Strontium, lead and zinc isotopes in marine cores as tracers of sedimentary provenance: A case study around Taiwan orogen

The active collision zone around Taiwan orogen receives a variety of sedimentary inputs, including terrigenous flux from Taiwan and Chinese rivers, oceanic currents and atmospheric dust. In order to determine the present-day respective contributions of these different sources, we analysed the Pb and Sr isotopic compositions of late Quaternary sediments accumulated offshore east Taiwan. Samples from the Taiwan Coastal Range (andesites, sandstones, conglomerate and Peinan River terraces and suspended loads) have also been analysed to constrain the mean Taiwan isotopic signature. Mixing lines between the different sources of material indicate that the core located in the Okinawa Trough represents a mixture of about 60% of Taiwan, 30% of Chinese Loess and 10% of Yangtze River contributions. The southernmost core, located close to Luzon Arc, is influenced by Taiwan (60%) and volcanic material (40%). The Sr and Pb isotopic compositions of samples cored in the Manila Trench and in the Huatung Basin are strongly influenced by the Taiwan signature, while the Ryukyu Trench core samples point to significant but variable contributions of Chinese Loess and Yangtze River.This work also reports Zn isotopic variations in the silicate fraction of these marine core samples. The overall variation in Zn isotopic compositions (expressed as δ66Zn) is greater than 0.3 per mil (‰) for an analytical precision of ± 0.05‰. The Zn isotopic signal for most of the marine core samples is similar to the literature data measured on sedimentary material, except for the Manila Trench core samples and the older sample from the Huatung Basin: they present values heavier by 0.2–0.3‰, close to those obtained on all Taiwan rocks and Peinan River particulates. These results show: 1– the particular characteristics of Taiwan Zn isotopic compositions on a large scale; and: 2– the possible use of Zn isotopes as a tracer of material sources.