Detrital ne-grained sediment contribution from Taiwan to the northern South China

Sea and its relation to regional ocean circulation

Zhifei Liu
a,
, Shouting Tuo
a
, Christophe Colin
b
, James T. Liu
c
, Chi-Yue Huang
d
, Kandasamy Selvaraj
c
,
Chen-Tung Arthur Chen
c
, Yulong Zhao
a
, Fernando P. Siringan
e
, Sbastien Boulay
a
, Zhong Chen
f
a
State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
b
Laboratoire IDES, Bt. 504, UMR 8148 CNRS, Universit de Paris XI, Orsay 91405, France
c
Institute of Marine Geology and Chemistry, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung 80424, Taiwan
d
Department of Earth Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan
e
Marine Science Institute, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines
f
South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510301, China
a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 6 November 2007
Received in revised form 3 July 2008
Accepted 5 August 2008
Keywords:
clay minerals
surface sediments
provenance
South China Sea
Taiwan
Results of clay mineralogy in 140 samples collected in major rivers and lakes in southwestern Taiwan and on
the seaoor off Taiwan in the northeastern South China Sea (SCS), combined with clay mineral records of the
Pearl River drainage basin, rivers in Luzon, and the South China shelf and slope, are used to semi-
quantitatively evaluate the detrital ne-grained sediment contribution of Taiwan to the northern SCS. The
clay mineral assemblage of the Taiwan-sourced sediments consists dominantly of illite (average 56%) and
chlorite (41%), with very scarce kaolinite and smectite. Their respective distribution from the rivers and lakes
to the seaoor off Taiwan does not show obvious basin-wide differences. Linear correlations of illite
chemistry index with illite crystallinity and of illite crystallinity with kaolinite (%) present two end-members
of provenances, the Pearl River and Taiwan, for the South China shelf and slope. Assuming that kaolinite in
the northern SCS is provided completely from the Pearl River, the contribution of Taiwan in clay minerals is
evaluated as 29% to the South China shelf and 23% to the South China slope, respectively. Accordingly, the
contribution of the Pearl River to the South China shelf and slope is 52% and 31%, respectively. The Luzon Arc
accounts for the rest of clay mineral components for the northern SCS mainly by providing smectite. The
Bashi Strait-crossed branches of the southward deep North Pacic Deep Water and the northward surface
Kuroshio Current in the western Pacic may transport Taiwan-sourced suspended sediments westwards to
the northern SCS.
2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Determining the provenance of detrital sediments in the ocean is
prerequisite for understanding environmental and climatic conditions
that occurred in land-source areas. Sources of terrigenous matters in
marginal seas with bounded lands are particularly complicated
because they may involve diverse geological settings. One of such
cases is the South China Sea (SCS), the largest marginal sea in the
western Pacic, surrounded by the Asian continent and Taiwan to the
north and west and Philippine islands and Borneo to the east and
south (Fig. 1A). Numerous rivers including both world largest rivers
(e.g., Mekong River, Pearl River, and Red River) and small mountainous
rivers (e.g., rivers in southwestern Taiwan) supply as much as 570 Mt/
yr of suspended (ne-grained) sediments to the SCS (Table 1), repre-
senting 2.8% of estimated global suspended sediment discharge to the
world oceans (Milliman and Syvitski, 1992). The river-borne terrige-
nous sediments compose 80% of total SCS surface sediments (Huang,
2004) and have formed high sedimentation-rate deposition in the
geological past (Wang et al., 2000), especially for sediment drifts on
the northern slope, where the Holocene sedimentation rate can reach
as high as 70 cm/kyr (Bhring et al., 2004). The terrigenous detrital
sedimentary archives in the SCS, therefore, have become ideal to study
the high-resolution history of the East Asian monsoon evolution
(e.g., Wang et al., 1999; Wehausen and Brumsack, 2002; Clift et al.,
2002; Liu et al., 2003, 2005; Wang et al., 2005; Boulay et al., 2005;
Wan et al., 2007).
