Sequence stratigraphy and depositional architecture of the Pearl River Delta system, northern South China Sea: An interactive response to sea level, tectonics and paleoceanography

Detailed analysis showed that this sudden change in the evolution of the PRDS could be ascribed to an interactive response to several factors. At ca. 13.8 Ma, the sea level began to rapidly rise and caused the fluvial energy to decrease, which was likely to lead to the diversion of the fluvial systems. Besides, the gradual uplift of the Dongsha Rise resulted in the raised shelf topography in the east region, thus confining the fluvial channels to flow southwestward. What's more, a few key paleoceanographic events, including the reglaciation of the Antarctic ice-sheet and the shoaling of the Pacific-Indian Ocean Seaway, might have contributed to the intensification of the southwesterly flowing paleocurrent along the northern South China Sea, thus triggering the delta asymmetry and deflecton of the PRDS after 13.8 Ma.