ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Biogeochemistry
This article is part of the Research TopicBiogeochemical Cycles in Marine Sediments: Insights from Elemental Enrichment, Mineralogy, and Stable Isotope VariabilityView all 6 articles
Sedimentary Evolution and paleoclimate conditions in the Yangtze River Estuary across the late Pleistocene to early Holocene
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hohai University, Nanjing, China
- 2China Geological Survey Nanjing Center, Nanjing, China
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Due to the complexity of sedimentary evolution since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) in the Yangtze River Estuary (YRE), sedimentary responses across different regions have varied significantly, but the sedimentary record on the northern flank of the estuary remains incomplete. Here we integrate analyses of sedimentology, chemical weathering indices (CIA and K/Al), total organic carbon (TOC), and organic carbon isotopes (δ13Corg) from the QDQ2 core to reconstruct the regional environmental evolution from 36.1 to 8.4 cal kyr BP. Facies analysis demonstrates that QDQ2 succession documents environmental shift from terrestrial distributary channels to marine delta fronts. Sedimentary evidence of marine transgression during the Last Deglacial Period is identified, and facies shifts were driven by climate events and sea-level variations. Furthermore, the Gehu transgression did not influence the facies succession of study area. Instead, variations in CIA and K/Al ratios indicate modification in the hinterland chemical weathering intensity, likely driven by the warm climate characteristics of Marine Isotopic Stage 3a (MIS 3a).
Keywords: Climate change2, LastGlacial Maximum5, Sea level change3, Sedimentary evolution1, Transgression4
Received: 20 Nov 2025; Accepted: 17 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Sun, Chen, Liu, Jiang, Zhou and He. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Gaoyuan Sun
Tianchen He
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