Sedimentary system response to the global sea level change in the East China Seas since the last glacial maximum

The global sea level change after LGM can be divided into seven phases, of which four rapidly rising phases (RRP, I, II, III, IV) and three slowly rising phases (SRP, I, II, III) are distinguished. The tidal sand ridges were formed in the SRP and transgressive boundary layer in the RRP. The tidal sand ridges can be divided into three types including radicalized, channel and emanative. The modern circulation current system of the ECS had been built in the end of the last deglaciation. The effect of sediment “source to sink” in the ECS is closely correlative to the current system driven by the interaction of the East Asian monsoon and Kuroshio. The major sediment source is from the river discharge of the Huanghe and Changjiang River, and coastal resuspension. The muddy sediment in the eddy and coastal current, which cover the tidal sand ridges and transgressive boundary layer, is a major sediment sink in the modern ECS.