The northern SCS has offered a special attraction for marine
geologists because of the very high sedimentation rate of its detrital
sediments (e.g., Wang et al., 2000). However, its sedimentary source is
not well established because the geology of two major potential
source areas, South China and southwest Taiwan, is similar with same
cratonic MesozoicCenozoic sedimentary rocks (Commission for the
Geological Map of the World, 1975) and Nd isotopic values (Li et al.,
2003; Boulay et al., 2005). Most of previous studies mainly at Ocean
Marine Geology 255 (2008) 149155
Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 21 6598 4877; fax: +86 21 6598 8808.
E-mail address: lzhifei@mail.tongji.edu.cn (Z. Liu).
0025-3227/$ see front matter 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2008.08.003
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
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150 Z. Liu et al. / Marine Geology 255 (2008) 149155
Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 184 sites (partly shown in Fig. 1A) on the
northern slope of the SCS considered the Pearl River as the main
sedimentary source (Wehausen and Brumsack, 2002; Clift et al., 2002;
Tamburini et al., 2003; Li et al., 2003; Boulay et al., 2003) with an
additional volcanic source (Boulay et al., 2005). But Taiwan presents
one of the highest erosion rates in the world and exports 384 Mt/yr of
suspended sediments to the ocean, with about half of the total
sediments directly to the SCS (Dadson et al., 2003). Such a ne-grained
sediment discharge is even larger than any other provenance sur-
rounding the SCS including the Pearl, Red, and Mekong rivers (Table 1)
and must have played a signicant role in sediment components in the
SCS, especially on the northern slope.
One way to distinguish the ne-grained sediments of South China
from Taiwan is to use clay mineralogy of the sediments because clay
minerals in river and marine sediments reect the intensity of
chemical weathering of their source areas (Chamley, 1989). In South
China, the more or less at hinterland of the Pearl River drainage basin
has undergone deep and long-term lateritic weathering during Neo-
gene. The river sediments with kaolinite and Al-rich illite dominance
indicate a strong chemical weathering (Liu et al., 2007a,b). In Taiwan,
steep erosional gradients, short transport distances, and short storage
times have signicantly increased the intensity of physical weath-
ering. The sediments present only a moderate chemical weathering on
the basis of major and trace element geochemistry (Selvaraj and Chen,
2006). A few samples from Taiwan also suggest that the clay mineral
assemblage consists mainly of primary minerals of illite and chlorite
(Jiang et al., 2006; Wan et al., 2007), indicating a strong physical
weathering. Therefore, the clay mineralogy of sediments in the two
areas needs to be completely contrasted. But there is no detailed clay
mineralogical data available from Taiwan. In this study, we rstly
establish the clay mineralogy of Taiwan by investigating sediments
in major rivers and lakes in southwestern Taiwan and on the seaoor
off Taiwan in the northeastern SCS. Then we combined these data
with clay mineral records of the Pearl River drainage basin, rivers in
Luzon, and the South China shelf and slope to semi-quantitatively
evaluate the detrital ne-grained sediment contribution of Taiwan to
the northern SCS.
2. Materials and methods
A set of 140 samples from southwestern Taiwan and off Taiwan in
the northeastern SCS (19 from rivers, 5 from lakes, and 116 from the
seaoor) are examined for clay mineralogy (Fig. 1B, C; Supplementary
data Table S1). River and lake samples, covering with all major
mountainous rivers and lakes in southwestern Taiwan, were collected
from surface muddy channel/bed deposits to avoid contamination
from bank sediments. The seaoor samples with different tectonic
settings, including 11 from the SW Taiwan shelf (tectonically stable),
87 from the accretionary prism east of the Manila trench (tectonically
active), and 18 fromthe passive continental margin west of the Manila
trench (tectonically stable), were selected from surface sediments or
top parts of box and piston cores, taken by the R/V Ocean Researcher I
& III during 20032006. In order to compare with clay mineral com-
positions derived from Taiwan, 7 samples from three largest rivers in
Luzon, northern Philippines (3 from the Cagayan River, 2 from the
Pampanga River, and 2 fromthe Agno River) were collected during the
summer season of 2007 (Fig. 1A, Supplementary data Table S1). All
samples were analyzed for clay minerals.
