Environmental record from the mud area on the inner continental shelf of the East China Sea since the mid-Holocene

Paleoclimate record was revealed in Core MZ01 covering the mid-Holocene in age, located in the mud area of the inner continental shelf of the East China Sea. The ancient environment featured low-energy shallow sea shelf deposition formed mainly by coastal currents. The results show that temporal variation in geochemistry corresponds with the climate changes inferred from historical record. Relatively low MgO/Al2O3, CaO/K2O and high Al2O3/Na2O, K2O/Na2O, MnO/CaO values reflected a warm and humid climate in general, and vice versa. Therefore, these chemical indices could be applied to identify the variation of palaeoclimate in eastern China. The authors reconstructed the history of mid-Holocene climatic variation of the inner continental shelf of the East China Sea. From 8 300 a BP to 4 200 a BP, the climate was moderately warm and humid. From 4 200 a BP to 2 000 a BP, the climate turned cool and dry, and the regional climate frequently fluctuated in alternation of cool-dry periods (3 700 a BP, 2 850 a BP and 2 400 a BP) and warm-wet periods (3 250 a BP and 2 650 a BP). After 2 000 a BP, the climate of the study area gradually turned warm again, while the Little Ice Age, a cold event centered at around 250 a BP was indicated by those geochemical indices as mentioned above.