An erosional hiatus in Chinese loess sequences revealed by closely spaced optical dating

1 Introduction Loess deposits in China are the thickest and most extensively distributed in the world. Investigations overthe past around one century have significantly im- proved our understanding of the origin, transportation, deposition and evolution o…     

Terrestrial mollusk evidence for the origin and sedimentary environment of the Late Tertiary Red Clay Formation in the Loess Plateau, China

The origin and sedimentary environment of theLate Tertiary (Neogene) Red Clay Formation in northernChina had long been controversial. A new mollusk recordfrom the Xifeng red clay (red-earth) sequence in the centralLoess Plateau provides the biological evidence for addressingquestions of its origin and environmental implication. Thestudy of composition and preservation condition of seventymollusk fossil assemblages reveals the initial ecological con-dition of the red clay formation, avoiding the effect ofpost-deposited alteration. The result shows that all of identi-fiable mollusk species are composed of terrestrial taxa, mostof them are the common species found in the overlying Qua-ternary Ioess-paleosol sequence. Most of fossil individualspreserved in the red clay strata are in living conditions basedon the investigation of fieldwork, indicating the originalpopulation. Thus, the mollusk fossil assemblages can be usedas an indicator of primary environment of the red clay for-mation. The mollusk record from the Xifeng red clay se-quence supports the view that the red clay is an aeolian ori-gin, similar to the overlying Quaternary loess deposits. Ourdata also reveal the history of environmental changes atXifeng from 6.2--2.4 Ma, which is coupled in phase with theformation and development of the Arctic ice sheets and theprocess of the Tibetan Plateau uplift. Both may be the majorcause and forcing mechanisms of the late Tertiaryenvironmental changes in the Loess Plateau.     

Extension of drylands in northern China around 250 kaBP linked with the uplift of the southeast margin of Tibetan Plateau

Study on two loess sections, one located at Wuwei near the Tengger Desert in northwestern China, another located near Ganzi at the southeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau in southwest China, reveals a coeval drying step occurred at ~250 kaBP. It is expressed by the increase in eolian grain-size at Wuwei, and by a drastic extension of C4 plants and a decrease of loess chemical weathering intensity at Ganzi. Examination of the available eolian data indicates that the event has also been clearly documented in the loess sections near the deserts in northern China, and in the eolian records from the North Pacific. On the contrary, the signal is rather weak for the central and southern Loess Plateau regions as well as for Central Asia, where the climates are influenced by the southeast Asian monsoon and the westerlies, respectively. Since the climate at Ganzi is under strong control of the southwest Asian monsoon, we interpret this drying ste p as a result of decreased influence of the southwest summer monsoon. This decre ase in monsoon moisture is attributable to the uplift of the Hengduan Mountains, the southeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau at～250 ka ago.     

Rapid oscillations of Chinese monsoon climate since the last deglaciation and its comparison with GISP2 record

The geographic extent of the climate oscillations during the last deglaciation is an open question in the world. Here a high resolution climate record from a 16 000 C-14 a loess sequence in the northwestern margin of the Chinese Loess Plateau is reported. Comparison with GISP2 record shows that all major climate oscillation (e. g. Oldest Dryas/ Boiling/ Older Dryas/ Allerod/ Younger Dryas) in the North Atlantic region also registered in the record. In addition, the sequence also contains some other distinctive strengthened winter monsoon periods. It is suggested that a coupling mechanism operate between the two areas, and climate oscillations in the North Atlantic region may not be a local phenomenon.     

长江三角洲与东海岛屿黄土研究综述

黄土是记录古气候和古环境变化信息的良好载体，长江三角洲平原及东海岛屿晚更新世黄土地层剖面的发现, 证明了末次冰期以来长江三角洲地区及海域均广泛存在风尘黄土堆积的事实,研究表明长江三角洲平原埋藏黄土和东海岛屿黄土是下蜀黄土上部地层在中国东部沿海和海域的延伸和继续.中国东部风尘黄土记录了我国晚更新世以来东部沿海地区的气候变化及东亚季风演变，与中国西北地区黄土地层相比，东部黄土具有沉积厚度小、成因复杂、次生作用强烈的特点；粒度和磁化率等参数垂向变化规律没有西部明显；粘土矿物和常量化学成分显示了东部黄土经历了较强地淋溶作用.在东部风尘黄土研究过程中，更需注意区域环境特征、地貌地形特点以及沉积期后环境变化对风尘黄土沉积物的影响效应，通过多指标的综合验证才能够正确解读黄土地层赋含的环境变化信息以及认识我国东部季风区晚更新世以来的古环境演变过程及规律.     

