Thirty million year deep-sea records in the South China Sea

In the spring of 1999 the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 184 Shipboard Party cored 17 holes at 6 deep water sites in the northern and southern parts of the South China Sea (SCS). Chinese scientists actively participated in the entire process of this first deep-sea drilling leg off China, from proposal to post-cruise studies. More than 30 categories of analyses have been conducted post-cruise in various Chinese laboratories on a large number of core samples, and the total number of analyses exceeded 60 thousand.The major scientific achievements of the Leg 184 studies are briefly reported in three successive papers, with the first one presented here dealing with deep-sea stratigraphy and evolution of climate cycles. This ODP leg has established the best deep-sea stratigraphic sequences in the Western Pacific: the 23-Ma isotope sequence from the Dong-Sha area is unique worldwide because of its continuity; the last 5-Ma sequence from the Nansha area represents one of the best 4 ODP sites worldwide with the highest time-resolution for that time interval, and the sequences of physical properties enable a decadal-scale time resolution. All these together have provided for the first time high-quality marine records for paleoenvi-ronmental studies in the Asian-Pacific region. This new set of stratigraphic records has revealed changes in climate cyclicity over the last 20 Ma with the fluctuating power of the 100 ka, 400 ka, 2000 ka eccentricity cycles, indicating the evolving response of the climate system to orbital forcing along with the growth of the Antarctic and Northern Hemisphere ice sheets.     

Dynamic control on grain-size distribution of terrigenous sediments in the western South China Sea: Implication for East Asian monsoon evolution

High-resolution oxygen isotope stratigraphy of Core MD05-2901, which is located off eastern Vietnam in the western South China Sea （SCS）, was established and indicated that the core spans a time period of the past 450 ka. Based on the bulk density, fractional porosity and lithogenic content of the sediments, terrigenous mass accumulation rate （TMAR） was obtained, which is 4.9-6.0 g cm^-2 ka^-1 on average during interglacial stages, higher than that during glacial stages, i.e. 1.9-5.0 g cm^-2 ka^-1, which is different from northern and southern SCS which show higher TMAR in glacial stages. By principle component analysis of grain size distribution of all the samples, two main control factors （F1 and F2） were obtained, which are responsible for about 80% variance of granularity. The contents of grain size population 1.26-2.66 μm% and 10.8-14.3 μm% which are sensible to F1 show high-frequency fluctuation, and correlate well with the summer insolation at 15^o N. They exhibit a distinct cyclicity with frequencies near 23 ka and 13 ka, in contrast to a strong frequency peak near 100 ka obtained in proxies 4.24-7.42 μm% and 30.1-43.7 μm% controlled mainly by F2. The sedimentary character of this part of the SCS was controlled by variations of input flux from two main source areas, namely the southwest and north SCS, which were transported by different circulations of surface current forced by East Asian summer monsoon and winter monsoon respectively. We believe that the East Asian summer monsoon has fluctuated with high frequency and been forced by changes in solar insolation in low latitude associated with precession and half precession, while ice-volume forcing is probably a primary factor in determining the strength and timing of the East Asian winter monsoon but with less important insolation forcing.     

Deep sea pollen record during 12－1.6 Ma from the southern South China Sea and its response to envi-ronmental change

Based on deep-sea pollen results (512-76 m) from ODP Site 1143 in the southern South China Sea (SCS),the climate and vegetation evolution sequence on the surrounding islands and the exposed continental shelf are discussed. The pollen records show that the pollen influx was quite low before 8.15 Ma and increased dramatically afterwards. The influx changes can be ascribed,on one side,to tectonics deformations around the southern SCS resulting in rapid uplift of islands and subsequent increase of the sediment rates and pollen influx and on the other side to climate cooling and monsoon enhancement. Around 2.63 Ma was another obvious boundary,the increasing of pollen and spores influx since this time was mainly related to global climate cooling. Spectrum analysis of pollen influx values shows that 2 Ma,0.67 Ma,and 0.19-0.17 Ma cycles existed during 12-3.0 Ma,while 0.1 Ma and 46.9 ka cycles existed during 3.0-2.0 Ma.     

