Hostname: page-component-89b8bd64d-z2ts4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-07T21:19:19.493Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sedimentation rate changes across the Chinese Loess Plateau from luminescence dating of Malan loess in the Sanmen Gorge

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2024

Gang Hu Open the ORCID record for Gang Hu [Opens in a new window] ,
Huiying Wang ,
Bo Xu ,
Ping Wang ,
Liubing Xu ,
Jinming Xie ,
Xin Wang ,
Long Qiao ,
Changhui Guo  and
Junkang Wang
...Show all authors
Gang Hu
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100029, China
Huiying Wang
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100029, China
Bo Xu
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100029, China
Ping Wang
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing 100029, China
Liubing Xu
Affiliation:
Department of Geographical Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
Jinming Xie
Affiliation:
Department of Geographical Sciences, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, China
Xin Wang
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Long Qiao
Affiliation:
First Monitoring and Application Center, China Earthquake Administration, Tianjin, 300180, China
Changhui Guo
Affiliation:
First Monitoring and Application Center, China Earthquake Administration, Tianjin, 300180, China
Junkang Wang
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, Department of Geography, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Jiafu Zhang
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, Department of Geography, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Wenxu Wang
Affiliation:
Earthquake Administration of Henan Province, Zhengzhou 450016, China
La Ta
Affiliation:
First Monitoring and Application Center, China Earthquake Administration, Tianjin, 300180, China
Lei Wang*
Affiliation:
First Monitoring and Application Center, China Earthquake Administration, Tianjin, 300180, China
*
*Corresponding author email address: hswang@fmac.ac.cn
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP), recognized as the world's largest loess plateau, has been a subject of ongoing debate regarding the continuity of its sedimentary loess sequence due to its intricate depositional environment. In this study, we conducted dating on a 9.8-m-long Malan loess core obtained from the Sanmen Gorge in the southern CLP using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL). The OSL dates indicate loess deposition between 52.4 and 11.3 ka, with no apparent hiatus on a millennial scale, and a sedimentation rate (SR) exhibiting six distinct episodes. Additionally, a comprehensive review of 613 OSL ages from 18 sections at 14 sites across the CLP was conducted. The results reveal loess deposition at most sites shows no apparent hiatus on a millennial scale over the past 60 ka, except for two specific locations. High SR episodes during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 across the CLP were attributed to heightened dust emissions from the source region and an enhanced dust deposition efficiency, while MIS 2 deposits were influenced by an intensified East Asian winter monsoon. Low SR episodes during MIS 1 at most sites were likely associated with reduced atmospheric transportation and pedogenesis. Spatially heterogeneous SR variations across the CLP might be influenced by local depositional environments.

Keywords

Chinese Loess PlateauSanmen GorgeOSL datingsedimentary rate change

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 122 , November 2024 , pp. 76 - 91
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Quaternary Research Center

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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

An, Z., Kukla, G., Porter, S.C., Xiao, J., 1991a. Late Quaternary dust flow on the Chinese Loess Plateau. Catena 18, 125–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
An, Z., Kukla, G.J., Porter, S.C., Xiao, J., 1991b. Magnetic susceptibility evidence of monsoon variation on the Loess Plateau of Central China during the last 130,000 years. Quaternary Research 36, 29–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
An, Z., Wang, J., Li, H., 1977. Paleomagnetic research of the Lochuan loess section. Geochimica 4, 239–249.Google Scholar
