Are there marine sedimentary losses and transgressions in the Southeast Bohai Sea during MIS 2-MIS 3?

Abstract

Sedimentary architecture dominated by transgression–regression cycles in the shallow Bohai shelf region contains information about global sea-level, climate and local tectonics. However, previous studies of transgression–regression cycles in this region at orbital timescales that extend back to the early Pleistocene are sparse. In this study, we present an integrated sedimentological, paleontological study of a 32.49 m (93kyr BP) core (HZK02) recovered from the Bohai Sea, China, for which an AMS ¹⁴C and five OSL dates-based age model is available. Compared with previous pollen study in the Bohai area, the results show that there were two significant transgressions that occur in MIS 5c, top part of MIS 2 and MIS 1, with abundant foraminifera from the near shore shallow sea of the continental shelf, corresponding with prevailing arboreal pollen dominated by Pinus and Quercus. While, terrestrial herbs such as Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae dominated during colder periods, such as MIS 4, MIS 5b, when sea levels dropped significantly, corresponding with a scarcity of foraminifera in terrestrial sediment layers from MIS 5b, MIS 5a, MIS 4, and MIS 3. We find that at depth of 8.18–6.10 m, with depth of only 2.08 m and very high sediment rate, the duration age last from 64,100 yr BP to 10,500 yr BP, which might indicate some missing part of the deposition of MIS 3 and MIS 2. The transgressions signal has been found in top part of MIS 2 sediment, hardly in MIS 3.