Climate instability during the last glaciation recorded in the Yuanbu loess section

Abrupt events within the Linxia Yuanbu loess section in the western Loess Plateau in China were investigated. The climatic proxy index of the content of mean grain-size and >4 μm grain-size fraction of the section was used as a climatic indicator, and a moving average method was applied in the statistical analysis to extract the abrupt events recorded in the section. It was found that the loess of the last glaciation recorded not only the abrupt events teleconnected with the high-latitude North Atlantic and Greenland regions but also as many as 15 abrupt events in addition to the Heinrich (H) and Younger Dryas (YD) events. This indicates that abrupt climate changes were typical of the climate changes occurring in the Loess Plateau during the last glaciation. The widely recognized mechanisms of the abrupt climate changes, including the heat transfer theory of the North Atlantic Ocean, the atmospheric circulation theory, and the theory of the interaction between low-latitude ocean and the atmosphere remains to be discussed. Perhaps this problem could be resolved by revealing the relation between the evolution of the features of the East Asian monsoon climate and the climate in the surrounding areas. Through a detailed study of the features of the Heinrich and YD events, criteria on which the abrupt events recorded in the loess could be distinguished were tentatively defined. The events were associated with a large grain size, high carbonate content, high lightness, low susceptibility, low redness and low yellowness. In addition, the variation amplitude of the adjacent peak and valley on the curve of the content of the mean grain-size and >40 μm grain-size fraction was larger than 3.4 μm and the content of >40 μm grain-size fraction was larger than 2.0 μm. Lastly, the length of the variation time was less than 500 years. If all these criteria were met, the event was viewed as an abrupt event.     

Climate change in the North Pacific region over the past three centuries

The relatively short length of most instrumental climate records restricts the study of climate variability, and it is therefore essential to extend the record into the past with the help of proxy data. Only since the late 1940s have atmospheric data been available that are sufficient in quality and spatial resolution to identify the dominant patterns of climate variability, such as the Pacific North America pattern and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. Here we present a 301-year snow accumulation record from an ice core at a height of 5,340 m above sea level-from Mount Logan, in northwestern North America. This record shows features that are closely linked with the Pacific North America pattern for the period of instrumental data availability. Our record extends back in time to cover the period from the closing stages of the Little Ice Age to the warmest decade in the past millennium. We find a positive, accelerating trend in snow accumulation after the middle of the nineteenth century. This trend is paralleled by a warming over northwestern North America which has been associated with secular changes in both the Pacific North America pattern and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation.     

Eastern Pacific cooling and Atlantic overturning circulation during the last deglaciation

Surface ocean conditions in the equatorial Pacific Ocean could hold the clue to whether millennial-scale global climate change during glacial times was initiated through tropical ocean-atmosphere feedbacks or by changes in the Atlantic thermohaline circulation. North Atlantic cold periods during Heinrich events and millennial-scale cold events (stadials) have been linked with climatic changes in the tropical Atlantic Ocean and South America, as well as the Indian and East Asian monsoon systems, but not with tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures. Here we present a high-resolution record of sea surface temperatures in the eastern tropical Pacific derived from alkenone unsaturation measurements. Our data show a temperature drop of approximately 1 degrees C, synchronous (within dating uncertainties) with the shutdown of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation during Heinrich event 1, and a smaller temperature drop of approximately 0.5 degrees C synchronous with the smaller reduction in the overturning circulation during the Younger Dryas event. Both cold events coincide with maxima in surface ocean productivity as inferred from 230Th-normalized carbon burial fluxes, suggesting increased upwelling at the time. From the concurrence of equatorial Pacific cooling with the two North Atlantic cold periods during deglaciation, we conclude that these millennial-scale climate changes were probably driven by a reorganization of the oceans' thermohaline circulation, although possibly amplified by tropical ocean-atmosphere interaction as suggested before.     