Clay minerals were identied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) using a
PANalytical diffractometer at the Laboratoire IDES, Universit de Paris
XI on oriented mounts of non-calcareous clay-sized (b2 m) particles
(Holtzapffel, 1985). The oriented mounts were obtained following the
methods described in detail by Liu et al. (2004). Three XRD runs were
performed, following air-drying, ethylene-glycol solvation for 24 h,
and heating at 490 C for 2 h. Identication of clay minerals was made
mainly according to the position of the (001) series of basal reections
on the three XRD diagrams. Semi-quantitative estimates of peak areas
of the basal reections for the main clay mineral groups of smectite
(including mixed-layers) (1517 ), illite (10 ), and kaolinite/chlorite
(7 ) were carried out on the glycolated curve (Holtzapffel, 1985) using
the MacDiff software (Petschick, 2000). Relative proportions of
kaolinite and chlorite were determined based on the ratio from the
3.57/3.54 peak areas. Following the laboratory routine at both
Laboratoire IDES of Universit de Paris XI and Laboratoire PBDS of
Universit de Lille I (Liu et al., 2003, 2007b), the weighting factors
introduced by Biscaye (1965) are not used when generating relative
weight percentages of each clay mineral. Replicate analyses of a few
selected samples gave a precision of 2% (2). Based upon the XRD
method, the semi-quantitative evaluation of each clay mineral has
an accuracy of 5%. Additionally, some mineralogical characters of
illite were determined on the glycolated curve. Illite chemistry index
refers to a ratio of the 5 and 10 peak areas. Ratios below 0.5
represent FeMg-rich illite (biotite, mica), which are characteristic
of physical erosion; ratios above 0.5 are found in Al-rich illite
(muscovite), which are released following strong hydrolysis (Esque-
vin, 1969; Gingele et al., 1998). Illite crystallinity was obtained from
half height width of the 10 peak. Lower values represent the higher
crystallinity, characteristic of weak hydrolysis in continental sources
and arid and cold climate conditions (Chamley, 1989; Krumm and
Buggisch, 1991; Ehrmann, 1998).
In order to determine the provenance of detrital ne-grained sedi-
ments in the northern SCS, literature data of clay minerals in 38 sur-
face samples from the Pearl River drainage basin (Liu et al., 2007a,b),
16 surface samples from the South China shelf (Boulay et al., 2004),
and 9 surface samples from the South China slope (Boulay et al., 2004)
Table 1
Drainage area, runoff, and suspended sediment discharge of major rivers owing
directly into the South China Sea (SCS)
River Drainage
area
Runoff Suspended
sediment
discharge
Data source
(km
2
) (m/yr) (Mt/yr)
Ta-An (Taiwan) 633 1.6 7.1 Dadson et al. (2003)
Wu (Taiwan) 1981 1.9 9.8
Cho-Shui (Taiwan) 2989 1.2 54.1
Pei-Kang (Taiwan) 597 1.3 2.2
Pa-Chang (Taiwan) 441 1.5 6.3
Tseng-Wen (Taiwan) 1157 1.1 25.1
Erh-Jen (Taiwan) 175 1.8 30.2
Kao-Ping (Taiwan) 3067 2.5 49.0
Tung-Kang (Taiwan) 175 2.9 0.4
Lin-Pien (Taiwan) 310 2.5 3.3
Total SW Taiwan 187.5
Pearl (South China) 440,000 6.9 69.0 Milliman and
Syvitski (1992)
Red (Vietnam) 120,000 10.0 130.0
Mekong (Vietnam) 790,000 5.9 160.0
Chao Phraya (Thailand) 160,000 1.9 11.0
Baram (Malaysia) 22,800 2.5 12 Hiscott (2001),
Lambiase et al. (2002)
Fig. 1. (A) Bathymetry of the South China Sea (SCS) and major rivers on adjacent continents and islands. Locations of surface sediments in the Pearl River drainage basin (Liu et al.,
2007a,b), in the Luzon rivers, and on the South China shelf and slope (Liu et al., 2003; Boulay et al., 2004, 2005) are displayed; positions of ODP Leg 184 Sites 1145 and 1146 are also
shown. In Luzon: 1, the Cagayan River; 2, the Pampanga River; 3, the Agno River. (B) Locations of surface sediments from rivers and lakes in southwestern Taiwan and from the shelf,
accretionary prism east of the Manila trench, and passive continental margin west of the Manila trench off Taiwan in the northeastern SCS. See Supplementary data Table S1 for
detailed GPS positions; the Manila trench after Huang et al. (2006). (C) Enlarged sample locations off the Kao-Ping River estuary.
