Climatic sub-cycles recorded by the fourth paleosol layer at Luochuan on the Loess Plateau

The Chinese loess–paleosol succession, deep-sea sedimentary sequences and ice cores are the three types of paleoclimatic records. Measurements were made of the ancient climatic proxies of magnetic susceptibility, median diameter of grain size and content >40 μm, and the CaCO3 content of samples collected at 1 cm depth intervals in the fourth paleosol layer of the Luochuan loess-paleosol section on the Chinese Loess Plateau. Wavelet analysis of the data identified cycles of climate change, which were compared to the marine δ18O record of SPECMAP. The results showed that: (1) when the fourth paleosol layer was forming, the paleoclimate was relatively stable but five extreme climatic events were identifiable as occurring around 408, 381, 376, 368 and 361 kaBP; (2) two of these regional events differed from the global trend; (3) during marine isotope stage (MIS)11, the fourth paleosol layer of the Luochuan loess section recorded a regional quasi-19 ka climatic sub-cycle and (4) this sub-cycle was also reflected globally in the SPECMAP data indicating that, during MIS11, this sub-cycle was regionally and globally synchronized.

[1]  安芷生,et al.  THIRTY-SEVEN CLIMATIC CYCLES IN THE LAST 2.5 Ma , 1990 .

[2]  C. Torrence,et al.  A Practical Guide to Wavelet Analysis. , 1998 .

[3]  S. C. Porter.  High-Resolution Paleoclimatic Information from Chinese Eolian Sediments Based on Grayscale Intensity Profiles , 2000, Quaternary Research.

[4]  D. Heslop,et al.  A new astronomical timescale for the loess deposits of Northern China , 2000 .

[5]  M. Pécsi.  Loess and environment , 1987 .

[6]  W. Balsam,et al.  Direct correlation of the marine oxygen isotope record with the Chinese Loess Plateau iron oxide and magnetic susceptibility records , 2005 .

[7]  F. Heller,et al.  Magnetism of loess/palaeosol sequences: recent developments , 2001 .

[8]  A. Zhisheng,et al.  A 130-ka reconstruction of precipitation on the Chinese Loess Plateau from organic carbon isotopes , 2008 .

[9]  L. Hua.  PRETREATMENT METHODS AND THEIR INFLUENCES ON GRAIN-SIZE MEASUREMENT OF AEOLIAN "RED CLAY" IN NORTH CHINA , 2002 .

[10]  André Berger,et al.  An alternative astronomical calibration of the lower Pleistocene timescale based on ODP Site 677 , 1990, Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences.

[11]  J. Mélice,et al.  Magnetic susceptibility record of Chinese Loess , 1990, Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh: Earth Sciences.

[12]  J. O'Brien,et al.  An Introduction to Wavelet Analysis in Oceanography and Meteorology: With Application to the Dispersion of Yanai Waves , 1993 .

[13]  André Berger,et al.  Milankovitch and Climate , 1984, NATO ASI Series.

[14]  Q. Ge,et al.  Precipitation cycles in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River (1736–2000) , 2008 .

[15]  S. C. Porter,et al.  Chinese loess record of monsoon climate during the last glacial–interglacial cycle , 2001 .

[16]  N. Pisias,et al.  A direct link between the China loess and marine δ18O records: aeolian flux to the north Pacific , 1989, Nature.

[17]  Ka-Ming Lau,et al.  Climate Signal Detection Using Wavelet Transform: How to Make a Time Series Sing , 1995 .

[18]  Z. An,et al.  Grain Size of Quartz as an Indicator of Winter Monsoon Strength on the Loess Plateau of Central China during the Last 130,000 Yr , 1995, Quaternary Research.

[19]  刘东生,et al.  Pedosedimentary events in loess of China and Quaternary climatic cycles , 1996 .

[20]  Chen Dongmei,et al.  Palaeoenvironment of mid- to late Holocene loess deposit of the southern margin of the Tarim Basin, NW China , 2009 .

[21]  Yi Jiangang,et al.  Revuz measures under time change , 2008 .

[22]  Jessica A. Thompson,et al.  Last glacial climate instability documented by coarse-grained sediments within the loess sequence, at Fanjiaping, Lanzhou, China , 2009, Quaternary Research.

[23]  J. D. Hays,et al.  The orbital theory of Pleistocene climate : Support from a revised chronology of the marine δ^ O record. , 1984 .

[24]  Xiao-dong Liu,et al.  Astronomical calibration of loess-paleosol deposits at Luochuan, central Chinese Loess Plateau , 1999 .

[25]  G. Kukla.  Loess stratigraphy in central China , 1987 .

[26]  Zhongli Ding,et al.  Ice-Volume Forcing of East Asian Winter Monsoon Variations in the Past 800,000 Years , 1995, Quaternary Research.

[27]  G. Kukla,et al.  Pleistocene climates in China dated by magnetic susceptibility , 1988 .

[28]  Z. Ding,et al.  COMPARISON OF MILANKOVITCH PERIODS BETWEEN CONTINENTAL LOESS AND DEEP SEA RECORDS OVER THE LAST 2.5 MA , 1999 .

[29]  A. Zhisheng,et al.  Correlation between climate events in the North Atlantic and China during the last glaciation , 1995, Nature.

[30]  S. L. Yang,et al.  Stacked 2.6‐Ma grain size record from the Chinese loess based on five sections and correlation with the deep‐sea δ18O record , 2002 .

[31]  Yang Pu,et al.  Molecular fossil and paleovegetation records of paleosol S4 and adjacent loess layers in the Luochuan loess section, NW China , 2008 .

[32]  Huifang Xu,et al.  High resolution hematite/goethite records from Chinese loess sequences for the last glacial‐interglacial cycle: Rapid climatic response of the East Asian Monsoon to the tropical Pacific , 2004 .

[33]  G. Kukla.  Loess stratigraphy in central China , 1987 .

[34]  Li Bingyuan,et al.  Instability characteristics of the East Asian Monsoon recorded by high-resolution loess sections from the last interglacial (MIS5) , 2007 .