Possible solar origin of the 1,470-year glacial climate cycle demonstrated in a coupled model

Many palaeoclimate records from the North Atlantic region show a pattern of rapid climate oscillations, the so-called Dansgaard-Oeschger events, with a quasi-periodicity of approximately 1,470 years for the late glacial period. Various hypotheses have been suggested to explain these rapid temperature shifts, including internal oscillations in the climate system and external forcing, possibly from the Sun. But whereas pronounced solar cycles of approximately 87 and approximately 210 years are well known, a approximately 1,470-year solar cycle has not been detected. Here we show that an intermediate-complexity climate model with glacial climate conditions simulates rapid climate shifts similar to the Dansgaard-Oeschger events with a spacing of 1,470 years when forced by periodic freshwater input into the North Atlantic Ocean in cycles of approximately 87 and approximately 210 years. We attribute the robust 1,470-year response time to the superposition of the two shorter cycles, together with strongly nonlinear dynamics and the long characteristic timescale of the thermohaline circulation. For Holocene conditions, similar events do not occur. We conclude that the glacial 1,470-year climate cycles could have been triggered by solar forcing despite the absence of a 1,470-year solar cycle.     

Carbon isotopic records in paleosols over the Pliocene in Northern China: Implication on vegetation development and Tibetan uplift

Carbon isotopic composition of pedogenic carbonate can be used to estimate the proportion of C₄ and C₃ plants. Here we present carbon isotopic data of carbonate in a red earth section at Xifeng, central Loess Plateau. Results show that C₄ vegetation increased in ∼4.4 Ma B.P., stabilized between 4.0 and 3.0 Ma B.P. The character and timing of C₄ expansion on the Loess Plateau are similar, but different with other localities, e.g. Pakistan and Africa, implying that regional climate changes were main factors driving the expansion of C₄ plants. This event is comparable in timing with increased aridity evidenced by Xifeng grain size and North Pacific eolian dust records. Therefore we argue that the Pliocene expansion of C₄ plants in northern China might have been caused by the increased aridity, which in turn might be related to rapid uplift of the Tibetan Plateau.     

Homogeneous climate variability across East Antarctica over the past three glacial cycles

Recent ice core studies have raised the disturbing possibility that glacial-interglacial climate changes may be non-uniform across Antarctica. These findings have been confined to records from the Ross Sea sector of the continent, but significant deviations in other areas would call into question the widely assumed validity of the climate record obtained from Vostok, East Antarctica, on large spatial scales. Here we present an isotopic profile from a core drilled at Dome Fuji, situated 1,500 km from Vostok in a different sector of East Antarctica. The two records show remarkable similarities over the past three glacial cycles (the extent of the Dome Fuji record) in both large-amplitude changes, such as terminations, interglacials and interstadials and more subtle glacial events, even when the origin of precipitation is accounted for. Our results indicate that Antarctic climate is essentially homogeneous at the scale of the East Antarctic Plateau, possibly as a consequence of the symmetry of the plateau and the adjacent ocean.     

One-to-one coupling of glacial climate variability in Greenland and Antarctica

Precise knowledge of the phase relationship between climate changes in the two hemispheres is a key for understanding the Earth's climate dynamics. For the last glacial period, ice core studies have revealed strong coupling of the largest millennial-scale warm events in Antarctica with the longest Dansgaard-Oeschger events in Greenland through the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation. It has been unclear, however, whether the shorter Dansgaard-Oeschger events have counterparts in the shorter and less prominent Antarctic temperature variations, and whether these events are linked by the same mechanism. Here we present a glacial climate record derived from an ice core from Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, which represents South Atlantic climate at a resolution comparable with the Greenland ice core records. After methane synchronization with an ice core from North Greenland, the oxygen isotope record from the Dronning Maud Land ice core shows a one-to-one coupling between all Antarctic warm events and Greenland Dansgaard-Oeschger events by the bipolar seesaw6. The amplitude of the Antarctic warm events is found to be linearly dependent on the duration of the concurrent stadial in the North, suggesting that they all result from a similar reduction in the meridional overturning circulation.     

