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Magnetic susceptibility evidence of monsoon variation on the Loess Plateau of central China during the last 130,000 years

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Zhisheng An
Affiliation:
Xian Laboratory of Loess and Quarternary Geology, Academia Sinica, P.O. Box 17, Xian 710061, China
George J. Kukla
Affiliation:
Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964
Stephen C. Porter
Affiliation:
Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195
Jule Xiao
Affiliation:
Xian Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Academia Sinica, P.O. Box 17, Xian 710061, China

Abstract

The magnetic susceptibility of loess and paleosols in central China represents a proxy climate index closely related to past changes of precipitation and vegetation, and thus to summer monsoon intensity. Time series of magnetic susceptibility constructed for three loess-paleosol sequences in the southern part of the Chinese Loess Plateau document the history of summer monsoon variation during the last 130,000 yr. They correlate closely with the oxygen isotope record of stages 1 to 5 in deep-sea sediments. Soils were forming during intervals of strong summer monsoon, whereas loess units were deposited at times of reduced monsoon intensity. The Chinese loess-paleosol sequence can thus be viewed as a proxy record of Asian monsoon variability extending over the last 2.5 myr.

Type
Articles
Copyright
University of Washington

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