Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-17T10:42:46.717Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Magnetic parameter variations in the Chaona loess/paleosol sequences in the central Chinese Loess Plateau, and their significance for the middle Pleistocene climate transition

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Yougui Song ,
Xiaomin Fang ,
John W. King ,
Jijun Li ,
Ishikawa Naoto  and
Zhisheng An
Yougui Song*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 710075, China Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems, Ministry of Education of China, Lanzhou 730000, China
Xiaomin Fang
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems, Ministry of Education of China, Lanzhou 730000, China Key Laboratory of Continental Collision and Plateau Uplift, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
John W. King
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI 02882, USA
Jijun Li
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems, Ministry of Education of China, Lanzhou 730000, China
Ishikawa Naoto
Affiliation:
Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501, Japan
Zhisheng An
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 710075, China
*
*Corresponding author at: State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth and Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 710075, China. E-mail addresses:[email protected][email protected] (Y. Song).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A high-resolution rock magnetic investigation was performed on the Chaona Quaternary loess/paleosol sequences in the Central Chinese Loess Plateau. Based on a newly developed independent unturned time scale and magnetic records, we reconstructed the history of the East Asia monsoons during the last 3 Ma and explored the middle Pleistocene climate transition (MPT). Rock magnetic results show that the loess layers are characterized by relatively high coercivity and remanent coercivity, lower magnetic susceptibility (MS), and that the paleosol layers are characterized by relatively high MS, saturation magnetization and remanent saturation magnetization. Spectrum analyses indicate that there are various periods in addition to orbital periodicities. According to the onset and stable appearance of 100 kyr period, we consider that the MPT recorded in this section began at ~ 1.26 Ma and was completed by ~ 0.53 Ma, which differs from previous investigations based on orbitally tuned time scales. The forcing mechanism for the MPT was more complicated than just the orbital forcing. We conclude that the rapid uplift of the Tibetan Plateau may have played an important role in the shift of periodicities during the middle Pleistocene.

Keywords

Rock magnetismLoess–paleosol sequenceEast Asian monsoon historyMiddle-Pleistocene climatic transition
Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 81 , Issue 3 , May 2014 , pp. 433 - 444
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

An, Z.S. The history and variability of the East Asian paleomonsoon climate. Quaternary Science Reviews 19, (2000). 171–187.Google Scholar
An, Z.S., Liu, T.S., Lu, Y.C., Porter, S.C., Kukla, G., Wu, X.H., and Hua, Y.M. The long-term paleomonsoon variation recorded by the loess-paleosol sequence in Central China. Quaternary International 7–8, (1990). 91–95.Google Scholar
An, Z.S., Kukla, G.J., Porter, S.C., and Xiao, J.L. Magnetic susceptibility evidence of monsoon variation on the Loess Plateau of central China during the last 130,000 years. Quaternary Research 36, (1991). 29–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
An, Z.S., Kutzbach, J.E., Prell, W.L., and Porter, S.C. Evolution of Asian monsoons and phased uplift of the Himalaya-Tibetan plateau since Late Miocene times. Nature 411, (2001). 62–66.Google Scholar