南海表面海温异常对南海季风影响的数值模拟

采用P-σ混合坐标系区域气候模式模拟了4－7月南海季风的爆发、演变过程，并进行了3组敏感性数值试验，研究南海表面海温异常对南海季风的影响，得到以下结论：（1）南海4月份海温异常对南海季风的爆发日期影响不大，但对季风爆发后的强度有所影响，异常增温造成南海季风增强，异常降温则南海季风减弱。（2）南海季风爆发和强度的变化与南海本身的海温变化情况有密切的关系，尤其是5月份南海海温异常。5月份南海异常增温可以使南海季风提前爆发，季风增强，南海海温异常降低时，南海季风爆发的时间推迟，季风减弱。（3）南海海温持续异常可以影响南海及中国大陆的高低空环流变化，海温持续异常增温可以使南海季风提前爆发，显地加强南海季风，并有利于南海季风向北推进，但当海温在6月份进一步持续增温时，则有利于季风维持在较南地区，阻碍季风向北发展；当海温持续异常降低时，南海季风推迟爆发，且明显减弱。     

南海海盆演变与深部海流

南海在距今34 Ma之前的始新世从陆地变为海洋,古水深不断加深,至距今24 Ma之前的中新世/渐新世之交,由于T60构造运动,南海海盆整体进入深海环境。但是,自中新世以来随着吕宋岛弧向欧亚板块碰撞,南海海盆的半封闭程度在距今10.0、6.5、3.0和1.2 Ma之前加剧,导致南海深部海水只能来自巴士海峡海槛深度2600 m以浅的太平洋。此后,巴士海峡两侧的南海与太平洋深部海水交换,由于全球海平面变化,呈现冰期/间冰期模式。     

Heat exchange at air-sea interface in the South China Sea during monsoon periods in 1986

Air-sea interaction is achieved by air-sea interface flux exchange. Therefore, general attention has been paid to connective researches of the air-sea interface flux exchange and the burst of the summer monsoon in the South China Sea. Some preliminary res…     

Exploring cyclic changes of the ocean carbon reservoir

A 5-Ma record from ODP Site 1143 has re-vealed the long-term cycles of 400—500 ka in the carbon isotope variations. The periodicity is correlatable all over the global ocean and hence indicative of low-frequency changes in the ocean carbon reservoir. As the same periodicity is also found in carbonate and eolian dust records in the tropical ocean, it may have been caused by such low-latitude proc-esses like monsoon. According to the Quaternary records from Site 1143 and elsewhere, major ice-sheet expansion and major transition in glacial cyclicity (such as the Mid-Brunhes Event and the Mid-Pleistocene Revolution ) were all pre-ceded by reorganization in the ocean carbon reservoir ex-pressed as an episode of carbon isotope maximum (d 13Cmax), implying the role of carbon cycling in modulating the glacial periodicity. The Quaternary glacial cycles, therefore, should no more be ascribed to the physical response to insolation changes at the Northern Hemisphere high latitudes alone; rather, they have been driven by the 揹ouble forcing? a combination of processes at both high and low latitudes, and of processes in both physical (ice-sheet) and biogeochemical (carbon cycling) realms. As the Earth is now passing through a new carbon isotope maximum, it is of vital impor-tance to understand the cyclic variations in the ocean carbon reservoir and its climate impact. The Pre-Quaternary varia-tions in carbon and oxygen isotopes are characterized by their co-variations at the 400-ka eccentricity band, but the response of d 13C and d 18O to orbital forcing in the Quater-nary became diverged with the growth of the Arctic ice-sheet. The present paper is the second summary report of ODP Leg 184 to the South China Sea.     

Changes in South Asian monsoon: New high-resolution paleoclimatic records from Tibet, China

High-resolution pollen records from 6 small lakes in the Tibetan Plateau provided the details of evolution of South Asian monsoon since the Last Glacial Maximum. Prior to 16 kaBP, the region was a desert-steppe characterized by cold and dry climates, the January temperature was 7 -10℃lower than that of present and the annual precipitation only accounted for 40% of the present. The temperature and precipitation increased gradually and trees began to live in the region after 12 kaBP, but during the interval from 9.2 to 6.3 kaBP, forest and forest-meadow appeared occasionally. From 8 to 5 kaBP, both January and July temperature was 2-3℃ higher and annual precipitation was also about 200 mm higher than that of the present. After 5 kaBP, temperature and precipitation decreased linearly and steppe vegetation began to degenerate.     