Blaauw, M., Christen, J.A., 2011. Flexible paleoclimate age-depth models using an autoregressive gamma process. Bayesian Analysis 6, 457–474.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bond, G., Broecker, W., Johnsen, S., McManus, J., Labeyrie, L., Jouzel, J., Bonani, G., 1993. Correlations between climate records from North Atlantic sediments and Greenland ice. Nature 365, 143–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, S., Liu, J., Wang, X., Zhao, S., Chen, J., Qiang, M., Liu, B., Xu, Q., Xia, D., Chen, F., 2021. Holocene dust storm variations over northern China: transition from a natural forcing to an anthropogenic forcing. Science Bulletin 66, 2516–2527.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheng, H., Edwards, L., Sinha, A., Spötl, C., Yi, L., Chen, S., Kelly, M., et al. 2016. The Asian monsoon over the past 640,000 years and ice age terminations. Nature 534, 640–646.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Constantin, D., Mason, J.A., Veres, D., Hambach, U., Panaiotu, C., Zeeden, C., Zhou, L., et al. 2021. OSL-dating of the Pleistocene-Holocene climatic transition in loess from China, Europe and North America, and evidence for accretionary pedogenesis. Earth-Science Reviews 221, 103769.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ding, Z.L., Derbyshire, E., Yang, S.L., Yu, Z.W., Xiong, S.F., Liu, T.S., 2002. Stacked 2.6–Ma grain size record from the Chinese loess based on five sections and correlation with the deep-sea δ18O record. Paleoceanography 17, 1033.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dong, Y., Wu, N., Li, F., Huang, L., Wen, W., 2015. Time-transgressive nature of the magnetic susceptibility record across the Chinese Loess Plateau at the Pleistocene/Holocene transition. PLoS ONE 10, e0133541.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Duller, G.A.T., 2003. Distinguishing quartz and feldspar in single grain luminescence measurements. Radiation Measurements 37, 161–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fu, X., Li, B., Li, S.H., 2012. Testing a multi-step post-IR IRSL dating method using polymineral fine grains from Chinese loess. Quaternary Geochronology 10, 8–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hu, Z., Pan, B., Bridgland, D., Vandenberghe, J., Guo, L., Fan, Y., Westaway, R., 2017. The linking of the upper-middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River as a result of fluvial entrenchment. Quaternary Science Reviews 166, 324–338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jiang, F., Fu, J., Wang, S., Sun, D., Zhao, Z., 2007. Formation of the Yellow River, inferred from loess–palaeosol sequence in Mangshan and lacustrine sediments in Sanmen Gorge, China. Quaternary International 175, 62–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kang, S., Roberts, H.M., Wang, X., An, Z., Wang, M., 2015. Mass accumulation rate changes in Chinese loess during MIS 2, and asynchrony with records from Greenland ice cores and North Pacific Ocean sediments during the Last Glacial Maximum. Aeolian Research 19, 251–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kang, S., Wang, X., Lu, Y., 2013. Quartz OSL chronology and dust accumulation rate changes since the Last Glacial at Weinan on the southeastern Chinese Loess Plateau. Boreas 42, 815–829.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kang, S.G., Lu, Y.C., Wang, X.L., 2011. Closely-spaced recuperated OSL dating of the last interglacial paleosol in the southeastern margin of Chinese Loess Plateau. Quaternary Geochronology 6, 480–490.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohfeld, K.E., Harrison, S.P., 2001. DIRTMAP: the geological record of dust. Earth-Science Reviews 54, 81–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohfeld, K.E., Harrison, S.P., 2003. Glacial-interglacial changes in dust deposition on the Chinese Loess Plateau. Quaternary Science Reviews 22, 1859–1878.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Konert, M., Vandenberghe, J.E.F., 1997. Comparison of laser grain size analysis with pipette and sieve analysis: a solution for the underestimation of the clay fraction. Sedimentology 44, 523–535.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kukla, G., Heller, F., Liu, X.M., Xu, T.C., Liu, T.S., An, Z.S., 1988. Pleistocene climates in China dated by magnetic susceptibility. Geology 16, 811.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lai, Z., 2010. Chronology and the upper dating limit for loess samples from Luochuan section in the Chinese Loess Plateau using quartz OSL SAR protocol. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 37, 176–185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lai, Z.P., Wintle, A.G., 2006. Locating the boundary between the Pleistocene and the Holocene in Chinese loess using luminescence. The Holocene 16, 893–899.