Abstract
The behaviors of marine sediment under storm wave loading are critical to the stability of the seafloor. This study analyzes measurements of seafloor motion obtained from the Modern Yellow River Delta, China, in a storm season of 1987. Using these field data, we examined the elastic behavior of seafloor sediment by calculating the variation of its shear modulus, and estimated the damage potential mobilized within the sediment. Results show that the shear modulus of sediment reduces under storm wave loading, and the reduction can be up to 77.7% of the original value during a 24‐hour storm. Moreover, the S‐N strength curve for sediments on the Yellow River Delta is determined for the first time in this article.