SEDIMENTARY CHARACTERISTICS OF CHENIERS IN SOUTHERN CHANGJIANG DELTA AND THEIR ORIGIN AND AGE DETERMINATION

According to analyses on the texture and structure of sediment, species component and accumulative way of shells, geometry of sana body and its vertical sequence, this paper points out that the sand ridge located in the west of Shanghai is a kind of ancient chenier, and the entire broad plain of cheniers and the mud flats in between is called chenier plain. The origin of the chenier is related to the shifting of main branch channel in the Changjiang estuary and coastal changes during the historical periods. Based on ¹⁴C dating data, the ages of the cheniers from west to east are 6800-6000,5800-5500, 4200-4000 and 3200 years B. P. respectively. These cheniers of different ages illustrate the development processes of the Changjiang Delta during the Middle Holocene.