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, B., Li, S.H., 2011. Luminescence dating of K-feldspar from sediments: a protocol without anomalous fading correction. Quaternary Geochronology 6, 468–479.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, B., Roberts, R.G., Jacobs, Z., Li, S.H., 2015. Potential of establishing a “global standardized growth curve” (gSGC) for optical dating of quartz from sediments. Quaternary Geochronology 27, 94–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, G., Chen, F., Xia, D., Yang, H., Zhang, X., Madsen, D., Oldknow, C., Wei, H., Rao, Z., Qiang, M., 2018. A Tianshan Mountains loess-paleosol sequence indicates anti-phase climatic variations in arid central Asia and in East Asia. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 494, 153–163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, G.Q., Rao, Z.G., Duan, Y.W., Xia, D.S., Wang, L.B., Madsen, D.B., Jia, J., Wei, H.T., Qiang, M.R., Chen, F.H., 2016. Paleoenvironmental changes recorded in a luminescence dated loess/paleosol sequence from the Tianshan Mountains, arid central Asia, since the penultimate Glaciation. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 448, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, H., An, Z.S., Wang, J., 1974. Preliminary palaeomagnetic results of a loess profile at Wucheng. Geochimica 2, 93–103.Google Scholar
Li, S.H., Wintle, A.G., 1992. A global view of the stability of luminescence signals from loess. Quaternary Science Reviews 11, 133–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, X., Ao, H., Dekkers, M.J., Roberts, A.P., Zhang, P., Lin, S., Huang, W., Hou, Y., Zhang, W., An, Z., 2017. Early Pleistocene occurrence of Acheulian technology in North China. Quaternary Science Reviews 156, 12–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liu, T.S., 1985. Loess and the Environment. [In Chinese.] China Ocean Press, Beijing.Google Scholar
Liu, Y., Liu, X., Ma, L., Kang, S., Qiang, X., Guo, F., Sun, Y., 2020. Temporal–spatial variations in aeolian flux on the Chinese Loess Plateau during the last 150 ka. Geological Magazine 157, 757–767.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lu, H., Liu, X., Zhang, F., An, Z., Dodson, J., 1999. Astronomical calibration of loess–paleosol deposits at Luochuan, central Chinese Loess Plateau. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 154, 237–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lu, Y.C., Wang, X.L., Wintle, A.G., 2007. A new OSL chronology for dust accumulation in the last 130,000 yr for the Chinese Loess Plateau. Quaternary Research 67, 152–160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maher, B.A., 2016. Palaeoclimatic records of the loess/palaeosol sequences of the Chinese Loess Plateau. Quaternary Science Reviews 154, 23–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maher, B.A., Prospero, J.M., Mckie, D., Gaiero, D., Hesse, P.P., Balkanski, Y., 2010. Global connections between aeolian dust, climate and ocean biogeochemistry at the present day and at the last glacial maximum. Earth-Science Reviews 99, 61–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martinson, D.G., Pisias, N.G., Hays, J.D., Imbrie, J., Moore, T.C., Shackleton, N.J., 1987. Age dating and orbital theory of the Ice Ages: development of a high-resolution 0 to 300,000-year chronostratigraphy. Quaternary Research 27, 1–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murray, A.S., Wintle, A.G., 2000. Luminescence dating of quartz using an improved single-aliquot regenerative-dose protocol. Radiation Measurements 32, 57–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murray, A.S., Wintle, A.G., 2003. The single aliquot regenerative dose protocol: potential for improvements in reliability. Radiation Measurements 37, 377–381.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peng, J., Wang, X., Yin, G., Adamiec, G., Du, J., Zhao, H., Kang, S., Hu, G., Zheng, Y., 2022. Accumulation of aeolian sediments around the Tengger Desert during the late Quaternary and its implications on interpreting chronostratigraphic records from drylands in north China. Quaternary Science Reviews 275, 107288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Perić, Z., Adophi, E.L., Buylaert, J.P., Stevens, T., Újvári, G., Marković, S.B., Hambach, U., et al., 2019. Quartz OSL dating of late Quaternary Chinese and Serbian loess: a cross Eurasian comparison of dust mass accumulation rates. Quaternary International 502, 30–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porter, S.C., 2001. Chinese loess record of monsoon climate during the last glacial-interglacial cycle. Earth-Science Reviews 54, 115–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porter, S.C., An, Z., 