Abstract
A sediment core taken proximal to a large sunken ship in the north
channel of the Yangtze delta suggests a dramatic change in sedimentation
that is coincident with the sinking of the ship. We conducted AMS 14C
and OSL dating and analysed the lithology, grain size, magnetic
susceptibility and organic elemental geochemistry and combined these
data with historical marine charts and historical data. A notable change
in sedimentary environments implies a dramatic change to the
geomorphological evolution of the environment at the location of the
shipwreck. The sediments below the shipwreck layers suggest that the
shipwreck occurred in a sheltered tidal channel developed at the north
margin of the Tongsha Shoal of the Yangtze River mouth. The shipwreck
layer containing the wood pieces of the sunken ship is composed of
structureless silts and underlain by homogeneous mud separated by an
erosional contact. The ship/storm layer is overlain by sandy facies
reflecting a change to more open marine channel conditions. The
sedimentary data implies that a large historical typhoon possibly on
July 31, 1879 sunk several ships and caused significant geomorphological
change to the Yangtze delta.