Berger, A., and Loutre, M.F. Insolation values for climate of the last 10 million years. Quaternary Science Reviews 10, (1991). 297–317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berger, A., Li, X.S., and Loutre, M.F. Modelling northern hemisphere ice volume over the last 3 Ma. Quaternary Science Reviews 18, (1999). 1–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bloemendal, J., and Liu, X. Rock magnetism and geochemistry of two plio-pleistocene Chinese loess-palaeosol sequences–implications for quantitative palaeoprecipitation reconstruction. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 226, (2005). 149–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, P.U., Archer, D., Pollard, D., Blum, J.D., Rial, J.A., Brovkin, V., Mix, A.C., Pisias, N.G., and Roy, M. The middle Pleistocene transition: characteristics, mechanisms, and implications for long-term changes in atmospheric pCO2. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, (2006). 3150–3184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cui, Z., Wu, Y., Liu, G., Ge, D., Pang, Q., and Xu, Q. On Kunlun-Yellow River tectonic movement. Science in China Series D: Earth Sciences 41, (1998). 592–600.Google Scholar
Day, R., Fuller, M., and Schmidt, V.A. Hysteresis properties of titanomagnetites: grain-size and compositional dependence. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors 13, (1977). 260–267.Google Scholar
Dekkers, M.J. Environmental magnetism, an introduction. Geologie en Mijnbouw 76, (1997). 163–182.Google Scholar
Deng, C., Vidic, N.J., Verosub, K.L., Singer, M.J., Liu, Q., Shaw, J., and Zhu, R. Mineral magnetic variation of the Jiaodao Chinese loess/paleosol sequence and its bearing on long-term climatic variability. Journal of Geophysical Research 110, (2005). 1–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deng, C., Vidic, N.J., Verosub, K.L., Singer, M.J., Liu, Q., Shaw, J., and Zhu, R. Mineral magnetic variation of the Jiaodao Chinese loess/paleosol sequence and its bearing on long-term climatic variability. Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid Earth 110, (2005). B03103 http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2004JB003451CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ding, Z., Yu, Z., Rutter, N.W., and Liu, T. Towards an orbital time scale for Chinese loess deposits. Quaternary Science Reviews 13, (1994). 39–70.Google Scholar
Ding, Z.L., Rutter, N.W., Sun, J.M., Yang, S.L., and Liu, T.S. Re-arrangement of atmospheric circulation at about 2.6 Ma over northern China: evidence from grain size records of loess-palaeosol and red clay sequences. Quaternary Science Reviews 19, (2000). 547–558.Google Scholar
Dunlop, D.J., and Özdemir, Ö. Rock Magnetism: Fundamentals and Frontiers. (1997). Cambridge Univ. Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, M.E., and Heller, F. Magnetism of loess/palaeosol sequences: recent developments. Earth-Science Reviews 54, (2001). 129–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, M.E., Rokosh, C.D., and Rutter, N.W. Magnetoclimatology and paleoprecipitation: evidence from a north-south transect through the Chinese Loess Plateau. Geophysical Research Letters 29, (2002). 127-121–127-124.Google Scholar
Fang, X.M., Li, J.J., and Van der Voo, R. Rock magnetic and grain size evidence for intensified Asian atmospheric circulation since 800,000 years B.P. related to Tibetan uplift. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 165, (1999). 129–144.Google Scholar
Fang, X., Yan, M., Van der Voo, R., Rea, D.K., Song, C., Parés, J.M., Gao, J., Nie, J., and Dai, S. Late Cenozoic deformation and uplift of the NE Tibetan Plateau: evidence from high-resolution magnetostratigraphy of the Guide Basin, Qinghai Province, China. Geological Society of America Bulletin 117, (2005). 1208–1225.Google Scholar
Fukuma, K., and Torii, M. Variable shape of magnetic hysteresis loops in the Chinese loess-paleosol sequence. Earth Planetary Space 50, (1998). 9–14.Google Scholar