1995. Correlation between climate events in the North Atlantic and China, during the last glaciation. Nature 375, 305–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Qiang, M., Stevens, T., Li, G., Hu, L., Wang, X., Lang, W., Chen, J., 2021. Late Quaternary dust, loess and desert dynamics in upwind areas of the Chinese Loess Plateau. Frontiers in Earth Science 9, 254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rao, Z., Chen, F., Cheng, H., Liu, W., Wang, G.A., Lai, Z., Bloemendal, J., 2013. High-resolution summer precipitation variations in the western Chinese Loess Plateau during the last glacial. Scientific Reports 3, 1–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sanchez Goñi, M.F., Harrison, S.P., 2010. Millennial-scale climate variability and vegetation changes during the Last Glacial: concepts and terminology. Quaternary Science Reviews 29, 2823–2827.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shang, Y., Prins, M.A., Beets, C.J., Kaakinen, A., Lahaye, Y., Dijkstra, N., Rits, D.S., Wang, B., Zheng, H.B., van Balen, R.T., 2018. Aeolian dust supply from the Yellow River floodplain to the Pleistocene loess deposits of the Mangshan Plateau, central China: evidence from zircon U-Pb age spectra. Quaternary Science Reviews 182, 131–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shangguan, R.G., 2021. Excavation report of trench tomb of Western Han Dynasty at Houchuan in Sanmenxia, Henan Province. [In Chinese.] Journal of National Museum of China 3, 68–86.Google Scholar
Stevens, T., Adamiec, G., Bird, A. F., Lu, H., 2013. An abrupt shift in dust source on the Chinese Loess Plateau revealed through high sampling resolution OSL dating. Quaternary Science Reviews 82, 121–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevens, T., Armitage, S.J., Lu, H., Thomas, D.S., 2006. Sedimentation and diagenesis of Chinese loess: implications for the preservation of continuous, high-resolution climate records. Geology 34, 849–852.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevens, T., Buylaert, J.P., Lu, H., Thiel, C., Murray, A., Frechen, M., Yi, S., Zeng, L., 2016. Mass accumulation rate and monsoon records from Xifeng, Chinese Loess Plateau, based on a luminescence age model. Journal of Quaternary Science 31, 391–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevens, T., Buylaert, J.P., Thiel, C., Újvári, G., Yi, S., Murray, A.S., Frechen, M., Lu, H., 2018. Ice-volume-forced erosion of the Chinese Loess Plateau global Quaternary stratotype site. Nature Communications 9, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Stevens, T., Lu, H., Thomas, D.S.G., Armitage, S.J., 2008. Optical dating of abrupt shifts in the Late Pleistocene East Asian monsoon. Geology 36, 415–418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stevens, T., Thomas, D.S., Armitage, S.J., Lunn, H.R., Lu, H., 2007. Reinterpreting climate proxy records from late Quaternary Chinese loess: a detailed OSL investigation. Earth-Science Reviews 80, 111–136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sun, D.H., Bloemendal, J., Rea, D.K., Vandenberghe, J., Jiang, F.C., An, Z.S., Su, R.X., 2002. Grain-size distribution function of polymodal sediments in hydraulic and aeolian environments, and numerical partitioning of the sedimentary components. Sedimentary Geology 152, 263–277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sun, J., 2002. Provenance of loess material and formation of loess deposits on the Chinese Loess Plateau. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 203, 845–859.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sun, Y., Clemens, S.C., Morrill, C., Lin, X., Wang, X., An, Z., 2012. Influence of Atlantic meridional overturning circulation on the East Asian winter monsoon. Nature Geoscience 5, 46–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sun, Y., Lu, H., An, Z., 2006. Grain size of loess, paleosol and Red Clay deposits on the Chinese Loess Plateau: significance for understanding pedogenic alteration and palaeomonsoon evolution. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 241, 129–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sun, Y., Wang, X., Liu, Q., Clemens, S.C., 2010. Impacts of post-depositional processes on rapid monsoon signals recorded by the last glacial loess deposits of northern China. