Environmental evolution and its driving mechanisms of southeastern Beibu Gulf since the Last glacial period

The stratigraphic structure, the geochemistry of major and trace elements, and the composition of clay minerals and the crystallographic characteristics have been analyzed by single-channel shallow seismic, ICP-MS, EDS, and XRD. The climate evolution and its driving mechanisms since the last interglacial period in the southeastern Beibu Gulf have been accurately characterized. The variation of indices shows that the provenance supply of the northwest South China Sea has been controlled by climate and sea level changes since 75 thousand years (75 ka) ago. In the late Pleistocene, the Heinrich event and the differential uplift of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau caused the East Asian monsoon, especially the winter monsoon, to gradually increase at 56 ka, 41 ka, and 28 ka. Since the Holocene (11.5 ka ago), the southeastern part of the Beibu Gulf has experienced several drying-humid warming processes, which gradually evolved into the current climate stage.