Quaternary subsidence and river channel migration in the Yangtze Delta Plain, eastern China

Abstract

The Yangtze delta's fluvial channel system and overall depocenter configuration have been controlled largely by movement of active subsurface structures during most of the Quaternary. Data from numerous borings reveal marked variations in lithic distribution and thickness of Pleistocene and Holocene sequences across the delta plain. These stratigraphic differences record shifts in the Yangtze's depocenter through time and are in large part a direct response to the interaction of land motion with sea level variations and fluvial and oceanographic processes. Delta plain subsidence has progressed from north to south since early Quaternary time, and this has induced a southward shift of the Yangtze river channel from the early Pleistocene to the present. -from Authors