Deep-Water Bottom Current Research in the Northern South China Sea

This article discusses an effective way to study deep-water current activity with the sedimentary features of seabed sediments. In the paper, we have processed a seismic survey line crossing the Northwest sub-basin of the South China Sea (SCS). In the seismic profile, we can clearly distinguish the contourite sediment waves and find the erosion scope formed by the deep-water bottom current. Combining the analytic result of piston cores sediments in the research area, we can conclude that the deep-water current is the contour current. It enters the SCS through the narrow Bashi Channel and then it flows to the southwest direction along the isobaths of Dongsha uplift and Southern uplift, but there isn't direct evidence to explain that bottom current flows to the direction of the deep-sea basin. The conclusion confirms former speculation about the passage of deep-water current and provides an important foundation to construct the whole structure of deep-water circulation for the SCS.