Elemental composition in the sediments of the Yangtze and the Yellow Rivers and their tracing implication

摘要

Elemental compositions in the surface sediments of the Yangtze River and the Yellow River are quite different. The Yangtze River's sediment is rich in K, Fe, Mg, Al and most of trace elements, and its esemental compo- sition show remarkable spatial variations, whereas the Yellow River's sediment has higher contents of Ca, Na, Sr, Ba, Zr and Hf, and the esemental composition remains relatively stable. The rations of some elements are also different in the Sediments of the two rivers. The elemental composition of the Yangtze River sediment results from widely distributed ig- Neous rocks and complicated source rocks and strong chemical weathering in the Yangtze River catchment basin, while The main provenance of the Yellow River sediment is the Loess Plateau which has dominant influence of the elemental Composition, and the intense physical weathering is another controlling factor