Li Guanbao

An approach to the age of Huanghe River in shelf regions of Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea

There are two different opinions on the formation history of Huanghe (Yellow) River. One postulates that Huanghe River might have come into existence before Tertiary. The other supposes that it joined up into a long river only in the last stage of Late Pleistocene. The appearance of Huanghe River is believed to have close relation to the uplifting of Tibetan Plateau. It is not likely that it could have come into being before its high elevation riverhead was formed. Today Huanghe River occurred probably during the recession of the sea in glacial periods. In the last glacial age, the climate was very harsh in the area north of the modern estuary of Changjiang (Yangtse) River; some areas were permafrost and the others barren deserts. At that time, eolation was the major exogenic force on exposed shelf. Beginning from 12 Ka BP, the global climate warmed up, resulting in gradual disappearance of continental mountain glaciers retreated, and sea level rose. Consequently, Huanghe River was replenished with water to become modern river system. With continued rising of sea level, Huanghe River delta moved continuously eastward.

A probe heat flow value of the East China Sea shelf

Bottom temperature variation (BTV) is a serious problem in determining the thermal gradient and heart flow of the sediments in shallow seas. The water depth of the East China Sea shelf is mostly below 150m, and the heat flow measurement is strongly affected by BTV. Following a statistical algorithm, we rechecked the temperature and thermal conductivity data of the cruises KX90-1 and KX91-1, carried out by a cooperation program of China and Japan, and calculate the heat flow in a site without long-term temperature record. The calculated heat flow in the site was 58.6±3.6 mW/m2, being just within the range of the drill heat flow value of East China Sea shelf. The inversed amplitude spectrum of BTV has a peak in frequency of 1/10 per year, and the annual component is also an important part. Comparison with two lakes of Lake Greifensee and Lac Leman (i.e. Lake Geneva), which are in different water depth, revealed that with increasing water depth, the peak of amplitude spectrum moved towards low frequency components. The heat flow values calculated in this paper and from petroleum bore hole in East China Sea shelf are much more close to that in southeast China than in Okinawa Trough.

Heat flow in northwest Pacific marginal seas

Heat flow studies in Northwest Pacific marginal seas has a more than 40 years history with more than 4000 heat flow values obtained. The regional average value is 80.4 mW/m2, which is lower than the worlds 87 mW/m2, but higher than those of the Eurasia continent and the Pacific Ocean. This reflects the regional crust property in the area. The studies on distribution of the heat flow and contour pattern of heat flow in 1°×1° and 2°×2° scales in Northwest Pacific marginal seas revealed that the most high heat flow anomalies in the area were found along back-are basins and island are in an obviously northeasterly track. Exceptions are the Komandoskaya Basin (KMB), the Izu-Bonin Trough (IBT) and the Mariana Trough (MT), which extend in northwest. The contours of low heat flow marked the boundaries of the continent and the ocean. The present heat flow values reflect the imprint of the last thermal event and relate closely to tectonic activity. The high heat flow gradient areas have high frequency of earthquake. Therefore, the area of faulting controlled the pattern of the heat flow anomalies. Heat flow gradient in 135° direction indicated a major lithosphere transformation oceanward resulting from movement of the earths material. In this paper, we described patterns of heat flow distribution in the Northwest Pacific, heat flow value changes in horizontal and vertical directions, combining the studies of Shi (1997) on the landforms of the island ares in east Asia and plate movement, and the results of Shi and Zhang (1998) on heat simulation of subduction of active ocean mountain and the activity of islands are. A preliminary model of geodynamics in the Northwest Pacific and its adjacent area was put forward. There is a great lateral heat flow gradient on the surface of the mantle between ocean and continent, which indicates that the materials in asthenosphere move from continent to ocean causing movement of the crust.