151 Z. Liu et al. / Marine Geology 255 (2008) 149155
including core top samples of ODP Site 1145 (Boulay et al., 2005) and
Site 1146 (Liu et al., 2003) (Fig. 1A) were referred for clay component
comparison of sources. All the referred literature data were generated
using exactly the same analytical and calculational methods with this
study by a same research group (Liu et al., 2003; Boulay et al., 2004,
2005; Liu et al., 2007a,b) to keep the consistency of data comparison.
3. Results
The clay mineral assemblages in rivers and lakes of southwestern
Taiwan are similar, predominantly consisting of illite (4466%) and
chlorite (3348%), with very scarce kaolinite (04%) and smectite
(08%) (Supplementary data Table S1). Their average percentage is
55% for illite, 43% for chlorite, 1% for kaolinite, and 1% for smectite,
respectively (Table 2, Fig. 2). Clay minerals onthe southwesternTaiwan
shelf contain only illite (5761%, average 59%) and chlorite (3943%,
average 41%), without measurable kaolinite and smectite (Fig. 2). The
accretionary prism east of the Manila trench is characteristic of
dominating illite (4964%, average 56%) and chlorite (3542%, average
39%), with scarce kaolinite (05%, average 2%) and smectite (015%,
average 3%) (Fig. 2). The passive continental marginwest of the Manila
trench has a similar clay mineral distribution with the accretionary
prism, with slight increase in smectite (2%) and decrease in illite (2%),
respectively (Table 2, Fig. 2). To sumup, the results of all samples from
the rivers and lakes in southwestern Taiwan to the shelf, accretionary
prism and passive continental margin on the seaoor off Taiwan
present dominating illite (average 56%) and chlorite (41%), with very
scarce kaolinite and smectite (Fig. 2). In addition, the illite chemistry
index (0.260.40) and illite crystallinity (0.120.222) also indicate
concentrative values at 0.36 and 0.162, respectively (Supplemen-
tary data Table S1, Table 2).
For three Luzon rivers, all samples present predominant smectite
(8392%, average 88%), with minor kaolinite (average 9%) and scarce
chlorite and illite (Supplementary data Table S1). There is no obvious
difference in clay mineral distribution among various river drainage
basins in Luzon, suggesting the major contribution of smectite from
Luzon to the SCS.
4. Discussion
The similar clay mineral distribution from southwest Taiwan to the
northeastern SCS (Fig. 2) suggests a provenance-controlled consistency
in the clay mineral assemblage. Both the active accretionary prism east
of the Manila trench and the passive continental margin west of the
Manila trench receive illite and chlorite all from southwestern Taiwan,
not depending on their tectonic settings. The dominating illite and
chlorite results are generally in accordance with a few literature data
generated from surface sediments off southwestern Taiwan (Jiang et al.,
2006) and river sediments in western Taiwan (Wan et al., 2007). But
their direct comparison is not allowed because the weighting factors of
Biscaye (1965) were used by the latter two studies. However, an earlier
investigation on shelf sediments in the Taiwan Strait generated much
higher smectite and kaolinite contents of 1040%and 59%, respectively
(Eisma et al., 1995). They applied the very different analytical and
calculational methods that greatly increased the smectite content,
preventing our clay mineral data from their direct comparison.