Deep-water Oligocene pollen record from South China Sea

Leg 184 of ODP recovered a record of deepwater sediments spanning the past 32.8 Ma from the South China Sea (SCS). The sediments of the Ofigocene (32.8-23.8 Ma) at Site 1148 contain relatively abundant fossil pollen. The pollen analysis at Site 1148 has established the first pollen assemblage sequence of deep-water Oligocene in the China Sea. The pollen assemblages of the Ofigocene are dominated by montane conifer tree pollen. The abundances of broad-leaved tree pollen are lower in the assemblages.Both of the montane conifer and broad-leaved tree pollen groups include mainly tropical-subtropical components. The pollen of cold and drought-enduring plants is present in lower content. The distinct change in pollen assemblage sequence of deep-water Oligocene of the SCS occurred at 32.0 Ma, indicative of an important shift of the Oligocene climate in the SCS region. The characteristics of the pollen flora of the deep-water Oligocene indicate the tropical montane ralnforest and lowland ralnforest developed on the areas around the SCS before 32.0 Ma, reflecting the warm and wet climatic condition. In the pollen flora of the Oligocene after 32.0 Ma, the temperate montane conifer and cool and drought-en- during deciduous tree taxa remarkably increased, indicating that the climate in the SCS region became comparatively cool and dry.     

南海夏季风活动激发的大气遥相关型

北半球夏季,南海地区是全球大气热状况变化最为激烈的区域之一,而南海夏季风则是该地区最为活跃的天气事件,它的演变必将导致其它地区大气环流的响应．通过相关计算、合成分析等手段,揭示与南海夏季风活动相关联的北半球大气遥相关型的存在．该波列状的遥相关型与东亚地区相连,经北太平洋延伸至北美西岸．最高的相关位于西太平洋副热带高压区域,因而它可能对我国旱涝天气产生重要影响．     

Evolution of the East Asian monsoon and its response to uplift of the Tibetan Plateau since 1.8 Ma recorded by major elements in sediments of the South China Sea

Evolution of the East Asian monsoon and its response to uplift of the Tibetan Plateau has been investigated in the study of global change. Core sediment samples drilled in the South China Sea during ODP Leg184 are the best materials for studying long-term variability of the East Asian monsoon. R-mode factor analysis of major elements in the fine grain-sized carbonate-free sediments (<4 μm) of the upper 185 mcd splice of ODP Site 1146 drilled during Leg184 in the South China Sea shows that Ti, TFe2O3, MgO, K2O, P, CaO, and Al2O3 are representative of a terrestrial factor. The variation in the terrestrial factor score is subject to chemical erosion in the source region and thus indicates the evolution of the East Asian summer monsoon. The terrestrial factor score has three stepwise decreases at ~1.3 Ma, ~0.9 Ma, and ~0.6 Ma, indicating the phased weakening of the East Asian summer monsoon is related to wholly stepwise, quick uplifts of the Tibetan Plateau since 1.8 Ma. The periodic fluctuation of the terrestrial factor score since ~0.6 Ma indicates that the glacial-interglacial cycles have been the main force driving the evolution of the East Asian monsoon. As in the case of Chinese loess, the long-term evolution of the East Asian monsoon recorded in sediments of the South China Sea reflects a coupled effect of the glacial-interglacial cycle and uplift of the Tibetan Plateau.     