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 289, 171–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsakalos, E., Christodoulakis, J. Charalambous, L., 2015. The Dose Rate Calculator (DRc) for luminescence and ESR dating—a java application for dose rate and age determination. Archaeometry 58, 347–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Újvári, G., Kok, J.F., Varga, G., Kovács, J., 2016. The physics of wind-blown loess: implications for grain size proxy interpretations in Quaternary paleoclimate studies. Earth-Science Reviews 154, 247–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, S., Fu, B., Piao, S., Lü, Y., Ciais, P., Feng, X., Wang, Y., 2016. Reduced sediment transport in the Yellow River due to anthropogenic changes. Nature Geoscience 9, 38–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, X., Hu, G., Saito, Y., Ni, G., Hu, H., Yu, Z., Chen, J., et al. 2022. Did the modern Yellow River form at the mid-Pleistocene transition? Science Bulletin 67, 1603–1610.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, Y.J., Cheng, H., Edwards, R.L., An, Z.S., Wu, J.Y., Shen, C.C., Dorale, J.A., 2001. A high-resolution absolute-dated Late Pleistocene monsoon record from Hulu Cave, China. Science 294, 2345–2348.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wintle, A.G., Murray, A.S., 2006. A review of quartz optically stimulated luminescence characteristics and their relevance in single aliquot regeneration dating protocols. Radiation Measurements 41, 369–391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wu, J., Lu, H., Yi, S., Xu, Z., Gu, Y., Liang, C., Cui, M., Sun, X., 2019. Establishing a high-resolution luminescence chronology for the Zhenbeitai sand-loess section at Yulin, north-central China. Quaternary Geochronology 49, 78–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xiong, J., Li, Y., Zheng, W., Zhang, P., Lei, J., Zhong, Y., Hu, X., et al. 2018. Climatically driven formation of the Tangxian planation surface in North China: an example from northwestern Zhongtiao Shan of the Shanxi Graben System. Lithosphere 10, 530–544.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xiong, J., Li, Y., Zhong, Y., Si, S., Lei, J., Xin, W., Hu, X., Yao, Y., 2017. Paleomagnetic age of the Tangxian planation surface, northwestern Zhongtiao Shan of the Shanxi Graben System, North China. Geomorphology 283, 17–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xiong, L.Y., Tang, G.A., Li, F.Y., Yuan, B.Y., Lu, Z.C., 2014. Modeling the evolution of loess-covered landforms in the Loess Plateau of China using a DEM of underground bedrock surface. Geomorphology 209, 18–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xu, Z., Stevens, T., Yi, S., Mason, J. A., Lu, H., 2018. Seesaw pattern in dust accumulation on the Chinese Loess Plateau forced by late glacial shifts in the East Asian monsoon. Geology 46, 871–874.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, S., Ding, Z., 2017. Spatial changes in grain size of loess deposits in the Chinese Loess Plateau and implications for paleoenvironment. Quaternary Sciences 37, 934–944.Google Scholar
Yang, S., Ding, Z., Li, Y., Wang, X., Jiang, W., Huang, X., 2015. Warming-induced northwestward migration of the East Asian monsoon rain belt from the Last Glacial Maximum to the mid-Holocene. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 112, 13178–13183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yi, S., Buylaert, J.P., Murray, A.S., Thiel, C., Zeng, L., Lu, H., 2015. High resolution OSL and post-IR IRSL dating of the last interglacial–glacial cycle at the Sanbahuo loess site (northeastern China). Quaternary Geochronology 30, 200–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, J., Hao, Q., Li, S.H., 2022. An absolutely dated record of climate change over the last three glacial–interglacial cycles from Chinese loess deposits. Geology 50, 1116–1120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, J.F., Zhou, L.P., 2007. Optimization of the “double SAR” procedure for polymineral fine grains. Radiation Measurements 42, 1475–1482.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhao, S., Xia, D., Lü, K., 2022. Holocene aeolian dust accumulation rates across the Chinese Loess Plateau. Global and Planetary Change 208, 103720.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhao, L., Lu, H., Wang, H., Meadows, M., Ma, C., Tang, L., Lei, F., Zhang, H., 2020. Vegetation dynamics in response to evolution of the Asian Monsoon in a warm world: pollen evidence from the Weihe Basin, Central China. Global and Planetary Change 193, 103269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhou, X., Li, X., Dodson, J., Yang, S., Long, H., Zhao, K., Sun, N., Qing, Y., Liu, H., Zhao, C., 2014. Zonal vegetation change in the Chinese Loess Plateau since MIS 3. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 404, 89–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar