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Mineral magnetic record of the Miocene-Pliocene climate transition on the Chinese Loess Plateau, North China

Mineral magnetic record of the Miocene-Pliocene climate transition on the Chinese Loess Plateau, North China
Mineral magnetic record of the Miocene-Pliocene climate transition on the Chinese Loess Plateau, North China

Pre-Quaternary terrestrial climate variability is less well understood than that during the Quaternary. The continuous eolian Red Clay sequence underlying the well-known Quaternary loess-paleosol sequence on the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) provides an opportunity to study pre-Quaternary terrestrial climate variability in East Asia. Here, we present new mineral magnetic records for a recently found Red Clay succession from Shilou area on the eastern CLP, and demonstrate a marked East Asian climate shift across the Miocene-Pliocene boundary (MPB). Pedogenic fine-grained magnetite populations, ranging from superparamagnetic (SP)/single domain (SD) up to small pseudo-single domain (PSD) sizes (i.e., from <30 nm up to ~1000 nm), dominate the magnetic properties. Importantly, our mineral magnetic results indicate that both pedogenic formation of SP grains and transformation of SP grains to SD and small PSD grains accelerated across the MPB in the Shilou Red Clay, which are indicative of enhanced pedogenesis. We relate this enhanced pedogenesis to increased soil moisture availability on the CLP, associated with stronger Asian Summer Monsoon precipitation during an overall period of global cooling. Our study thus provides new insights into the Miocene-Pliocene climate transition in East Asia.

Asian Summer Monsoon, Chinese Loess Plateau, Environmental magnetism, Miocene-Pliocene transition, Paleoclimate, Red clay
0033-5894
619-628
Ao, Hong
13a3fe83-f313-47a9-baff-2e690979dae5
Dekkers, Mark J.
9b5658b0-c0ac-41d4-b8de-c8a1b576489e
Roberts, Andrew P.
bfc571f6-9c7a-4cc5-8df9-2c41ef5ac2a1
Rohling, Eelco J.
a2a27ef2-fcce-4c71-907b-e692b5ecc685
An, Zhisheng
1a0ec40b-125b-4917-a77f-c8c4c3e00dda
Liu, Xiaodong
8a273952-e4cf-4345-b45c-072ba5ba74c3
Jiang, Zhaoxia
34e4135c-e7af-48b4-b77a-bf2a2d825fc9
Qiang, Xiaoke
7c1cb0b0-5aad-42e9-9fa7-e1a75ff34fd1
Xu, Yong
bdf3c62d-fa3c-4763-83b8-98066c3415e2
Chang, Hong
3ea78066-4329-45d5-956a-fcf38335ded1
Ao, Hong
13a3fe83-f313-47a9-baff-2e690979dae5
Dekkers, Mark J.
9b5658b0-c0ac-41d4-b8de-c8a1b576489e
Roberts, Andrew P.
bfc571f6-9c7a-4cc5-8df9-2c41ef5ac2a1
Rohling, Eelco J.
a2a27ef2-fcce-4c71-907b-e692b5ecc685
An, Zhisheng
1a0ec40b-125b-4917-a77f-c8c4c3e00dda
Liu, Xiaodong
8a273952-e4cf-4345-b45c-072ba5ba74c3
Jiang, Zhaoxia
34e4135c-e7af-48b4-b77a-bf2a2d825fc9
Qiang, Xiaoke
7c1cb0b0-5aad-42e9-9fa7-e1a75ff34fd1
Xu, Yong
bdf3c62d-fa3c-4763-83b8-98066c3415e2
Chang, Hong
3ea78066-4329-45d5-956a-fcf38335ded1

Ao, Hong, Dekkers, Mark J., Roberts, Andrew P., Rohling, Eelco J., An, Zhisheng, Liu, Xiaodong, Jiang, Zhaoxia, Qiang, Xiaoke, Xu, Yong and Chang, Hong (2018) Mineral magnetic record of the Miocene-Pliocene climate transition on the Chinese Loess Plateau, North China. Quaternary Research (United States), 89 (3), 619-628. (doi:10.1017/qua.2017.77).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Pre-Quaternary terrestrial climate variability is less well understood than that during the Quaternary. The continuous eolian Red Clay sequence underlying the well-known Quaternary loess-paleosol sequence on the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) provides an opportunity to study pre-Quaternary terrestrial climate variability in East Asia. Here, we present new mineral magnetic records for a recently found Red Clay succession from Shilou area on the eastern CLP, and demonstrate a marked East Asian climate shift across the Miocene-Pliocene boundary (MPB). Pedogenic fine-grained magnetite populations, ranging from superparamagnetic (SP)/single domain (SD) up to small pseudo-single domain (PSD) sizes (i.e., from <30 nm up to ~1000 nm), dominate the magnetic properties. Importantly, our mineral magnetic results indicate that both pedogenic formation of SP grains and transformation of SP grains to SD and small PSD grains accelerated across the MPB in the Shilou Red Clay, which are indicative of enhanced pedogenesis. We relate this enhanced pedogenesis to increased soil moisture availability on the CLP, associated with stronger Asian Summer Monsoon precipitation during an overall period of global cooling. Our study thus provides new insights into the Miocene-Pliocene climate transition in East Asia.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 13 August 2017
e-pub ahead of print date: 5 October 2017
Published date: 1 May 2018
Keywords: Asian Summer Monsoon, Chinese Loess Plateau, Environmental magnetism, Miocene-Pliocene transition, Paleoclimate, Red clay

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 421440
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/421440
ISSN: 0033-5894
PURE UUID: 0de8ae48-cfff-4735-84c5-8d97b7cff9a8
ORCID for Eelco J. Rohling: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-5349-2158

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 12 Jun 2018 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 02:46

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Contributors

Author: Hong Ao
Author: Mark J. Dekkers
Author: Andrew P. Roberts
Author: Zhisheng An
Author: Xiaodong Liu
Author: Zhaoxia Jiang
Author: Xiaoke Qiang
Author: Yong Xu
Author: Hong Chang

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