The Taiwan-sourced clay mineral assemblage is obviously different
from the ones in the Pearl River drainage basin, in the Luzon rivers,
and on the shelf and slope of South China (Fig. 3). The Taiwan-sourced
clays are chiey illite (average 56%) and chlorite (41%) with scarce
kaolinite and smectite, the Pearl River sediments consists mainly of
kaolinite (46%), illite (26%), and chlorite (25%) with scarce smectite
(3%) (Liu et al., 2007a,b), whereas clays from the Luzon rivers are
principally smectite (88%) with minor kaolinite (9%) and scarce
chlorite and illite (Table 2). The South China shelf and slope sediments
contain abundant smectite (1946%), illite (2637%), and chlorite (19
Table 2
Average clay mineral assemblages of various regions in southwestern Taiwan, the Pearl River drainage basin, Luzon, and the northern SCS
Region Sample number Chlorite Illite Smectite Kaolinite Illite chemistry Illite crystallinity
(%) (%) (%) (%) (2)
SW Taiwan rivers 19 43 55 1 1 0.33 0.16
SW Taiwan lakes 5 42 55 1 2 0.38 0.18
SW Taiwan shelf 11 41 59 0 0 0.36 0.16
E Manila trench 87 39 56 3 2 0.35 0.16
W Manila trench 18 39 54 5 2 0.35 0.16
Pearl River 38 25 26 3 46 0.62 0.30
Luzon rivers 7 2 1 88 9 / /
S China shelf 16 30 37 19 13 0.54 0.24
S China slope 7 19 26 46 9 0.51 0.23
Illite chemistry index and illite crystallinity of the Luzon river samples were not measurable because their illite is very scarce. Data of the Pearl River fromLiu et al. (2007a,b); data of
the shelf and slope of South China from Liu et al. (2003) and Boulay et al. (2004, 2005).
Fig. 2. Distribution of average clay mineral assemblages in lakes and rivers in
southwestern Taiwan and on the shelf, accretionary prism east of the Manila trench,
and passive continental margin west of the Manila trench off Taiwan. See Fig. 1 for their
geographic locations and Supplementary data Table S1 for detailed GPS positions and
clay mineral proportions. N, number of surface samples.
152 Z. Liu et al. / Marine Geology 255 (2008) 149155
30%) with minor kaolinite (913%), with increasing smectite and
decreasing illite and chlorite seawards (Liu et al., 2003; Boulay et al.,
2004, 2005). The physical segregation during sedimentation of clay
minerals is not remarkable and can't play a major impact on their
planar distribution in the northern SCS (Liu et al., 2007a). Therefore,
these variations indicate that Taiwan discharges sediments character-
ized by abundant illite and chlorite and no kaolinite and smectite to
the northern SCS. Instead, the Pearl River provides abundant kaolinite
and no smectite, and Luzon provides mainly smectite to the sea.
