Upper slope sedimentation environments in the Gaoping river-sea system of SW Taiwan

Sammanfattning: The Gaoping Slope, off the south west coast of Taiwan, is a tectonically active sedimentation environment attaining most of its sediment from the Gaoping River. This study examines sediment cores from two localities at 375 m and 495 m water depth by using X-radiography, Grain size- and 210Pb analysis, with the purpose of comparing the sedimentation environment at the two sites and examine how they were both affected by high sediment delivery during typhoon Morakot.The shallow site has coarse bioturbated sediment, whereas the deeper site had laminated fine sediment containing high amounts of organic material. Both localities display a 13-20 cm thick recently deposited layer in the cores taken after typhoon Morakot. The layers are characterized by coarsening-fining sequences. All cores show cyclicity in the grain size data.We suggest that the shallow station has a more energetic environment, affected by wave reworking, tides, and alongshore currents supplying riverine material from the Gaoping river. The deep site has a calmer sedimentation environment dominated by hemipelagic settling of suspended material. The recent accumulated deposits are most likely hyperpycnites from density driven hyperpycnal flows, originally caused by canyon overflows in the Gaoping- and the Kaohsiung canyon during the typhoon. The strata found at the Gaoping slope is a result of submarine mass transport of sediment, and reflect the interaction between annual seasons and extreme events triggered by typhoons and earthquakes - eroding, transporting, and depositing sediment in the area.