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Quartz grain characteristics of the late Pleistocene hard clay in the Yangtze River delta and implications for sedimentary environment and provenance

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 June 2020

Chao Wu Open the ORCID record for Chao Wu [Opens in a new window] ,
Peng Qian ,
Xiangmin Zheng ,
Limin Zhou ,
Hui Wang  and
Hongyang Xu
Chao Wu*
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Geo-information Science of Ministry of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai200241, China
Peng Qian*
Affiliation:
School of Geography, Nantong University, Nantong226007, China
Xiangmin Zheng*
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Geo-information Science of Ministry of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai200241, China
Limin Zhou
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Geo-information Science of Ministry of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai200241, China
Hui Wang
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Geo-information Science of Ministry of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai200241, China
Hongyang Xu
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Geo-information Science of Ministry of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai200241, China
*
*Corresponding authors e-mail address: [email protected] (C. Wu); [email protected] (X. Zheng); [email protected] (P. Qian).
*Corresponding authors e-mail address: [email protected] (C. Wu); [email protected] (X. Zheng); [email protected] (P. Qian).
*Corresponding authors e-mail address: [email protected] (C. Wu); [email protected] (X. Zheng); [email protected] (P. Qian).
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Abstract

The sedimentologic fingerprinting in detrital deposit is vital to reconstruct sedimentary environments and discriminate sources. In this study, grain size and microtextural characteristics of quartz from the late Pleistocene hard clay in the Yangtze River delta (YRD) were analyzed by using a laser particle size analyzer and a scanning electron microscope. Subaqueous quartz from the Yangtze River and Yellow River sediments and eolian quartz from the Chinese Loess Plateau loess were also analyzed by scanning electron microscopy to obtain the microtextural characteristics. Quartz grains of the hard clay were characterized by poor sorting, fine skew, bimodal grain-size distributions, and numerous eolian microtextures. The comparison of the quartz grain characteristics of the hard clay with these in eolian loess indicated that the hard clay belonged to an eolian deposition. Moreover, the fine quartz grains of the hard clay were dominated by eolian microtextural characteristics, representing long-distance transportation. The coarse quartz grains of the hard clay exhibited more subaqueous microtextural characteristics, which indicated that the coarse fraction of the hard clay was derived from the proximal source regions in the YRD. The determination of buried eolian deposition with multiple sources in the YRD implies a southward westerly jet stream, strengthened eolian dust transportation, and extensive aridification in the YRD due to the increased Northern Hemisphere ice sheets in Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 2.

Keywords

Grain-size distributionMicrotextures of quartz silt grainsEolian depositYangtze River Delta
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 97 , September 2020 , pp. 199 - 215
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Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2020

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