Research Interest

·   Sediment transport processes and dynamics in the South China Sea deep water

·   The Quaternary evolution of sedimentary environment and paleoclimate in the Mediterranean Sea

Projects

·   Reconstruction of paleo-current intensities in the northeastern South China Sea since the last glacial: sedimentological and geochemical approaches. NSFC General Program (No. 41776047), 2018.01-2021.12, CNY 730000, Principal Investigator;

·   The formation mechanism of the high-accumulation-rate sediment drift in the northeast South China Sea: sedimentological and geochemical approaches. Research Fund of the State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology (No. MG20180208), 2018.01-2019.12, CNY 300000, Principal Investigator;

·   The Quaternary evolution of the African monsoon: sedimentary and geochemical records. NSFC Young Scientists Program (No. 41306041), 2014.01-2016.12, CNY 260000, Principal Investigator;

·   Deepwater sedimentation since the Miocene in the central basin of the South China Sea and its regional tectonic and environmental evolution significance. NSFC Key Program (No. 41530964), 2016.01-2020.12🧑🏽‍💻🗼，CNY 3520000, Participant;

·   Deep Sea sedimentation process and mechanism in the South China Sea. Integration Program of the NSFC Major Research Plan “South China Sea Deep” (No. 91528304), 2016.01-2018.12, CNY 3260000, Participant;

·   The impact of mesoscale eddies on the turbulence mixing in the deep northeast South China Sea. NSFC General Program (No. 41576005), 2016.01-2019.12, CNY 936000, Participant.

Publications

Journal Papers:

·   Zhao, Y.*, Colin, C., Liu, Z., Bonneau, L., Siani, G., 2016. Climate forcing of terrigenous sediment input to the central Mediterranean Sea since the early Pleistocene. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 108, 56–71.

·  Zhao, Y.*, Liu, Z., Zhang, Y., Li, J., Wang, M., Wang, W., Xu, J., 2015. In situ observation of contour currents in the northern South China Sea: Applications for deepwater sediment transport. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 430: 477-485.

·   Zhao, Y.*, Colin, C., Liu, Z., Paterne, M, Siani, G., Xie, X., 2012. Reconstructing precipitation changes in northeastern Africa during the Quaternary by clay mineralogical and geochemical investigations of Nile deep-sea fan sediments. Quaternary Science Reviews 57, 58–70.

·  Zhao, Y.*, Liu, Z., Colin, C., Paterne, M., Siani, G., Cheng, X., Duchamp-Alphonse, S., Xie, X., 2011. Variations of the Nile suspended discharges during the last 1.75 Myr. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 311, 230–241.

·   Zhao, Y.*, Liu, Z., Colin, C., Xie, X., Wu, Q., 2011. Turbidite deposition in the southern South China Sea during the last glacial: evidence from grain-size and major elements records. Chinese Science Bulletin 56, 3558–3565.

·  Zhao, Y.*, Liu, Z., 2018. Spatial distribution of contourites in global ocean and its paleoclimatic significance. Advances in Earth Science, in press. (in Chinese with English Abstract)

·   Zhao, Y.*, Liu, Z., 2007. The impacts of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) Event on earth surface cycles and its trigger mechanism. Advances in Earth Science, 22(4): 341–349. (in Chinese with English Abstract)

·   Zhao, Y.*, Liu, Z., Cheng, X., Jian, Z., 2006. Dominance factors of the terrigenous sediment granulometric distribution in the lower Sunda Slope. Marine Geology & Quaternary Geology 26(2): 73–78. (in Chinese with English Abstract)