 2010). The TST consists of estuarine facies for the Song Hong and Mekong deltas that formed during 15-10.8 ka BP and 13-10.2 ka BP, respectively (Ta et al, 2002;Tanabe et al, 2003aTanabe et al, , 2006Tamura et al, 2007;Nguyen et al, 2010), and estuarine deposits of a tide-dominated river for the Pearl Delta that formed during 10.5-8.5 ka BP (Zong et al, 2012), and coastal facies for the Yangtze Delta and the ancient Huanghe Delta that formed during 10.5-8.5 ka BP. The HTS of these five deltas all consist of deltaic and marine facies, which formed during 10.2 or 10.8-2.0 ka BP for the Song Hong and Mekong deltas, and during 8.5-2.0 ka BP for ancient Huanghe, Yangtze and Pearl deltas (Hori et al, 2001;Ta et al, 2002;Tanabe et al, 2003aTanabe et al, , 2006Tamura et al, 2007;Nguyen et al, 2010;Zong et al, 2012;Song et al, 2013).…”

“…The TST consists of estuarine facies for the Song Hong and Mekong deltas that formed during 15-10.8 ka BP and 13-10.2 ka BP, respectively (Ta et al, 2002;Tanabe et al, 2003aTanabe et al, , 2006Tamura et al, 2007;Nguyen et al, 2010), and estuarine deposits of a tide-dominated river for the Pearl Delta that formed during 10.5-8.5 ka BP (Zong et al, 2012), and coastal facies for the Yangtze Delta and the ancient Huanghe Delta that formed during 10.5-8.5 ka BP. The HTS of these five deltas all consist of deltaic and marine facies, which formed during 10.2 or 10.8-2.0 ka BP for the Song Hong and Mekong deltas, and during 8.5-2.0 ka BP for ancient Huanghe, Yangtze and Pearl deltas (Hori et al, 2001;Ta et al, 2002;Tanabe et al, 2003aTanabe et al, , 2006Tamura et al, 2007;Nguyen et al, 2010;Zong et al, 2012;Song et al, 2013). The maximum flooding surface of these five deltas existed around 7.0-8.0 ka BP.…”

“…The widths of mouth bay or gulf with the maximum flooding surface were about 200 km for the ancient Huanghe (Xue, 2009), about 100 km for the Yangtze (Wang et al, 1981), and about 80 km for the Pearl, Song Hong and Mekong rivers (Tanabe et al, 2006;Tamura et al, 2007;Zong et al, 2012). Compared with other large rivers, the Huanghe was characterized by high suspended sediment concentration, huge sediment flux, and shallow water of the joint marginal sea at natural level (Milliman and Meade, 1983;Chu et al, 2009;Chu, 2014).…”

“…The Yangtze Delta was characterized by filling an incised valley (Hori et al, 2001;Li et al, 2002), with the lobes spreading eastward Hori et al, 2002;Song et al, 2013). During the sea level rise after the LGM, the seawater intruded the Pearl River valley (Zong et al, 2012), and the Pearl (River) Delta began to develop after 6.8 ka BP (Zong et al, 2009;Wei and Wu, 2011). The Mekong Delta and the Song Hong (Red River) Delta mainly formed after a rapid sea level rise around 8 ka BP (Tanabe et al, 2003a;Hori et al, 2004;Tamura et al, 2007), and the coastline (Funabiki et al, 2007), river types (Tanabe et al, 2006), and morphologic features (Tanabe et al, 2003b) adjusted with sea level change and delta progradation.…”