Dependence of Near-Surface Magnetic Susceptibility on Dust Accumulation Rate and Precipitation on the Chinese Loess Plateau

2001 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen C. Porter ◽  
Bernard Hallet ◽  
Xihao Wu ◽  
Zhisheng An
Keyword(s):  
Grain Size ◽  
Magnetic Susceptibility ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Surface Sediment ◽  
Accumulation Rate ◽  
Central China ◽  
Mean Annual Precipitation ◽  
Magnetic Minerals ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Dust Accumulation

AbstractMagnetic susceptibility (MS) of surface sediment varies systematically across the Loess Plateau in central China, decreasing exponentially from >200×10−8 m3/kg at the northern margin of the Qinling Shan to ≤30×10−8 m3/kg near the southern margin of the Mu Us Desert. MS correlates highly with loess median grain size (r2=0.79), which decreases south-southeastward across the plateau. It also correlates with mean annual temperature (MAT) and mean annual precipitation (MAP) (r2=0.58 and 0.60, respectively), and with their product MAT×MAP (r2=0.83), which is considered a measure of potential pedogenic activity. Because regional isopleths depicting grain size and the primary meteorological parameters are nearly parallel, it is difficult to determine their relative influence on MS. A simple MS model, based on the observed spatial variation in loess thickness, permits quantitative assessment of the effect of the dust accumulation rate on the MS signal of surface sediment and isolates the likely role of climate in the production of magnetic minerals. The model suggests that 84% of the loess MS variance is dictated by the diluting effect of dust and 10–11% is associated with meteorological factors, primarily precipitation. The observed and modeled relationships support hypotheses that attribute variations in MS in the loess-paleosol succession to varying rates of dust deposition and in situ production of magnetic minerals in the accretionary soils, both of which are controlled by monsoon climate.

scholarly journals Eolian dust dispersal patterns since the last glacial period in eastern Central Asia: insights from a loess-paleosol sequence in the Ili Basin

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 271-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue Li ◽  
Yougui Song ◽  
Kathryn E. Fitzsimmons ◽  
Hong Chang ◽  
Rustam Orozbaev ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Grain Size ◽  
Magnetic Susceptibility ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Chinese Loess Plateau ◽  
Magnetic Characteristics ◽  
Magnetic Minerals ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Siberian High ◽  
End Members ◽  
Eastern Central Asia

Abstract. The extensive loess deposits of the Eurasian mid-latitudes provide important terrestrial archives of Quaternary climatic change. As yet, however, loess records in Central Asia are poorly understood. Here we investigate the grain size and magnetic characteristics of loess from the Nilka (NLK) section in the Ili Basin of eastern Central Asia. Weak pedogenesis suggested by frequency-dependent magnetic susceptibility (χfd%) and magnetic susceptibility (MS) peaks in primary loess suggest that MS is more strongly influenced by allogenetic magnetic minerals than pedogenesis, and may therefore be used to indicate wind strength. This is supported by the close correlation between variations in MS and proportions of the sand-sized fraction. To further explore the temporal variability in dust transport patterns, we identified three grain size end-members (EM1, mode size 47.5 µm; EM2, 33.6 µm; EM3, 18.9 µm) which represent distinct aerodynamic environments. EM1 and EM2 are inferred to represent grain size fractions transported from proximal sources in short-term, near-surface suspension during dust outbreaks. EM3 appears to represent a continuous background dust fraction under non-dust storm conditions. Of the three end-members, EM1 is most likely the most sensitive recorder of wind strength. We compare our EM1 proportions with mean grain size from the Jingyuan section in the Chinese loess plateau, and assess these in the context of modern and Holocene climate data. Our research suggests that the Siberian High pressure system is the dominant influence on wind dynamics, resulting in loess deposition in the eastern Ili Basin. Six millennial-scale cooling (Heinrich) events can be identified in the NLK loess records. Our grain size data support the hypothesis that the Siberian High acts as teleconnection between the climatic systems of the North Atlantic and East Asia in the high northern latitudes, but not for the mid-latitude westerlies.

