Comments on 'Origin of the magnetic susceptibility signal in Chinese loess'

1. The presence of magnetic material in vegetation is demonstrated by (a) experiments in which high magnetic susceptibility values were obtained for burnt and peroxidised leaf and leaf litter samples from Southeast England, and (b) an association between increased magnetic susceptibility values and vegetational debris in modern Chinese dust in the summer months. 2. Hence, decomposition of vegetation is an important contributor to the magnetic susceptibility of the palaeosols of the Chinese Quaternary loess/soil sequences. 3. Fine grains of ferrihydrite may be responsible for enhancement of the magnetic susceptibility signal in both decomposed plant tissue and modern Chinese dust. 4. The origin of the magnetic susceptibility signal in the Chinese loess remains poorly understood.