Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T08:58:09.406Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late Pleistocene chronology of loess deposition near Luochuan, China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Steven L. Forman
Steven L. Forman*
Affiliation:
Center for Geochronological Research, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and Dept. of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0450
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Loess near Luochuan was sampled for thermoluminescence (TL) dating simultaneously with magnetic susceptibility measurements to provide the first independent age estimates on a susceptibility record from the Loess Plateau of China. TL age estimates on late Pleistocene loess (L1) are stratigraphically consistent with no statistical difference in TL ages by the total or partial bleach techniques or by measuring ultraviolet or green wavelengths in the TL analysis. Loess below the last interglacial soil (S1) yielded disparate results and is in many localities in central and eastern China unsuitable for TL dating because of complications of TL saturation and uncertainties in estimating the environmental radiation. TL age estimates on the L1 loess are consistent with previously reported TL ages for sites near Beijing and Xian as well as in general agreement with age models for loess deposition based on paleomagnetics and magnetic susceptibility. The convergence of a variety of geochronologic indices indicate that the last major period of loess deposition in central China began 70,000 ± 10,000 yr B.P. and terminated <20,000 yr B.P. This event is probably recorded in sediments from the adjacent Pacific Ocean and possibly in dust records from the Antarctic Ice Sheet.

Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 36 , Issue 1 , July 1991 , pp. 19 - 28
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aitken, M. J. Bowman, S. G. Thermoluminescent dating: Assessment of alpha particle contribution. Archaeometry 17 1975 132 138 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berger, G. W. Lockhart, R. A. Kuo, J. Regression and error analysis applied to the dose response curves in thermoluminescence dating. Nuclear Tracks and Radiation Measurements 13 4 1987 177 184 Google Scholar
Berger, G. W. Dating Quaternary events by luminescence Easterbrook, D. J. Dating Quaternary Sediments. Geological Society of America Special Paper 227 1988 13 51 Google Scholar
Forman, S. L. Applications and limitations of thermoluminescence to date Quaternary sediments. Quaternary International 1 1989 47 59 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heller, F. Liu, T-S. Magnetostratigraphical dating of loess deposits in China. Nature (London) 300 1982 431 433 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hovan, S. A. Rea, D. K. Pisias, N. G. Shackleton, N. J. A direct link between the China loess and marine records: Aeolian flux to the North Pacific. Nature (London) 340 1989 296 298 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huntley, D. J. Berger, G. W. Bowman, S. G. Thermoluminescence response to alpha and beta irradiations, and age determinations when the dose response is nonlinear. Nuclear Tracks and Radiation Effects 105 1987 279 284 Google Scholar
Kukla, G. Loess stratigraphy of China. Quaternary Science Reviews 6 3/4 1987 191 219 Google Scholar
Kukla, G. Heller, F. Liu, X. M. Xu, T. C. Liu, T. S. An, Z. Pleistocene climates in China dated by magnetic susceptibility. Geology 16 1988 811 814 2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kukla, G. An, Z. Loess stratigraphy in central China. Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology and Paleoecology 72 1989 203 225 Google Scholar
Li, H. Thermoluminescence dating of loess Lu, T. Loess and the Environment 1985 China Ocean Press Beijing 231 238 Google Scholar
Li, H. Formation age of Malan loess dated by thermoluminescence (TL) of Quartz. Kexue Tongbao 30 8 1985 1091 1094 Google Scholar
Liu, T. Gu, X-F. An, Z. Fan, Y-X. The dust fall in Beijing, China on April 18, 1980 Péwé, T. L. Desert Dust: Origin, Characteristics and Effect on Man. Geological Society of America Special Paper 186 1981 123 148 Google Scholar
Liu, T. An, Z. Yuan, B. Han, J. The loess-paleosol sequence in China and climatic History. Episodes 8 1 1985 21 28 Google Scholar
Lu, Y-C. Mortlock, A. J. Price, D. M. Readhead, M. L. Thermoluminescence dating of coarse-grain quartz from the Malan loess at Zhaitang section. China. Quaternary Research 28 1987 356 363 Google Scholar
Lu, Y-C. Zhang, J-Z. Xie, J. Thermoluminescence dating of loess and paleosols from the Lantian section Shaanxi Province. Quaternary Science Reviews 7 1988 245 250 Google Scholar
Lu, Y-C. Prescott, J. R. Hutton, M. T. Sunlight bleaching of the thermoluminescence of Chinese loess. Quaternary Science Reviews 7 1988 335 338 Google Scholar
Martinson, D. G. Pisias, N. G. Hays, J. D. Imbrie, J. Moore, T. C. Jr. Shackleton, N. J. Age dating and the orbital theory of the ice ages: Development of a high resolution 0- to 300,000-year chronostratigraphy. Quaternary Research 27 1987 1 29 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mullins, C. E. Magnetic susceptibility of the soil and its significance in soil science: A review. Journal of Soil Science 28 1977 76 92 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nishimura, S. M. Miao, J. V. Sasajima, S. Thermoluminescent dating of paleosols in the Louchon loess sequence Sasajama, S. Wang, Y. Y. Recent Research of Loess in China 1984 Kyoto University Kyoto 69 77 Google Scholar
Petit, J. R. Mounier, L. Jouzel, J. Korotkevich, Y. S. Kotlyakov, V. I. Lorius, C. Paleoclimatological and chronologic implications of the Vostok core dust record. Nature (London) 343 1990 56 58 Google Scholar
Prescott, J. R. Hutton, J. T. Cosmic ray and gamma ray dosimetry for TL and ESR. Nuclear Tracks and Radiation Effects 14 1/2 1988 223 227 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pye, K. Zhou, L-P. Late Pleistocene and Holocene aeolian dust deposition in north China and the Northwest Pacific Ocean. Paleogeography, Paleoclimatology and Paleoecology 73 1989 11 23 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singhvi, A. K. Sharma, Y. P. Agrawal, D. P. Thermoluminescence dating of dune sands in Rajasthan, India. Nature (London) 295 1982 313 315 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wintle, A. G. Huntley, D. J. Thermoluminescence dating of ocean sediments. Canadian Journal of Earth Science 17 1980 348 360 Google Scholar
Wintle, A. G. Catt, J. A. Thermoluminescence dating of soils developed in late Devensian Loess at Pegwell Bay, Kent. Journal of Soil Science 36 1985 293 298 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wintle, A. G. Thermoluminescence dating of loess sections: A re-appraisal Liu, T. Aspects of Loess Research 1987 China Ocean Press Beijing 252 258 Google Scholar