Change in grain size of sediments in the Pearl River estuary reflects the northward movement of typhoon in the NW Pacific

With global warming and rapid urbanization of coastal areas, the extreme changes in typhoon activity will seriously threaten the sustainable development of economy and society in coastal areas. In this study, the core sediment from the Pearl River estuary area were collected, and ²¹⁰Pb dating and grain size analysis were carried out. Based on the test results, the main factors of sedimentary dynamic changes and material sources in this area in the past 200 years were discussed. The sand content in the sediment was used as the typhoon intensity variation parameter in the Pearl River estuary, and the typhoon intensity records in the Pearl River estuary in recent 200 years were reconstructed with this parameter. Results show that the typhoon intensity in the Pearl River estuary during 1840–1920 continued to increase, and fluctuated greatly during 1920–1958, while the typhoon intensity has gradually weakened since 1958. The intensity of typhoon in the Pearl River estuary is inversely proportional to the global temperature. With the global temperature rising, typhoon intensity in the Pearl River estuary gradually weakened. This conclusion supports the view that the strong typhoon attack in the Northwest Pacific will shift from the south to the north, which provides a new perspective for the strategies of coastal cities in China in responding to future climate changes.