IMAGES Activities in CHINA
---National Report for 1999

In the past year, China has strengthened its ODP-IMAGES tie and increased its paleoceanographic research activities with emphasis on the South China Sea and its surrounding sea areas. A nation-wise collaboration of various institutions and cooperation between land and marine geologists, between atmospheric and solid earth scientists, has enabled a progressive improvement of our understanding of the East Asian Monsoon system, its evolution and variability.

Organization and meetings
--- The Fourth National Symposium on Paleoceanography was held in Beijing in conjunction with the 2nd National ODP Conference from December 14-16, 1998. Nearly 90 scientists from various cities attended the meeting. The Symposium once again stressed the joint development of IMAGES with ODP activities and demonstrated the recent progress in late Quaternary paleoceanography iof the South China Sea and Okinawa Trough.
--- To enhance the paleoceanographic and related studies, the Offshore Geosceince Research Center was established in the Geoscience University, Beijing. The new institution will participate in IMAGES activities with The first priority this year is to analyze sediment cores from the South China Sea as preparatory work for the ODP leg. Because of limited availability of core samples, our main work has to be based on SONNE-95 Cruise samples.
--- As on-board participants of IMAGES-III cruise, Prof.ZHAO Quanhong and Dr.JIAN Zhimin from Tongji University have got systematical high-resolution samples from two cores: MD97.2.140 from the Equatorial Pacific and MD97.2.141 from the Sulu Sea. Now the samples are being analyzed for benthic formainifers and coarse franction. This summer, three more scientists from China were prepared to join the IMAGES-IV Cruise in the Western Pacific area again, but they were unable to get entry visa, largely because of the late changes of the boarding port.
--- The Chinese IMAGES community was actively involved in organization of the First Meeting of the SCOR/IMAGES Working Group on Asian Monsoon Evolution, "SEAMONS", held in Shanghai from April 30 to May 3 (see separate report).
--- The Chinese Working Group on Paleoceanography, responsible for IMAGES and paleoenvironmen-related ODP activities in China, will meet in mid-December in Beijing in conjunction with the 2nd National ODP Symposium and the 4th National Paleoceanographic Symposium of China.

The IMAGES community in China wishes that the sampling practice of IMAGES cores will be further improved so that the core samples can effectively shared by its participant members what was one of the original goals of this international program, and that the cruise schedule be fixed well in advance so that the participants can have enough time to get through necessary procedures.

A special session will be organized on the Fourth International Conference on Asian Marine Geology at Qingdao in mid October, devoted to IMAGES type studies in the Souyth China Sea.
Coring Cruises

Sediment cores from the Okinawa Trough were recovered from the Okinawa Trough using home-made equipments in the framework of national programs, including the longest core about 20 meter.

The Chinese Arctic Cruise is going, taking sediment cores from the Bering Sea and the Arctic. Research Projects

In connection of ODP Leg 184 in the South China Sea, a major project was set up by the Chinese National Natural Science Foundation to support the studies on the History of the East Asian Monsoon as recorded in the South China Sea covering both ODP and IMAGES sites. Nearly 50 scientists and research students from ten institutions are involved in the project.

Samples from are continuously being analyzed mainly in Shanghai.

Preparatory work is going on for the next year's joint meeting of SCOR-IMAGES Working Group on Asian Monsoon Evolution (SEAMONS) and the Postcruise meeting of ODP leg 184 in northern China.