Paleoclimate change recorded in the red earth and brown-yellow sediment of Late Quaternary for northeastern part of Guangdong Province, south to the Nanling Mountains, China

The paleoenvironment indicated by the geochronology, major oxides—SiO₂, Al₂O₃ and TOFE (Fe₂O₃ + FeO), and CIA (Chemical Index of Alteration) value of the red earth and brown-yellow silt primarily characterized by the Linjiang stratigraphic section, based on the geological investigation of Late Quaternary along the river banks of northeastern part of China’s Guangdong Province, south to the Nanling Mountains, allow us to hypothesize that the red earth on the first terrace in northeastern part of Guangdong belongs to reticulated red clay developed in a hot-wet environment of the last interglacial period (132–73 ka BP), similar to the monsoon environment in the northern margin of modern tropical zone, while the overlying brown-yellow silt layer mainly accumulated in a monsoon environment of warm temperate zone in the last glacial period (73–11 ka BP), with the aeolian sand LJ3 representing an extreme period of worsening climate. Such a hypothesis corresponds well with predecessors’ research on the paleoenvironment indicated by abundant fossils in both south and east to the Nanling Mountains. Hence, it follows that the bioclimatic zone did experience a large and rapid vicissitude in northeastern part of China’s Guangdong Province, and even in the full extent of the region south to the Nanling Mountains from the last interglacial period to the last glacial period, with the red earth being replaced by the brown-yellow silty sediment, and even maybe with the Ailuropoda-Stegodon Fauna being replaced by the Penghu Fauna. This study may provide an important geological demonstration for the environmental response to global change in China’s low latitudes on a 10 ka scale. Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 40471139), National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2004CB720206), the Special Fund of Scientific Research for Doctoral Subjects of Chinese Universities (Grant No. 20070574005) and the RGC Grant of the HKSAR (HKU7243/04H)