Han, W., Fang, X., Berger, A., and Yin, Q. An astronomically tuned 8.1 Ma eolian record from the Chinese Loess Plateau and its implication on the evolution of Asian monsoon. Journal of Geophysical Research 116, (2011). D24114 http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/22011jd016237CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Han, W., Fang, X., and Berger, A. Tibet forcing of mid-Pleistocene synchronous enhancement of East Asian winter and summer monsoons revealed by Chinese loess record. Quaternary Research 78, (2012). 174–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hao, Q., Oldfield, F., Bloemendal, J., Torrent, J., and Guo, Z. The record of changing hematite and goethite accumulation over the past 22 Myr on the Chinese Loess Plateau from magnetic measurements and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid Earth 114, (2009). B12101 http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2009JB006604CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hao, Q.Z., Wang, L., Oldfield, F., Peng, S.Z., Qin, L., Song, Y., Xu, B., Qiao, Y.S., Bloemendal, J., and Guo, Z.T. Delayed build-up of Arctic ice sheets during 400,000-year minima in insolation variability. Nature 490, (2012). 393–396.Google Scholar
Heller, F., and Liu, T.S. Paleoclimatic and sedimentary history from magnetic susceptibility of loess in China. Geophysical Research Letters 13, (1986). 1169–1172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heller, F., Shen, C.D., Beer, J., Liu, X.M., Liu, T.S., Bronger, A., Suter, M., and Bonani, G. Quantitative estimates of pedogenic ferromagnetic mineral formation in Chinese loess and palaeoclimatic implications. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 114, (1993). 385–390.Google Scholar
Heslop, D., Langereis, C.G., and Dekkers, M.J. A new astronomical timescale for the loess deposits of Northern China. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 184, (2000). 125–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heslop, D., Dekkers, M.J., and Langereis, C.G. Timing and structure of the mid-Pleistocene transition: records from the loess deposits of northern China. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 185, (2002). 133–143.Google Scholar
Hunt, C.P., Banerjee, S.K., Han, J.M., Solheid, P.A., Oches, E.A., Sun, W., and Liu, T. Rock-magnetic proxies of climate change in the loess-paleosol sequences of the western Loess Plateau of China. Geophysical Journal International 123, (1995). 232–244.Google Scholar
King, J.W., and Channell, J.E.T. Sedimentary magnetism, environmental magnetism, and magnetostratigraphy. Reviews of Geophysics 29, (1990). 358–370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kukla, G. Loess stratigraphy in central China. Quaternary Science Reviews 6, (1987). 191–207. (209–219) Google Scholar
Li, J. The environmental effects of the uplift of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. Quaternary Science Reviews 10, (1991). 479–483.Google Scholar
Li, J.J., Fang, X.M., Van der Voo, R., Zhu, J.J., Niocaill, C.M., Ono, Y., Pan, B.T., Zhong, W., Wang, J.L., Sasaki, T., Zhang, Y.T., Cao, J.X., Kang, S.C., and Wang, J.M. Magnetostratigraphic dating of river terraces: rapid and intermittent incision by the Yellow River of the northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau during the Quaternary. Journal of Geophysical Research - Solid Earth 102, (1997). 10121–10132.Google Scholar
Lisiecki, L.E., and Raymo, M.E. A Pliocene-Pleistocene stack of 57 globally distributed benthic δ18O records. Paleoceanography 20, (2005). PA1003 http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2004PA001071Google Scholar
Lisiecki, L., and Raymo, M.E. Plio-Pleistocene climate evolution: trends and transitions in glacial cycle dynamics. Quaternary Science Reviews 26, (2007). 56–69.Google Scholar
Liu, T., Zhang, S., and Han, J. Stratigraphy and paleoenvironmental changes in the loess of central China. Quaternary Science Reviews 5, (1986). 489–495.Google Scholar
Liu, X.M., Shaw, J., Heller, F., and Yuan, B.Y. Magnetic mineralogy of Chinese loess and its significance. Geophysical Journal International 108, (1992). 301–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, Q., Deng, C., Torrent, J., and Zhu, R. Review of recent developments in mineral magnetism of the Chinese loess. Quaternary Science Reviews 26, (2007). 368–385.Google Scholar
Liu, D., Fang, X., Song, C., Dai, S., Zhang, T., Zhang, W., Miao, Y., Liu, Y., and Wang, J. Stratigraphic and paleomagnetic evidence of mid-Pleistocene rapid deformation and uplift of the NE Tibetan Plateau. Tectonophysics 486, (2010). 108–119.Google Scholar
