Quartz Luminescence Properties From The Eastern China Rivers And Their Implications For Provenance

Fluvial sediment is an effective carrier for studying continental-oceanic interaction.The source of sediments during geological history in the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea has always been a hot topic.As we know,provenance indexes are inevitably influenced by many objective factors.Therefore,it is necessary to explore new approaches so that compensating and verifying each other.The present study analyses the luminescence sensitivities of quartz among 14 samples which are derived from three important rivers of eastern China(Huanghe,Yangtze and Zhuoshui)and the the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea.The study aims to verify reliablility of this method of quartz luminescence properties in identifying the sediment provenance of the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea,through comparing with geochemical provenance discrimination.The main results are as follows:(1)The luminescence sensitivities of quartz among 7 sediment fractions(<4 ?m,4~16 ?m,16~32 ?m,32~45 ?m,45~63 ?m,90~125 ?m)from Huanghe,Yangtze and Zhuoshui rivers,show that: the luminescence sensitivity of quartz changes with quartz grain size and the luminescence sensitivities of fine and coarse quartz are much lower than those of medium quartz(4~16?m,16~32 ?m,32~45 ?m).Besides there is a significant difference of luminescence sensitivities in all quartz partical fractions among Huanghe,Yangtze and Zhuoshui rivers,with highest in Yangtze and lowest in Zhuoshui River,especially among the fractions of 16~32 ?m,32~45 ?m and 45~63 ?m.(2)Based on the dosing-bleaching results,although increases of quartz luminescence sensitivities are predictable when fluvial sediments are transported in the sea,the increment might be much less than difference among the three rivers.Given the above,quartz luminescence sensitivities difference among Huanghe,Yangtze and Zhuoshui rivers can be used as a provenance discrimination proxy in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea.By comparing the luminescence sensitivities of quartz between riverine and marine sediments,sediments in southern Yellow Sea coast are contained in Yangtze river.Sediments along the coast of Hangzhou Bay and Zhejiang-Fujian mainly come from Yangtze.Hangzhou Bay is more influenced by the Yangtze derived sediments.Whereas,western coast of Taiwan Strait is mainly influenced by Zhuoshui River.(3)The results of sediments provenance discrimination in above coastal regions based on geochemical elements analysis(Ti,Ba,Zr,V,Cr,Ni,Al)are same with quartz luminescence properties analysis except in southern Yellow Sea coast,and the result based on geochemical elements analysis is from Huanghe and Yangtze rivers together.This defference shows the limitation of quartz luminescence properties analysis.Overall,it is preliminarily reliable to discriminate provenance of surface sediment in the sea by quartz luminescence sensitivity.