Deep-sea pollen research in China

This paper briefly presents the progress of deep-sea pollen research in China since the beginning of ninetieths of the last Century. All the deep-sea pollen contri-butions mainly come from the South China Sea (SCS) and the East China Sea (ECS). The German-Chinese joint cruise (Sonne 95) and ODP 184 cruise initiated by Chinese scientists in the SCS provided excellent material for the deep-sea pollen research. So far a number of pollen results of 20-30 ka and million years from the SCS have been published. A couple of deep-sea pollen records from Okinawa Through of the ECS also came out. The high resolution pollen records obtained from the continuous deposits with high sedimentation rates and reliable age control of the deep-sea sediments provided a high time resolution history (hundred to millennial scales) of vegetation, environment and monsoon evolution of the pollen source areas (southern China and Japan). Spectral analysis of deep-sea pollen records from the SCS discovered orbital (100, 41, 23, 10 ka) and suborbital cyclicities(Heinrich and Dansgaard/Oscheger-O/D events) in the vegetation changes. Moreover, cross spectral analysis showed that the trend of vegetation changes in northern SCS was regulated mainly by changes of the ice volume in the Northern Hemisphere. The pollen record of the last 20 ka from the Okinawa Through of the ECS indicates that the marine environmental change lagged that on the terrestrail by about 1000 year. The asynchronous environmental changes between land and sea were probably caused by the time difference in thermohaline circulation. This study underscored the role of the deep-sea plant fossils as a bridge across the land and sea.     

A high-resolution clay mineralogical record in the northern South China Sea since the Last Glacial Maximum,and its time series provenance analysis

High-resolution clay mineralogical analysis of Core MD05-2904 in the northern South China Sea (SCS) covering the period since the Last Glacial Maximum shows that illite (29%–48%), smectite (14%–45%), chlorite (17%–28%), and minor kaolinite (6%–14%) comprise the clay mineral assemblage, and that time series variation does not present glacial-interglacial cyclicity. Provenance analysis indicates three end-member sources: almost all smectite derives from Luzon, all kaolinite is sourced from the Pearl River, and illite and chlorite originate from both the Pearl River and Taiwan. By comparing clay mineral compositions in surface sediments from the three major source areas and of the SCS, we reconstructed a time series of clay mineral contribution from the major provenances to the northern slope of the SCS using the linear separation method for illite crystallinity. There were three stages of provenance change. (1) During 24.1–17.5 ka BP, contributions from Taiwan and Luzon were similar (30%–40%), while that from the Pearl River was only 25%. (2) During 17.5–14.0 ka BP, the contribution from Luzon decreased rapidly to 20%–25%, while that from Taiwan increased to 35% from an average of 25% at 18 ka BP, and that from the Pearl River increased largely to 40%. (3) During the Holocene, differences in contributions from the three major provenances increased: the contribution from Luzon increased slightly and then remained at 27%–35%, that from Taiwan increased rapidly and then remained at 55%–60%, and that from the Pearl River decreased to 15%. The change in clay mineral contributions from different provenances is influenced mainly by clay mineral production, monsoon rainfall denudation, oceanic current transport, and sea-level change.     

东亚夏季风系统和南海台风活动的关系

本文用1981,1982年6—9月东亚与澳大利亚部份测站的常规资料作诊断分析,探讨东亚夏季风系统各主要成员与南海台风活动的关系.结果得到,澳大利亚冷高压加强,105°E附近的越赤道气流跟着增强,南海的ITCZ发展,南海台风生成于澳大利亚冷高压高峰后的衰减时段.西南季风气流是南海台风的重要能量输送带。南支高空东风急流的增强与北支东风急流的动量下传,有利于南海台风生成.西太平洋气旋波移入南海促使南海低压生成.     

Recent 2000-year geological records of mud in the inner shelf of the East China Sea and their climatic implications

AMS^14C dating and grain-size analysis for Core DD2, located at the north of the Yangtze River-derived mud off the Zhejiang-Fujian coasts in the inner shelf of the East China Sea, provide us a high-resolution grain-size distribution curve varying with depth and time. Data in the upper mud layer of Core DD2 indicate that there are at least 9 abrupt grain-size increasing in recent 2000 years, with each corresponding very well with the low-temperature events in Chinese history, which might result from the periodical strengthening of the East Asian Winter Monsoon (EAWM), including the first-revealed maximum temperature lowering event at around 990 a BP. At the same time, the finer grain size section in Core DD2 agrees well with the Sui-Tang Warming Period (600--1000 a AD) defined previously by Zhu Kezhen, during which the climate had a warm, cold and warm fluctuation, with a dominated cooling period of 750-850 a AD. The Little Ice Age (LIA) can also be identified in the core. It starts around 1450 a AD and was followed by a subsequent cooling events at 1510, 1670 and 1840 a AD. Timing of these cold events revealed here still needs to be further verified owing to some current uncertainty of dating we used in this study.     

