East Asian winter monsoon drives the cross-front sediment transport in the North Yellow Sea

4 piston drills and 15 surface sediments were collected from mud patches of the North Yellow Sea. Sediment cores were sampled at 4–10 cm intervals based on their age models. The fine fraction (< 63 μm) was sieved out from the bulk sample for geochemical testing and the tests were conducted on an inductively coupled mass spectrometer (Agilent 7500, Agilent Tech., USA). Four trace elements (Nb, Zr, Hf, and Th) were selected for further analysis in this study. Sediment cores were sampled at 2 cm intervals for grain size. The samples were soaked in 0.05 mol/L of (NaPO₃)₆ for 24 h before measurement in a particle analyzer (Mastersizer 2000, Malvern Panalytical, UK), and the grain size parameters were calculated based on the moment method.