Illite and chlorite on the shelf and slope of South China may also be
derived fromthe Pearl River, where average illite and chlorite contents
are 26% and 25%, respectively (Table 2). But the illite contents on the
shelf (37%) and slope (26%) are higher than or equal to the Pearl River
values (Table 2), precluding the Pearl River as a unique major source for
illite. Because illite and chlorite in the SCS are considered to have same
sources for both surface sediments and geological records (e.g., Chen,
1978; Liu et al., 2003, 2004), we here further determine the source of
illite in the northern SCS to account for the provenance of combined
illite and chlorite. Illite chemistry index and illite crystallinity of all
mentioned samples are employed, because the two indicators present
not only hydrolysis conditions of illite (Esquevin, 1969; Krumm and
Buggisch, 1991) but also source regions and transport paths (Petschick
et al., 1996). A linear correlation of illite chemistry index with illite
crystallinity exists for surface sediments on the South China shelf and
slope and in two major potential source areas, the Pearl River and
southwestern Taiwan (Fig. 4). A higher illite chemistry index cor-
responds to a lower illite crystallinity (a higher value), indicating a
stronger hydrolysis, and vice versa. The Pearl River and southwestern
Taiwan actually serve as two end-members of the hydrolysis condition
and then illite provenance. The Pearl River drainage basin undergoes
an intensive weathering affected by warm climate with heavy mon-
soon precipitation and stable tectonics as well (Liu et al., 2007b), and,
therefore, provides abundant Al-richillite (Fig. 4). ThoughTaiwanhas a
similar subtropical East Asian monsoon climate, the major and trace
element geochemistry suggests only a moderate chemical weathering
due mainly to extremely high erosion rates triggered by earthquake
and storm activities (Selvaraj and Chen, 2006). The high physical
weathering rate in Taiwan is consistent with present illite chemistry
index and illite crystallinity data with complete FeMg-rich illite. The
illite in the shelf and slope sediments of South China is in the mid-way
between the two end-members with more FeMg-rich illite seawards,
indicating a gradual decrease in the illite contribution from the Pearl
River and an increase contribution from southwestern Taiwan. In
consideration of average illite crystallinity values of 0.162 for the
Taiwan-sourced samples, 0.232 for the South China slope samples,
0.242 for the South China shelf samples, and 0.302 for the Pearl
River samples (Table 2), we approximatelycalculate the combinedillite
and chlorite contribution ratio of southwestern Taiwan to the Pearl
River as 3:4 for the South China shelf and as 1:1 for the South China
slope (Fig. 4).
A large volume of basalt is present in the volcanic Luzon Arc
(Commission for the Geological Map of the World, 1975) and could
represent, by weathering, a huge amount of smectite with average 88%
in rivers of Luzon. The Luzon provenance, therefore, is suggested to
account for all smectite contribution in sediments on the South China
shelf and slope (19% for the South China shelf and 46% for the South
China slope, Table 2). Assuming that kaolinite in the northern SCS is
provided completely from the Pearl River, a linear correlation of illite
crystallinity with kaolinite (%) is observed for all surface sediments,
with two end-members of the Pearl River and Taiwan sources and
transitional South China shelf and slope sediments (Fig. 5). Taking into
account the kaolinite contents (Table 2), the combined illite and
chlorite contribution ratios, and the unique smectite source of Luzon,
we estimate the contributions of clay minerals as 52% from the Pearl
River and 29% from Taiwan to the South China shelf, and as 31%
from the Pearl River and 23% from Taiwan to the South China slope
(Figs. 5 and 6).
Fig. 5. Correlations of illite crystallinity with kaolinite (%) of surface sediments in
southwestern Taiwan, the Pearl River, and the northern SCS. The coarse dash line shows
a linear correlation between illite crystallinity and kaolinite content.
Fig. 4. Correlations of illite chemistry index with illite crystallinity of surface sediments
in southwestern Taiwan, the Pearl River, and the northern SCS. The coarse dash line
shows a linear correlation between illite chemistry index and illite crystallinity.
Fig. 3. Comparison of clay mineral assemblages among southwestern Taiwan, the Pearl
River, Luzon, and the northern SCS. Data of the Pearl River fromLiu et al. (2007a,b), data
of the shelf and slope of South China fromLiu et al. (2003) and Boulay et al. (2004, 2005).