An important stratigraphic boundary in dust accumulation, South China: evidence from magnetic susceptibility

preliminary studies on two kinds of aeolian dust accumulation in South China show that there are abrupt changes of magnetic susceptibility between the upper and lower parts of the typical profiles. This stratigraphic boundary may indict change in East Asian monsoon circulation pattern, which is induced by the significant uplift of the Tibetan Plateau in 0.15 myr or so.     

Anthropogenic climate change revealed by coral gray values in the South China Sea

The authors analyze the coral growth band from a colony in the northwestern South China Sea. The coral growth band can provide comprehensive environmental information on climate. The trend from the two-century-long annual density of the coral is in a good agreement with that of the global CO2 concentration. Both trends were small prior to the end of the 19th century; after that, trends became clear, more so from the 1960s to the 1990s (the end of the coral record). The overall coral density shows a steady d...     

Millennial climate changes since MIS 3 revealed by element records in deep-sea sediments from northern South China Sea

High resolution elemental MD05-2903 from the northern South records in core China Sea were obtained from XRF scanning and grain size and mineral component analyses. The K/Ti curve reveals climate changes since MIS 3 on a millennial scale, representing one of the best such records so far from deep-sea sediments of the South China Sea. When compared our K/Ti record with other climate records from high latitude ice cores and from East Asia stalagmites, variations in the K/Ti record show some typical saw-shaped features of rapid climate changes in the Northern Hemisphere. Grain size analysis reveals a close relationship between variations in K/Ti and in the fine end-member grain size. XRD analysis confirms that high K/Ti layers were dominated by K-rich weathering minerals, especially illite, while low K/Ti layers contain low illite but high abundance of Ti-rich heavy minerals. Therefore, the K/Ti record reflects changes in the input and deposition of fine weathering minerals and heavy minerals in the northern South China Sea region during stadials and interstadials. These elemental changes were largely con- trolled by variations in rainfall, erosion, and fluvial trans- portation induced by East Asia Monsoon.     

澳大利亚高压对南海夏季风爆发前期的影响

利用NCEP/NCAR的在分析资料,分析了1948～2004年期间澳大利亚（以下简称澳高）的年变化和日变化及其对南海夏季风的影响。结果显示在澳高强弱年这种影响有着不同的结果：在年际变化中,澳高与南海夏季风的相关性在澳高弱年明显大于强澳高年;而日变化中,澳高与南海夏季风的相关性在澳高弱年为正,澳高强年则为负。进一步研究表明,造成这些现象的原因大致可以归为：强弱澳高年,越赤道气流的通道变换;西太平洋副热带高压（以下简称副高）的位置偏向;马斯可林高压（以下简称马高）的作用的叠加效应.这些作用对于南海夏季风的重要组成部分：越赤道气流产生了重要影响,从而影响了南海夏季风的强度。     

南海深海盆的沉积充填

依据大洋钻探井及地震剖面资料,定量确定南海同扩张期和后扩张期深海盆沉积充填差异及沉积物来源变化。研究显示,南海深海盆自渐新世(32 Ma)开始形成,随着南海二次扩张海盆范围逐渐扩大,海盆内主要充填火山碎屑角砾岩及火山灰,碳酸盐岩、超微化石软泥,泥质粘土、粉砂质粘土、泥岩及粉细砂岩。深海盆充填主要沉积物为晚中新世(11.6Ma)以来的陆源碎屑沉积,丰富陆源碎屑的供给与南海闭合过程中同期区域构造事件(如青藏高原快速隆升、菲律宾板块俯冲)密切相关,也与晚中新世以来东亚季风增强以及源区强烈的风化剥蚀有关。