Lourens, L., Hilgen, F., Shackleton, N.J., Laskar, J., and Wilson, D. The Neogene Period. Gradstein, F., Ogg, J., and Smith, A.G. Geologic Time Scale. (2004). Elsevier Inc., Cambridge. 409–440.Google Scholar
Lu, H., Liu, X., Zhang, F., An, Z., and Dodson, J. Astronomical calibration of loess-paleosol deposits at Luochuan, central Chinese Loess Plateau. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 154, (1999). 237–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lü, L., Fang, X., Joseph, A.M., Li, J., and An, Z. The evolution of coupling of Asian winter monsoon and high latitude climate of Northern Hemisphere: grain evidence from 8.1 Ma loess-red clay sequence on the Chinese central Loess Plateau. Science in China Series D: Earth Sciences 44, (2001). 185–191.Google Scholar
Lu, H., Zhang, F., and Liu, X. Patterns and frequencies of the East Asian winter monsoon variations during the past million years revealed by wavelet and spectral analyses. Global and Planetary Change 35, (2003). 67–74.Google Scholar
Lu, H., Zhang, F., Liu, X., and Duce, R.A. Periodicities of palaeoclimatic variations recorded by loess-paleosol sequences in China. Quaternary Science Reviews 23, (2004). 1891–1900.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lu, Y.C., Wang, X.L., and Wintle, A.G. A new OSL chronology for dust accumulation in the last 130,000 yr for the Chinese Loess Plateau. Quaternary Research 67, (2007). 152–160.Google Scholar
Maher, B.A., and Thompson, R. Paleoclimatic significance of the mineral magnetic record of the Chinese loess and paleosols. Quaternary Research 37, (1992). 155–170.Google Scholar
Maher, B.A., and Thompson, R. Paleorainfall reconstructions from pedogenic magnetic susceptibility variations in the Chinese loess and paleosols. Quaternary Research 44, (1995). 383–391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maher, B.A., and Tompson, R. Plaeomagnetic significance of the mineral magnetic record of the Chinese loess and paleosols. Quaternary Research 37, (1992). 155–170.Google Scholar
Maher, B.A., Thompson, R., and Zhou, L.P. Spatial and temporal reconstructions of changes in the Asian palaeomonsoon: a new mineral magnetic approach. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 125, (1994). 461–471.Google Scholar
Maher, B.A., Mutch, T.J., and Cunningham, D. Magnetic and geochemical characteristics of Gobi Desert surface sediments: implications for provenance of the Chinese Loess Plateau. Geology 37, (2009). 279–282.Google Scholar
Mudelsee, M., and Schulz, M. The Mid-Pleistocene climate transition: onset of 100 ka cycle lags ice volume build-up by 280 ka. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 151, (1997). 117–123.Google Scholar
Mudelsee, M., and Stattegger, K. Exploring the structure of the mid-Pleistocene revolution with advanced methods of time-series analysis. Geologische Rundschau 86, (1997). 499–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nie, J.S. Coupled 100‐kyr cycles between 3 and 1 Ma in terrestrial and marine paleoclimatic records. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 12, (2011). Q10Z32 http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2011GC003772Google Scholar
Nie, J.S., King, J.W., and Fang, X.M. Enhancement mechanisms of magnetic susceptibility in the Chinese red-clay sequence. Geophysical Research Letters 34, (2007). L19705 http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2007GL031430CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nie, J.S., King, J.W., and Fang, X.M. Correlation between the magnetic susceptibility record of the Chinese aeolian sequences and the marine benthic oxygen isotope record. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 9, (2008). Q12026 http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2008GC002243Google Scholar
Nie, J.S., King, J.W., and Fang, X.M. Link between benthic oxygen isotopes and magnetic susceptibility in the red-clay sequence on the Chinese Loess Plateau. Geophysical Research Letters 35, (2008). L03703 http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2007GL032817Google Scholar
Nie, J.S., Song, Y.G., King, J.W., and Egli, R. Consistent grain size distribution of pedogenic maghemite of surface soils and Miocene loessic soils on the Chinese Loess Plateau. Journal of Quaternary Science 25, (2010). 261–266.Google Scholar
