On the source and genesis of the mud in the central area of the South Yellow Sea

Investigations and studies for years all demonstrated that there is a patch of fine-grained mud in the central area of the South Yellow Sea. However, scientists have different opinions on its material source, genesis, and sedimentation intensity. Some believe that the materials come from the Huanghe River, some think that the mud area represents the depocentre of the South Yellow Sea, and some consider it as “relict mud”. The authors' geochemical study reveals that the mud is multi-sourced, yet the material supply is not ample, and that a little amount of fine-grained suspended materials deposited slowly under the dynamic action of a cyclonic gyre formed the modern muddy sediment, which is named “multi-source modern mud”. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, contribution No. 1646 from the Institute of Oceanology, Academia Sinica.