Rare earth elements （REE） compositions and discriminant function were successfully used to examine high resolution sediment source changes in the northern Okinawa Trough over the last 24.1 ka, especially for the influence from the Yellow River and the Tsushima Warm Current （TWC） that has not been well solved. Variations of these parameters were clearly divided into three distinct depositional units. During Interval 1 （24.1-16.0 ka BP）, the paleo-Yellow River and the paleo-Yangtze River mouths were situated near the studied area and could have played major roles in the sedimentation therein. In Interval 2 （16.0-7.3 ka BP）, these river mouths gradually retreated with global sea-level rise, leading to less fluvial inputs from them to the northern Okinawa Trough. Meanwhile, formation of the TWC could carry some sediment loads of Taiwan to the studied core, especially during its late phase （8.0-7.3 ka BP）. Modem oceanographic conditions, with a predominance of the TWC, were finally established since the beginning of Interval 3, causing more ten＇igenous contribution from Taiwan to the studied area. Subsequently, modem depositional environments mainly influenced by the Yellow River, the Yangtze River, and the TWC were finally formed.
To synthetically realize the character of major-element compositions as well as its significance for provenance and paleoenvironment recorded in core sediments of the West Philippine Sea over the last 700 ka,grain size and major elements of 221 bulk sediments,together with major-element compositions in the detrital phase of 16 typical samples,in core MD06-3047 collected from the Benham Rise were analyzed.Both discrimination plot and R-mode factor analysis indicate that vertical changes of major elements are mainly controlled by the sedimentation of nearby volcanic matter and the eolian dust input,whereas influences from marine biologic deposition and hydrothermal activity are minor.In particular,Al2O3 and K2O are representative of an eolian dust factor.The variation in the eolian dust factor score is characterized by the obviously glacial-interglacial periodicity and can be well compared with the paleotemperature record of the Antarctic ice core and the evolution of the East Asian winter monsoon(EAWM) recorded in the Chinese loess sequence,and then offers a new proxy for the evolution history of eolian dust input into the study area that is controlled by the EAWM intensity and aridity in the continental source regions of atmospheric dust.