Paillard, D., Labeyrie, L., and Yiou, P. Analyseries 1.0: a Macintosh software for the analysis of geographical time-series. EOS 77, (1996). 379 Google Scholar
Pan, B.T., Gao, H.S., Wu, G.J., Li, J.J., Li, B.Y., and Ye, Y.G. Dating of erosion surface and terraces in the eastern Qilian Shan, northwest China. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 32, (2007). 143–154.Google Scholar
Porter, S.C., and An, Z.S. Correlation between climate events in the North Atlantic and China during the last glaciation. Nature 375, (1995). 305–308.Google Scholar
Raymo, M.E., Oppo, D.W., and Curry, W. The mid-Pleistocene climate transition: a deep sea carbon isotopic perspective. Paleoceanography 12, (1997). 546–559.Google Scholar
Ruddiman, W., Raymo, M., Martinson, D., Clement, B., and Backman, J. Pleistocene evolution: Northern Hemisphere ice sheets and North Atlantic Ocean. Paleoceanography 4, (1989). 353–412.Google Scholar
Schmieder, F., Dobeneck, T.V., and Bleil, U. The Mid-Pleistocene climate transition as documented in the deep South Atlantic Ocean: initiation, interim state and terminal event. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 179, (2000). 539–549.Google Scholar
Schulz, M., and Mudelsee, M. REDFIT: estimating red-noise spectra directly from unevenly spaced paleoclimatic time series. Computers & Geosciences 28, (2002). 421–426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shackleton, N.J., Berger, A.J., and Peltier, W.R. An alternative astronomical calibration of the lower Pleistocene timescale based on ODP Site 677. Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Earth Science 81, (1990). 251–261.Google Scholar
Song, Y.G., Fang, X.M., Li, J.J., An, Z.S., and Miao, X.D. The Late Cenozoic uplift of the Liupan Shan, China. Science in China Series D: Earth Sciences 44, (2001). 176–184.Google Scholar
Song, Y.G., Fang, X.M., Torii, M., Ishikawa, N., Li, J.J., and An, Z.S. Late Neogene rock magnetic record of climatic variation from Chinese eolian sediments related to uplift of the Tibetan Plateau. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 30, (2007). 324–332.Google Scholar
Sun, Y.B., and An, Z.S. Late Pliocene-Pleistocene changes in mass accumulation rates of eolian deposits on the central Chinese Loess Plateau. Journal of Geophysical Research 110, (2005). D23101 http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2005JD006064Google Scholar
Sun, J.M., and Liu, T.S. Stratigraphic evidence for the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau between 1.1 and 0.9 myr Ago. Quaternary Research 54, (2000). 309–320.Google Scholar
Sun, Y.B., Chen, J., Clemens, S.C., Liu, Q.S., Ji, J.F., and Tada, R. East Asian monsoon variability over the last seven glacial cycles recorded by a loess sequence from the northwestern Chinese Loess Plateau. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 7, (2006). 1–16.Google Scholar
Sun, Y.B., Clemens, S.C., An, Z.S., and Yu, Z.W. Astronomical timescale and palaeoclimatic implication of stacked 3.6-Myr monsoon records from the Chinese Loess Plateau. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, (2006). 33–48.Google Scholar
Thompson, R., and Oldfield, F. Environmental Magnetism. (1986). Allen & Unwin, London.Google Scholar
Torrence, C., and Compo, G.P. A practical guide to wavelet analysis. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 79, (1998). 61–78.Google Scholar
Tziperman, E., and Gildor, H. On the mid-Pleistocene transition to 100-kyr glacial cycles and the asymmetry between glaciation and deglaciation times. Paleoceanography 18, (2003). 1001 http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2001PA000627 (002003) Google Scholar
Wu, F.L., Fang, X.M., Ma, Y.Z., Herrmann, M., Mosbrugger, V., An, Z.S., and Miao, Y.F. Plio-Quaternary stepwise drying of Asia: evidence from a 3-Ma pollen record from the Chinese Loess Plateau. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 257, (2007). 160–169.Google Scholar
Zhou, L.P., Oldfield, F., Wintle, A.G., Robinson, S.G., and Wang, J.T. Partly pedogenic origin of magnetic variations in Chinese loess. Nature 346, (1990). 737–739.Google Scholar