REE Characteristics Of Core Q43 Sediments From Outer-shelf Of East China Sea And The Provenance Indicating

Determining the provenance of the sediment studied is a basic work. Rare earth elements are paid much attention by many researchers in this field, because they have showed particular geochemical behaviors in geologic processes. In this paper, REE are used to trace the core Q43 sediment samples from the outer shelf of East China Sea. For this purpose, the REE compositions of some selected samples are detected by ICP-MS. Before analyzed the samples are separated in two parts by grain-size, and the two parts are analyzed by the same method.Also, some core samples fronrChangjiang delta and Huanghe delta are treated in the same way to have a comparison between core Q43 samples and paleosoil samples which deposited in almost the same period. Some documented data is also applied to have a wide comparison and to have a close knowledge of the REE composition of Chinese upper crust. And they show that Chinese upper crust has a stable REE composition, and those different grain-size sediment samples which are from different site, and deposited in different periods do not establish any remarkable difference. This is an advantage in tracing the sediment in the ocean which is derived from China. The REE composition of Q43 sediment is similar to that of Chinese upper crust, and it is obviously that it was derived from China.Because the different end members of Chinese sediment do not have any absolutely difference in REE composition, so it is difficult to tell from what part did core Q43 sediment come only based on REE data. Perhaps some other data is needed to answer this question.Based on the comparison between the characteristics of the REE composition of Q43 andthose of some selected end-members of Chinese river sediments, it is concluded that Q43 sediment was not merely come from one place. It is perhaps mixture of sediment from different end-mumbers, and the ratio between them were not stable.