Provenance discrimination of siliciclastic sediments in the Western Sea of Japan over the past 30 kyr; evidence from major, trace elements, and Pb isotopes

The Sea of Japan (JS), a unique marginal sea without any large river influxes in the western Pacific, provides ample information about the evolution of sea level, East Asian monsoons (EAM), sea ice activity, and ocean currents in geological time. However, insufficient investigation in the western JS limits our knowledge of East Asian climate change. This study utilizes major and trace elements and Pb isotopes of fine siliciclastic components (