A 60 000-year loess-paleosol record of millennial-scale summer monsoon instability from Lanzhou, China

The 28-m high-resolution Shajinping loess section in Lanzhou on the Chinese western Loess Plateau records a detailed history of millennial Asian summer monsoon change since the earlier last glaciation. Summer monsoon proxies of soil magnetic susceptibility, carbonate content and soil color show that Asian summer monsoon experienced a series of rapid episodic pulse enhancements spanning only ca. 1-2 ka and have sub-Milankovitch cycles of progressive weakening in low frequency domain since ca. 60 kaBP. Soil formation responds to these by deepening colors, accumulating organic matter, increasing biological channels and leaching certain carbonates. The pedogenic degree generally increases with the degree of enhancement of summer monsoon. These may reflect the impact of the last glacial fast climatic change in the North Atlantic region on Asian summer monsoon.     

Paleoclimatic significance of mineral magnetic properties of loess sediments in northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Loess deposit in the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau offers an excellent record of climate and environment changes in this region.We have conducted multiparameter mineral magnetic analyses of smaples of loess deposits from the Dongchuan,Lalakou and Panzishan sections.The methods used include magnetic susceptibility,fre-quency-dependent suceptibility,temperature-dependent susceptibility,isothermal remanent magnetization acquisibility.Maghemite and hematite is also present in the loess layers and paleosol horizons.The higher concentration of maghemite in paleosols suggests that the formation of maghemite occurred during in situ pedogenesis,which plays an important role in the enhancement of the magnetic susceptibitily.Similar to that in the Chinese Loess Plateau lying to the east of the Liupan Mountains,magnetic granulometry in the studied loess and paleosols is predominantly pseudo-single-domain(PSD). However,the mean grain-size of the ferrimagnetic minerals in loess is evidently coarser (larger PSD and multiomain-like) than in paleosols (mainly PSD).The magnetic susceptibility of loess and paleosols is positively correlated with the content of ultrafine magnet-ite/maghemite grains,and hence with the intensity of in situ pedogenesis.Therefore,the enhanced magnetic susceptibility in the studied loess-paleosol sequences can be interpreted as being due to climatically induced in situ pedogenesis.     

Comparison of paleoclimatic characteristics between monsoon and westerly areas, China

For past decades there have been many studies on the climate features during the last interglacial and glacial periods. A comparison between the loess record of western China with that of monsoon areas shows some regional differences. ( i) Generally, the climate of the Yili region since the late Pleistocene was dry, with fluctuations. Late Pleistocene climate change in the study area can be divided into 5 stages, corresponding to 5 marine isotopic stages (MIS 1-MISS), (ii) Evidence from grain size composition, magnetic susceptibility, carbonate content, pollen assemblage and geochemistry shows that the climate during the last glacial period was instable. During MIS4 the westerly winds were strong and the humidity was relatively high. Compared with the early stage, MIS2 was dry. In MIS3, westerly winds were relatively weak; pedogenesis prevailed, forming paleo-sols. (iii) In contrast to the Loess Plateau the deposition rate of dust at the early stage was higher than at the late stage of the last galical in the Yili region. The strongest wind event occurred at about 24 kaBP instead of 18 kaBP. (iv) Variations in the grain size indicate that the westerly winds decreased since the deglaciation, but dust accumulation continued until the late Holocene. High carbonate contents, low ratio of Rb/Sr and lack of soil development imply that the climate was dry during the early and middle Holocene. Since the late Holocene the climate became relatively wet and the soil was developed.     

DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW TIME SCALE FOR THEQUATERNARY CLIMATE IN THE CHINESE LOESS PLATEAU BASED ON Rb CONCENTRATIONS

ＬｏｅｓｓｄｅｐｏｓｉｔｓａｎｄｉｎｔｅｒｃａｌａｔｅｄｐａｌｅｏｓｏｌｓｏｎｔｈｅＬｏｅｓｓＰｌａｔｅａｕｉｎｃｅｎｔｒａｌＣｈｉｎａｓｐａｎｎｅｄｔｈｅｐａｓｔ2.5ｍ.ｙ.ａｎｄｐｒｏｖｉｄｅｄａｃｏｎｔｉｎｕｏｕｓｐｒｏｘｙｒｅｃｏｒｄｏｆｖａｒ?..     

