Grain size,clay mineral compositions and crystallinity in the sediments from the Kuroshio area of eastern Taiwan were analyzed to study the sedimentary characteristics,provenance and the environmental evolution during the past 1 000 years.The results indicate that the sediments mainly consist of finegrained silty and clay compositions.The average sedimentation rate is 34.44 cm/ka,which is less than that in the East China Sea shelf and more than that in the South of Okinawa Trough,showing the transitional sedimentary characteristics from continental shelf to ocean.Clay minerals mainly consist of illite(with average of 57%),smectite(25%),with associated chlorite(16%)and kaolinite(2%).The illite of the sediments from eastern Taiwan mainly comes from Asian continental dust and rivers of eastern Taiwan, and the smectite mainly comes from the Luzon Arc and altered basic volcanic material from adjacent sea areas,and the chlorite and the kaolinite mainly come from the rivers of eastern Taiwan.According to the mathematical model on quantitative provenance identification on the clay minerals in this study,about 26%~72%of the clay minerals came from the Asian continental dust,and about 11%~55%of clay minerals came from rivers of eastern Taiwan,and about 11%~26% of clay minerals came from the Luzon Arc.Meanwhile,the vertical variations of the sediment during the last 1 000 years reflected three global climate change stages at the century scale,i.e.,the Medieval Warm Period(MWP),the Little Ice Age (LIA)and the Current Warm Period(CWP).The variations of relative contribution of Asian continental dust and rivers in eastern Taiwan imply strong East Asian Winter Monsoon(EAWM)and dry climate in Taiwan during MWP,and also reflect decreased EAWM and humid climate in Taiwan during LIA.The differences of thermal contrast in East Asian and precipitation anomalies between CWP and MWP reflect the disturbance of human activities to the sedimentary environment.In addition,we suggest that some small-scale salutations of the sedimentary environment are mainly related to emergency events,e.g.,rainstorm, typhoon and earthquake.