153 Z. Liu et al. / Marine Geology 255 (2008) 149155
Thus, the Pearl River contributes approximately half of its clay
minerals to the South China shelf and only one third of clay minerals to
the slope, whereas southwesternTaiwancontributes about one fourthof
its clay minerals to both the shelf and slope (Fig. 6). The results have
raised a question: how are the Taiwan-sourced clays delivered to the
South China shelf and slope with a much higher percentage than
previously thought? As the westwardbranches of the NorthPacic Deep
Water (NPDW) and the Kuroshio Current (KC) in the western Pacic
cross the Bashi Strait, they may transport the Taiwan-sourced sediments
to the northern SCS. Ldmann et al. (2005) suggested a branch of the
southward deep NPDW crossing the Bashi Strait and carrying eastern
and southern Taiwan-sourced re-suspended ne sediments into the
northern SCS (Fig. 6). The westward deep currents are then pushed
upslope at the southeast slope of the Dongsha Islands and release
sediments to form high sedimentation-rate drifts on the South China
slope (Ldmann et al., 2005). Instead, Shao et al. (2007) considered the
bottom currents originated also from the branch of NPDW but moving
southwestwards along the slope to form high sedimentation-rate drifts
on sides of NESW bottom channels. Recently, high-resolution seismic
data revealed that the high sedimentation-rate drifts are actually
composed of a series of sediment waves that have migrated upslope
(Zhonget al., 2007), conrmingthe existence of westwarddeepcurrents
in front of the South China slope. Despite the absence of observed deep-
sea current data, we accept the assumption of the deep-sea currents
(Ldmann et al., 2005) that carry the Taiwan-sourced sediments to the
South China slope. In addition, a branch of the northward surface
Kuroshio Current (KC) may also transport suspended Taiwan-sourced
sediments westwards when it enters into the SCS through the Bashi
Strait (Caruso et al., 2006). The current is also one of most important
carriers accounting for smectite contribution to the northern SCS from
the Luzon Arc and the western Philippine Sea (Wan et al., 2007).
5. Conclusions
Our results indicate that the clay mineral assemblage of surface
sediments in major rivers and lakes in southwestern Taiwan and on
the seaoor off Taiwan in the northeastern SCS consists dominantly
of illite (average 56%) and chlorite (41%), with very scarce kaolinite
and smectite. Their respective distribution from the rivers and lakes
to the shelf, accretionary prism, and passive continental margin on
the seaoor off Taiwan does not show obvious basin-wide differ-
ences. By combining with clay mineral records of the Pearl River
drainage basin, the Luzon rivers, and the South China shelf and slope
and assuming that kaolinite in the northern SCS is provided
completely from the Pearl River, the linear correlations of illite
chemistry index with illite crystallinity and of illite crystallinity with
kaolinite (%) are observed for all surface sediments, with two end-
members of the Pearl River and Taiwan sources and transitional
South China shelf and slope sediments. The contribution of Taiwan in
clay minerals is semi-quantitatively evaluated as 29% to the South
China shelf and 23% to the South China slope, respectively.
Accordingly, the contribution of the Pearl River to the South China
shelf and slope is 52% and 31%, respectively. The Luzon Arc
accounts for the rest of clay mineral components for the northern
SCS mainly by providing smectite. The Bashi Strait-crossed branches
of the southward deep NPDW and the northward surface KC may
transport Taiwan-sourced suspended sediments westwards to the
northern SCS.
Acknowledgments
We thanktheCentral Geological Surveyof Taiwantoprovide samples
off SW Taiwan for this study, and Hailing Ren and Hui-Ling Lin for
assistance in collecting the samples. We specially thank Gert J. De Lange
and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive reviews on the
early version of this paper. This study was supported by the National
Basic Research Programof China (2007CB815906), the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (40776027 and 40621063), the Shanghai
Rising-Star Program (07QH14014), the Shanghai Shuguang Program
(07SG23), the Fok Ying Tung Education Foundation (101018), and the
Doctoral Program of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education of
China (20060247032) to Z. Liu. Partial funding for this study was
Fig. 6. Semi-quantitative estimation of detrital ne-grained sediment contributions to the northern SCS from Taiwan, the Pearl River, and Luzon, respectively. The deep North Pacic
Deep Water (NPDW) after Ldmann et al. (2005), the surface Kuroshio Current (KC) after Caruso et al. (2006).
154 Z. Liu et al. / Marine Geology 255 (2008) 149155
provided by the Taiwan National Science Council (NSC 94-2611-M-110-
002 and NSC 95-2745-M-110-001) to J.T. Liu.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data associated with this article can be found, in
the online version, at doi:10.1016/j.margeo.2008.08.003.
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