ABSTRACT Contourites (contour‐current deposits) are commonly associated with deep‐water environments, but this study documents a shallow‐water, muddy contourite drift in the centre of Taiwan Strait. The drift body (water depths of 30 to 70 m, 220 km long, 50 to 70 km wide, 0 to 30 m thick), with its long axis approximately colinear with the Taiwan Strait Current, is flanked on both sides by moats. Compositional data show that the drift is composed of sediment carried northward by the Taiwan Strait Current from the Choshui River draining Taiwan. The coast‐normal Changyun Ridge directly offshore of the Choshui River splits the Taiwan Strait Current into two branches that occupy the moats. Oblique cross‐drift flow from west to east contributes to drift growth. The dispersal system shows a down‐current fining from sands on the Changyun Ridge ( ca 100 km long, 25 to 45 km wide) to the fine‐grained elongate drift; these together represent the asymmetrical subaqueous portion of the Choshui delta. Cores show that the drift is &lt;8 kyr old, with sedimentation rates up to 7.8 m/ka. It coarsens upward during the initial phase of drift growth, perhaps due to an increase in current strength, with smaller‐scale textural bedding attributed to fluctuating current strengths or variations in wave energy depending on the location. Seismic data show that the southern end of the drift is migrating westward, due to elongation of the Changyun Ridge, whereas the middle and distal end are migrating eastward because of cross‐drift flow. Erosion by the eastern branch of the Taiwan Strait Current detached the drift from the coeval coastal mud belt. The influence of tidal currents is small because of the destructive interference of tidal waves entering from the two ends, creating weak rotary tidal currents over the drift. Wave energy is small within the Strait but larger waves arriving from the East China Sea are thought to be responsible for upward coarsening of the more exposed northern end. Taiwan Strait serves as a starting point for developing a facies model for ocean‐current‐dominated straits and seaways.

Xin Shan

Robert W. Dalrymple

Xuefa Shi

Shuqing Qiao

Chenguang Liu

Zhengquan Yao

Lina Jin

Qingfeng Hua

Han Feng

Shan Liu

Shihao Liu

Char‐Shine Liu

Paul Liu

Sedimentology

作为该领域的国际领导者，SEDIMENTOLOGY 发表了跨越沉积学、沉积地质学和沉积地球化学的开创性研究。涵盖的领域包括：实验和理论谷物运输；沉积物通量；现代和古代沉积环境；层序地层沉积物-生物相互作用；古土壤；成岩作用；稳定同位素地球化学；环境沉积学

As a leading international journal in the field of sedimentology, Sedimentology publishes pioneering research that spans sedimentology, sedimentary geology, and sedimentary geochemistry. The covered areas include experimental and theoretical grain transport, sediment flux, modern and ancient sedimentary environments, sediment-biota interactions in sequence stratigraphy, paleosols, diagenesis, stable isotope geochemistry, and environmental sedimentology.

作为沉积学领域的国际领导者，Sedimentology 发表了跨越沉积学、沉积地质学和沉积地球化学的开创性研究。涵盖的领域包括实验和理论的颗粒运输、沉积物通量、现代和古代沉积环境、层序地层中的沉积物与生物相互作用、古土壤、成岩作用、稳定同位素地球化学以及环境沉积学。

Taiwan Strait: An ocean‐current‐dominated shallow‐water setting with a river‐fed detached muddy contourite deposit

台湾海峡：受洋流主导的浅水环境与河流补给的离散泥质等深流沉积

Category	Quartile
地球科学	2
地球科学, 地质学	1

Taiwan Strait: An ocean‐current‐dominated shallow‐water setting with a river‐fed detached muddy contourite deposit

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