New views on age of the Salawusu Formation of Late Pleistocene in northern China

The Salawusu Formation in the Salawusu River basin of Inner Mongolia is a typical sequence of the Upper Pleistocene in northern China. However, there have been some different views about the division and age of stratigraphic facies since the establishment of the Salawusu Formation. According to the stratigraphic subdivision and dating of the Dishaogouwan section, it is thought that the fluviolacustrine-aeolian sand sequence from the Dishaogouwan section can be compared with loess, deep-sea deposit records and climatic fluctuations of glacial period. The Salawusu Formation of fluviolacustrine facies was formed in the last interglacial period from 140 to 70 ka BP, roughly corresponding to the fifth stage of deep-sea oxygen isotope, and developed in the same period as the palaeosol S1 on the Loess Plateau; the aeolian sand of the Chengchuan Formation was formed in the last glacial period from 70 to 10 ka BP, constituting the heteropic geological body along with the Malan Loess on the Loess Plateau; the fluviolacustrine deposit and black soil of the Dagouwan Formation and the Dishaogouwan Formation was formed in the Holocene warm period from 9 700 to 3 000 a BP, or developed in the same period as the plaeosol B1 on the Loess Plateau.     

Weathering Signals of Millennial-Scale Oscillations of the East-Asian Summer Monsoon over the Last 220 ka

This study generated a high-resolution paleoweathering record of the loess-soil sequence from the central Loess Plateau covering the last 220 ka using the ratio between the CBD (citrate-bicarbonate-dithionite) extractable free Fe_2O_3 (Fed) and total Fe_2O_3 (Fet). The new proxy shows a series of millennial oscillations, which are not necessarily documented by magnetic susceptibility from the same site. Because chemical weathering in the region depends mainly upon summer precipitation and temperature, we interpret these changes to be a result of millennial-scale variations in the strength of the East-Asian summer monsoon. Over the last glacial period, there is general agreement between the loess weathering record and the GRIP ice δ~(18)O record. The first suggests a rather stable summer monsoon pattern during the Last Interglacial period (marine δ~(18)O stage 5e). Large amplitude millennial oscillations of the summer monsoon seem to be particularly characteristic of the last glacial period whereas the fluctuations for the older periods are smoother.     

Millennial-scale monsoonal climatic change from paleosol sequences on the Chinese western Loess Plateau and Tibetan Plateau: a brief summary and review

This paper summarizes the work from the INQUA 1997 Project "Response of soil formation to short-warm-episodes of Asian summer monsoon" and its seeded related international and domestic grants. It reviews the effects of the millennial monsoonal changes on the loess- paleosols of the Chinese Loess and Tibetan Plateaus. High-resolution proxy records of pedogenesis and monsoons demonstrate that both Asian winter and summer monsoons were unstable and synchronously and inversely coupled during the last glaciation. During that time rapid episodic cycles of cold surges and warm enhancements spanned only ca. 1-2 ka in high- frequency domain. Sub-Milankovitch cycles (6-8 ka) of progressive cooling or weakening in low- frequency domain generally resembled the pattern of the North Atlantic climatic change. However, during the last interglacial, Asian winter and summer monsoons seemed to vary independently, the former being stable and the later unstable. Soil formation seems to occur in surprisingly fast response to the summer monsoon warm enhancements, resulting in weakly or moderately developed paleosol sequences. North Atlantic and polar cold air surges though the westerlies and other paths, and the north-south swing of the westerlies beside the Tibetan Plateau, may be the alternative mechanisms for the rapid monsoonal changes during the last glacial. But in the last interglacial, the summer monsoons worked largely independently.     

Pollen records and time scale for the RM core of the Zoige Basin, northeastern QinghaiTibetan Plateau

A continuous pollen record from the Zoige Basin in the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau not only provides information on the vegetation and climate changes during the last two glacial/interglacial cycles, hut also gives proof to establish the time scale of the upper 60 m of the RM core. Subalpine spruce-fir forests colonized the Zoige Basin during the interglacials and interstadials, implying warm and wet climate conditions. Alpine periglacial desert or dry desert may have existed during the penultimate glacial and the last glacial maxima, respectively. Alpine sedge meadow dominated the landscape during MIS 4. The MIS 3 is punctuated by a number of stadials similar to those documented in the Guliya and GISP2 ice cores, as indicated by repeated rise and fall of subalpine spruce-fir forests. Our pollen record reveals a regional climate history similar to those from the neighboring sites, including the Arabian Sea and the Guliya ice core, and thus supports the notion that the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau acts as an important link between climatic events in the North Atlantic realm and the Asian monsoon domain.