Late Quaternary environmental change of Yellow River Basin: An organic geochemical record in Bohai Sea (North China)

Bulk geochemical characterization (total organic carbon, grain size distribution, carbon isotope composition) and molecular biomarkers (lignin phenols, straight chain aliphatic hydrocarbons, glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers) were analyzed for a 21 m core from the Bohai Sea (North China), spanning ca 21 ka BP. These paleo-proxies presented remarkable differences between the late glacial period and the Holocene, reflecting continental and coastal environments, respectively. Two peat layers were deposited during the period of ca 9000-8460 yr BP. Thereafter the core site has been consistently covered by seawater until recent reclamation of land from the sea. The occurrence of a total organic carbon maximum from ca 6000-3800 yr BP was attributed to delivery of organic carbon enriched sediments via the Yellow River, consistent with increased vegetation density and higher development of soil under warm and humid mid-Holocene climate conditions. The distributions of lignin phenol compositions and C₃₁/C₂₉n-alkane ratio suggested the largest expansion of woody plants between ca 5300 and 4000 yr BP, corresponding to the extremely favorable climatic conditions. Since ca 3800 yr BP, an abrupt increase in the C₃₁/C₂₉n-alkane ratio suggested higher abundance of grasses, consistent with a drying climate trend after the mid-Holocene. Since our coastal sediments close to the Yellow River outflow contain catchment-integrated environmental signals of the river basin, molecular proxies demonstrate that the variability of vegetation distributions in the Holocene is a widespread phenomenon in those areas adjacent to Yellow River Basin.