Abstract: Gas hydrate in the deep sea is closely related to the global warming. One of the most important gas hydrate stability zones (GHSZ) is located in the Shenhu of the northern South China Sea (SCS). All records of carbonate content in cores ZHS-176, ZHS-174, 17940 and MD2905 reveal a carbonate minimum (CM) from 11.3-8.0ka B.P., which is characterized with an asymmetric pattern of a rapid decrease of 9% value followed by a gradual recovery. The benthic foraminifer δ13C levels in the shells of Cibicidoides wuellerstorfi and Cibicidoides kullenbergi are depleted by 1.4‰ and 0.7‰, respectively, during the CM period. Meanwhile, the mass accumulation rate (MAR) of the organisms suddenly increased nearly twofold on the seabed. These findings indicate a likely release of a large amount of methane from the gas hydrates since the late Younger Dryas (YD). Oxidation and absorption of the methane should have lowered pH of the bottom seawater, thereby triggering a shoaling of the carbonate lysocline. Temperature increasing of the bottom seawater in the northern SCS provides a possibility to induce gas hydrates dissociation.