Magnetic properties of sediments from the Pearl River Delta, South China: Paleoenvironmental implications

Magnetic parameters and their environmental implications of sediments in a core (PD) from the Pearl River Delta, South China, indicate that ferrimagnetic minerals with low coercivity, such as magnetite, dominate the magnetic properties although small amounts of Fe-sulphides occur. The fraction of Fe-sulphides increases and becomes the dominant minerals determining the magnetic characteristics in grey-black organic-rich clay horizons, indicating an anoxic, sulphate-reducing swamp environment resulting from a marine regression. In the “Huaban clay”, hard magnetic minerals, such as hematite and goethite, largely control the magnetic properties of the sediments and imply a long period of exposure and weathering. Where magnetite is the main magnetic mineral, its fraction and grain size determine properties such as magnetic susceptibility (κ) and saturation isothermal remanent magnetization (SIRM). Ratios of SIRM/κ and χ arm/SIRM reflect changes in sea level with high SIRM/κ and χ arm/SIRM correlating with a smaller magnetic mineral grain size and rising sea level. Based on downcore variations of these environmental magnetic parameters along with sediment characteristics and microfauna, the sedimentary environment of the Pearl River Delta area can be divided into two main cycles of transgression and regression during the late Pleistocene and Holocene with more sub-cycles of sea level fluctuation during each transgression.