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 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jule Xiao ◽  
Stephen C. Porter ◽  
Zhisheng An ◽  
Hisao Kumai ◽  
Shusaku Yoshikawa
Keyword(s):  
Grain Size ◽  
Magnetic Susceptibility ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Winter Monsoon ◽  
Central China ◽  
Atmospheric Conditions ◽  
Dust Transport ◽  
Chinese Loess ◽  
Weathering Processes ◽  
Monsoon Strength

AbstractThe Chinese loess-paleosol sequence constitutes an important record of variations in Asian monsoon climate over the past 2.4 myr. Magnetic susceptibility of loess and paleosols has been used as a proxy for summer monsoon intensity, while median grain size has been regarded as a measure of the strength of winter monsoon winds that were responsible for most of the dust transport. However, median grain size is only an approximate index of winter monsoon strength because both paleosols and loess have been modified, to various degrees, by weathering processes that have produced pedogenic clay. The quartz component of loess and paleosols is largely unaffected by weathering processes and therefore constitutes a more reliable proxy index of monsoon wind strength. Median grain size (Qmd) and maximum grain size (Qmax) values of monomineralic quartz isolated from the loess-paleosol section at Luochuan in the central Loess Plateau are characterized by two main intervals during the last ca. 130,000 yr when these parameters were significantly greater than 9 and 85 μm, respectively, and three main intervals when they were lower. The data imply that the winter monsoon weakened during the intervals with low Qmd and Qmax values, which coincide with marine oxygen isotope stages 5, 3, and 1, and was strongest ca. 67,000 and 20,000 yr ago during isotope stages 4 and 2. However, both quartz grainsize records display second-order high-frequency, high-amplitude variations, which are lacking in the magnetic susceptibility record, that imply rapid and significant changes in atmospheric conditions that affect dust transport and deposition.

scholarly journals Magnetic Properties of a Holocene Sediment Core from the Yeongsan Estuary, Southwest Korea: Implications for Diagenetic Effects and Availability as Paleoenvironmental Proxies

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyeon–Seon Ahn ◽  
Jaesoo Lim ◽  
Sung Won Kim
Keyword(s):  
Grain Size ◽  
Magnetic Properties ◽  
Magnetic Susceptibility ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Size Distribution ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
West Coast ◽  
Magnetic Minerals ◽  
The West ◽  
Saturation Moment

The sensitivity of magnetic properties, which characterize the mineralogy, concentration, and grain size distribution of magnetic minerals, to environmental processes may provide useful information on paleoenvironmental changes in estuarine environments. Magnetic property studies of estuaries are less common than other environments and, due to the west coast of South Korea having an abundance of estuaries, it provides a good place to study these processes. In this study, we analyzed a variety of magnetic properties based on magnetic susceptibility, hysteresis parameters, progressive acquisition of isothermal remanent magnetization and first-order reversal curve data from a Holocene muddy sediment core recovered from the Yeongsan Estuary on the west coast of South Korea. We examined diagenetic effects on magnetic properties and tested their availability as proxies of paleoenvironmental change. The presence of generally low magnetic susceptibility, ubiquitous greigite-like authigenic magnetic component, and very fine magnetic particle occurrence suggested that the analyzed sediments had undergone considerable early diagenetic alteration. Electron microscopic observations of magnetic minerals support this suggestion. Our results confirm that the use of initial bulk susceptibility as a stand-alone environmental change proxy is not recommended unless it is supported by additional magnetic analyses. We recognized the existence of ferromagnetic-based variabilities related to something besides the adverse diagenetic effects, and have examined possible relationships with sea-level and major climate changes during the Holocene. The most remarkable finding of this study is the two distinct intervals with high values in magnetic coercivity (Bc), coercivity of remanence (Bcr), and ratio of remanent saturation moment to saturation moment (Mrs/Ms) that were well coincident with the respective abrupt decelerations in the rate of sea-level rise occurred at around 8.2 and 7 thousand years ago. It is then inferred that such condition with abrupt drop in sea-level rise rate would be favorable for the abrupt modification of grain size distribution toward more single-domain-like content. We modestly propose consideration of the Bc, Bcr, and Mrs/Ms variability as a potential indicator for the initiation/occurrence of sea-level stillstand/slowstand or highstand during the Holocence, at least at estuarine environments in and around the studied area.

