Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Biogeochemistry
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2024.1427579
This article is part of the Research Topic Linking Source and Sink: Advances in Provenance and Sedimentary Processes of Marine Sediments View all 3 articles

Detrital zircons record the provenance and source-to-sink process in the northwestern margin of the South China Sea

Provisionally accepted
Heqi Cui Heqi Cui Ce Wang Ce Wang *Ming Su Ming Su Yaping Lei Yaping Lei Letian Zeng Letian Zeng Junmin Jia Junmin Jia
  • School of Marine Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai Campus, Zhuhai, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The northwestern continental margin of the South China Sea, extending from the broad shelf and canyon-growth slope across the Xisha Trough, represents a relic crustal rift that eventually connects to the abyssal plain. However, the provenance and source-to-sink process of sediments in this special topography remains unclear. In this study, we present the detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology of surface sediments from the northwestern margin of the South China Sea to identify the sediment provenance, track the transport pathway, and understand the source-to-sink process in this margin. The results show that detrital zircons exhibit a wide range of U-Pb ages from 3062.9 to 41.5 Ma and are characterized by peaks centered on 140-154 Ma, 240-258 Ma, 425-452 Ma, and 738-991 Ma. Statistical analysis indicates that the clastic sediments on the shelf closely resemble those sourced from the Pearl River system. Conversely, sediments on the slope and abyssal plain demonstrate characteristics indicative of multiple sources, primarily originating from the Pearl River, with a minor contribution from the Red River. Further quantitative study reveals a progressive increase (from 8.2% to 43.2%) in the prevalence of Red River-derived sediments with ascending water depth on the shelf and slope, while sediment influx in the deepest sector remains predominantly sourced from the Pearl River. This study emphasizes the controls of topography and currents in modulating the transportation of coarse-grained and fine-grained sediments within the source-to-sink system and provides a favorable solution for reconstructing the sedimentary process in continental margins.

    Keywords: provenance, detrital zircon, U-Pb geochronology, Source-to-sink, Continental margin, South China Sea

    Received: 04 May 2024; Accepted: 30 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Cui, Wang, Su, Lei, Zeng and Jia. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ce Wang, School of Marine Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Zhuhai Campus, Zhuhai, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.