Search

• Depositional sequences and sedimentary facies/units were established on core records and seismic profiles. • Depositional sequences were primarily constrained by the sea-level change over the past 140 kyr. • Regressive systems tract is dominant compared to transgressive systems tract in a complete sequence. Two 40 m-long sediment cores BL01 and SC02 were drilled in the lower Mekong River Delta plain and compared to high-resolution seismic profiles from the adjacent shelf documenting the presence of two depositional sequences (SQ1, SQ2) for the past 140 kyr. SQ2 is a fourth-order sequence and covers a complete sea-level cycle of 120 kyr. SQ1 is a fifth-order sequence comprising a sea-level half cycle in the past 20 kyr. These two sequences are bounded by the sequence boundaries (SB1, SB2) and the topographic surface. The transgressive systems tract (TST2) of SQ2 was probably formed during the sea-level rise from the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 lowstand to the MIS 5e highstand, indicated by riverine-estuarine and shallow-marine sediments. The regressive systems tract (RST2) of SQ2 corresponds to the sea-level lowering from MIS 5e to 3 with deltaic and alluvial plain sediments prevailing. These sediments were then gradually exposed to tropical subaerial processes to generate the formation of patchy reddish-orange stiff sandy silt and clay. The overlaying sequence SQ1 contains the lowstand systems tract (LST1), TST1, and RST1. LST1 consists of deltaic sediments at the shelf edge deposited during the MIS 2 sea-level lowstand. TST1 includes retrograding-fluvial, estuarine, and shallow-marine sediments deposited during the deglacial sea-level rise 19–8 cal kyr BP and the maximum flooding period 8–6 cal kyr BP before the advance of the modern Mekong River Delta. RST1 comprises the modern delta-facies association formed during the past 8 kyr and is restricted to the water depth of 25 m. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Bent incised valleys formed at times of relatively stable, but lowered sea level. • Bent-incised valley-infill deposits display distinct fill architecture. • Fluvial, estuarine and marine conditions differ in depositional style. • Vertically stacked aggrading strata record pronounced sea-level rise. During times of lowered sea level, Mekong River and Red River incised valleys into the ancient coastal plains of the exposed shelves of the western South China Sea. The deglacial fill history of the incised valley was investigated by seismic surveys and sediment cores. The channels mainly exhibit a low-sinuosity course, but some channel segments are bent. The oldest part of the channel-bend fill exhibits shingled reflectors in Parasound seismic records documenting lateral channel migration typical of meandering rivers. Above, vertically stacked reflectors, which extend from the inner-bend side onto the cut-bank side document that the river-mouth channel turned to a mainly depositional mode. Vertical aggradation started when sea level was ~ 1–2 m below river water-level. During this phase, about two-third of the channel depth was filled by "fluvial-to-estuarine" mud having negative log(Ti/Ca) values as evidenced in XRF core scan data. Typically estuarine conditions developed when river water-level was approximate to sea level. Today channel bends form in estuaries within the zone of bedload convergence. Therefore, it is suggested that the studied channel bends represent antecedent, inherited features that formed during phases of prolonged phases of lowered, but relatively stable sea level to allow bends morphologically to develop. In fact, the bends occur not only in the western South China Sea but also in other areas of the world within a depth range that corresponds to times of retarded sea-level fall during MIS 5b, 5d, 4, and 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]