The sedimentologic fingerprinting in detrital deposit is vital to reconstruct sedimentary environments and discriminate sources. In this study, grain size and microtextural characteristics of quartz from the late Pleistocene hard clay in the Yangtze River delta (YRD) were analyzed by using a laser particle size analyzer and a scanning electron microscope. Subaqueous quartz from the Yangtze River and Yellow River sediments and eolian quartz from the Chinese Loess Plateau loess were also analyzed by scanning electron microscopy to obtain the microtextural characteristics. Quartz grains of the hard clay were characterized by poor sorting, fine skew, bimodal grain-size distributions, and numerous eolian microtextures. The comparison of the quartz grain characteristics of the hard clay with these in eolian loess indicated that the hard clay belonged to an eolian deposition. Moreover, the fine quartz grains of the hard clay were dominated by eolian microtextural characteristics, representing long-distance transportation. The coarse quartz grains of the hard clay exhibited more subaqueous microtextural characteristics, which indicated that the coarse fraction of the hard clay was derived from the proximal source regions in the YRD. The determination of buried eolian deposition with multiple sources in the YRD implies a southward westerly jet stream, strengthened eolian dust transportation, and extensive aridification in the YRD due to the increased Northern Hemisphere ice sheets in Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 2.

Archaeological records of the Neolithic settlements on the eastern China coast between 35°N and 30°N, an area covering the abandoned Yellow River and the Yangtze River delta plains, reveal that Neolithic people moved from the Yellow River basin onto the northern coast for fishing, hunting and dry-land agriculture ~ 7000 yr ago. Marine transgression interrupted their activities on the low-lying (2–5 m in elevation) coastal wetlands between 6000 and 5000 yr ago, after which they reclaimed their land near the river mouths. Their migration routes on the southern Yangtze delta plain indicate another scenario: early Neolithic communities moved onto the plain for wet-rice cultivation. Despite relative sea-level rise from 7000 to 4000 yr ago, a large number of settlements were established on the lowlands between the eastern Chenier Ridges and the western Taihu Lake depression. The Chenier Ridges, with ~ 1.0 m higher topography than the adjacent coastal area, played a role in sheltering the Neolithic people. Subsequently, settlements waned considerably, possibly due to further marine inundation combined with cold climate. The present study shows that migration patterns of the Neolithic settlements are closely associated with a gradually rising sea level between 7000 and 4000 yr ago.