Simulating Magnetic Susceptibility Profiles in Loess as an Aid in Quantifying Rates of Dust Deposition and Pedogenic Development

1996 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert S. Anderson ◽  
Bernard Hallet
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Susceptibility ◽  
Deposition Rate ◽  
Deep Sea ◽  
Western China ◽  
Dust Deposition ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Reactive Zone ◽  
Susceptibility Profiles ◽  
Pedogenic Processes ◽  
Dust Accumulation

AbstractMagnetic susceptibility profiles χ(z) in loess sequences reflect a combination of two climatically modulated processes: dust deposition and pedogenic development. Prominent soils with high χ values, for example, likely reflect periods of slow dust deposition, and warm wet conditions favorable for rapid chemical weathering. To refine our understanding of the climate records contained in loess, we develop a numerical model as a tool for exploring quantitatively the integrated record of the temporal variation in rates of loess aggradation and soil development contained in χ profiles. In our model, the aggrading loess is pedogenically altered in a reactive zone near the ground surface. The strength of the χ signal is dictated by both the depth-dependent intensity of pedogenic processes and the rate of dust accumulation, which dictates the total time a loess parcel spends in the near-surface reactive zone. The model can accommodate both pedogenic production of magnetically susceptible minerals and arrival of magnetically susceptible grains as eolian dust. To explore the model performance and develop a sense of time and length scales implicit in χ profiles, we first examine simple synthetic cases with idealized steady and cyclic climatic forcing. Reported χ profiles in three Chinese loess sequences at varying distances from the western China dust source are then modeled in two illustrative ways: (i) by imposing a specific dust deposition rate history that is proportional to the dust accumulation rate history reported from western Pacific deep-sea cores, allowing the time variation of pedogenic rates to be calculated directly from χ profiles; and (ii) by imposing both dust accumulation and pedogenic rate histories that are independently scaled by the deep-sea δ18O history, which reflects global climate cycles to which regional climate forcing is linked. We find that the zone of pedogenic activity is roughly 0.5–1.0 m thick, both deposition rate and pedogenic intensity have varied dramatically over the last 140,000 yr, the age structure of the Luochuan loess sequence is best fit by driving the model with the δ18O record, and environmental conditions must have been anomalously favorable for pedogenesis during isotope stage 3 at all three sites. Finally, we advocate the assembly of a variety of data types at a suite of sites within any loess field that taken together will better constrain the temporal and spatial patterns of climatically modulated deposition and pedogenic processes.

Remanence Characteristics of Different Magnetic Grain Size Categories at Xifeng, Central Chinese Loess Plateau

1994 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 162-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiuming Liu ◽  
Tim Rolph ◽  
Jan Bloemendal ◽  
John Shaw ◽  
Tungsheng Liu
Keyword(s):  
Grain Size ◽  
Magnetic Susceptibility ◽  
Low Temperature ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Remanent Magnetization ◽  
Chinese Loess Plateau ◽  
Chinese Loess ◽  
The Past ◽  
Low Field ◽  
Grain Size Fractions

AbstractUtilizing the thermal unblocking of low-temperature remanent magnetization in superparamagnetic (SP) ferrimagnets and the low-temperature demagnetization of multidomain (MD) magnetite remanences, the relative proportions of SP, MD, and singledomain (SD and SD-like) ferrimagnets are estimated in the topmost part of a loess section at Xifeng, China, which covers about the past 130,000 yr. SP ferrimagnets are commonly regarded as pedogenic (authigenic) products while the MD component is believed to have a detrital origin. These measurements, therefore, provide new data which improve our understanding of the characteristics and distribution of the different magnetic grain-size fractions present in loess and soils. In particular, our measurements indicate a larger MD fraction in soil than in loess, a result which indicates that although enhancement of the SP ferrimagnet fraction dominates the increased low-field magnetic susceptibility of paleosols, an enhancement of the MD fraction, probably through leaching, also plays an important role during pedogenesis.

Magnetic susceptibility evidence of monsoon variation on the Loess Plateau of central China during the last 130,000 years

1991 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhisheng An ◽  
George J. Kukla ◽  
Stephen C. Porter ◽  
Jule Xiao
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Susceptibility ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Summer Monsoon ◽  
Central China ◽  
Chinese Loess Plateau ◽  
Climate Index ◽  
Chinese Loess ◽  
Monsoon Variability ◽  
Monsoon Intensity ◽  
Isotope Record

AbstractThe magnetic susceptibility of loess and paleosols in central China represents a proxy climate index closely related to past changes of precipitation and vegetation, and thus to summer monsoon intensity. Time series of magnetic susceptibility constructed for three loess-paleosol sequences in the southern part of the Chinese Loess Plateau document the history of summer monsoon variation during the last 130,000 yr. They correlate closely with the oxygen isotope record of stages 1 to 5 in deep-sea sediments. Soils were forming during intervals of strong summer monsoon, whereas loess units were deposited at times of reduced monsoon intensity. The Chinese loess-paleosol sequence can thus be viewed as a proxy record of Asian monsoon variability extending over the last 2.5 myr.

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