Detrital Mineral Compositions of Surface Sediments from Laizhou Bay and Its Inflowing Rivers

Geographic Coverage:
Laizhou Bay, southern Bohai Sea, China (Latitude: ~36.5°N–37.8°N, Longitude: ~118.1°E–119.7°E)

Temporal Coverage:
River samples: April 2023 (low-water period)
Marine samples: June 2023

Data Collection Methods:

Surface sediment samples were collected from the riparian zones of seven rivers (Xiaoqing, Mi, Bailang, Yu, Di, Wei, Jiaolai) and 15 marine stations in Laizhou Bay.

Samples were treated with H₂O₂ and dilute HCl to remove organic matter and carbonates.

The ultrafine sand fraction (0.063–0.125 mm) was separated by wet sieving.

Heavy minerals were isolated using tribromomethane (density 2.89 g/cm³).

Mineral identification and counting were performed under polarizing microscopes; ≥300 grains were counted per sample.

Dataset Structure:
The dataset is provided in an Excel workbook with three sheets:

Raw Data: Full heavy mineral counts (41 minerals) for each site (55 sites total).

Screened Data: Focused dataset of 20 key minerals and grouped assemblages for provenance analysis.

Mineral Assemblage and Location: Summarized mineral groups (amphibole, epidote, mica, metallic-iron, pyroxene, stable minerals) with geographic coordinates (LON, LAT).

Variables Included:

Site identifiers (e.g., DH01, YH01, BL01, Sea, Yellow R)

Mineral abundances (%) for magnetite, ilmenite, hematite, leucoxene, zircon, titanite, apatite, tourmaline, garnet, orthopyroxene, augite, hornblende, actinolite-tremolite, epidote, (clino)zoisite, chlorite, biotite, muscovite, weathered mica, carbonate, and others.

Mineral assemblages (%) as grouped by genetic categories.

Geographic coordinates in decimal degrees (WGS84).

Data Format:
Microsoft Excel (.xlsx), comma-separated values (.csv) also available upon request.

Potential Uses:

Sediment provenance analysis in multi-source marginal seas

Comparative studies of river–sea sediment transport

Validation of sediment mixing and hydrodynamic sorting models

Background data for environmental and geological surveys in the Bohai Sea region

Data Quality:

All samples were processed following standardized laboratory protocols.

Microscopic counting was conducted by trained geologists; reproducibility was ensured by repeated counts for selected samples.

Data are presented as relative percentages; total sums are normalized to 100% per sample.

Access and Availability:
The dataset supporting this article is available in the supplementary materials and will be archived in a public repository (e.g., Zenodo, Mendeley Data) upon acceptance. Data can also be obtained by contacting the corresponding authors.