Studies of sedimentary processes and paleoceanographic conditions responsible of the Miocene Red Beds deposits in the Northern South China Sea.

Oceanic red beds from the early-middle Miocene period have been observed in the central and northern part of the South China Sea (SCS) basin during the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expeditions 349, 367 and 368. In this study, we have analyzed sedimentological (grain size analyses), mineralogical (clay mineralogy) and geochemical (major and traces elements and Sr and Nd isotopic compositions) proxies of sediments as well as Sr and Nd isotopic composition of fish teeth fossil samples from IODP Site U1499 in the northern SCS in order : 1/ to determine the redox conditions in the deep-water mass and the cause of redness of Miocene Red Beds in the northern SCS ; 2/ to constrain paleoenvironmental conditions which have permitted red clay depositions ; 3/ to confirm the source of terrigenous clastic material of the Miocene Red Beds and their sedimentary dynamic process of transportation and deposition in deep-water; 4/ to constrain deep water circulation pattern of the Miocene of the Pacific and paleogeographic modification of the SCS during the Miocene (evolution of the Luzon arc).

Thesis supervisor : Christophe Colin (GEOPS, Université Paris-Saclay, France)

Thesis co-supervisor : Zhifei Liu (State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology, Tongji University, Chine)

CSC (China Scholarship Council)