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Late Quaternary climatic control on erosion and weathering in the eastern Tibetan Plateau and the Mekong Basin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Zhifei Liu ,
Christophe Colin ,
Alain Trentesaux ,
Giuseppe Siani ,
Norbert Frank ,
Dominique Blamart  and
Segueni Farid
Zhifei Liu*
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Marine Geology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Christophe Colin
Affiliation:
Laboratoire Orsayterre, FRE 2566, BAT. 504, Université de Paris XI, 91 405 Orsay, France
Alain Trentesaux
Affiliation:
PBDS Laboratory, UMR 8110 CNRS, University of Lille 1, 59 655 Villeneuve d'Ascq, France
Giuseppe Siani
Affiliation:
Laboratoire Orsayterre, FRE 2566, BAT. 504, Université de Paris XI, 91 405 Orsay, France
Norbert Frank
Affiliation:
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Laboratoire mixte CNRS-CEA, Avenue de la Terrasse, 91 198 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
Dominique Blamart
Affiliation:
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Laboratoire mixte CNRS-CEA, Avenue de la Terrasse, 91 198 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France
Segueni Farid
Affiliation:
Laboratoire Orsayterre, FRE 2566, BAT. 504, Université de Paris XI, 91 405 Orsay, France
*
⁎Corresponding author. Fax: +86 21 6598 8808.E-mail address:[email protected] (Z. Liu).
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Abstract

High-resolution siliciclastic grain size and bulk mineralogy combined with clay mineralogy, rubidium, strontium, and neodymium isotopes of Core MD01-2393 collected off the Mekong River estuary in the southwestern South China Sea reveals a monsoon-controlled chemical weathering and physical erosion history during the last 190,000 yr in the eastern Tibetan Plateau and the Mekong Basin. The ranges of isotopic composition are limited throughout sedimentary records: 87Sr/86Sr = 0.7206–0.7240 and ε Nd(0) = −11.1 to −12.1. These values match well to those of Mekong River sediments and they are considered to reflect this source region. Smectites/(illite + chlorite) and smectites/kaolinite ratios are used as indices of chemical weathering rates, whereas the bulk kaolinite/quartz ratio is used as an index of physical erosion rates in the eastern Tibetan Plateau and the Mekong Basin. Furthermore, the 2.5–6.5 μm/15–55 μm siliciclastic grain size population ratio represents the intensity of sediment discharge of the Mekong River and in turn, the East Asian summer monsoon intensity. Strengthened chemical weathering corresponds to increased sediment discharge and weakened physical erosion during interglacial periods. In contrast, weakened chemical weathering associated with reduced sediment discharge and intensified physical erosion during glacial periods. Such strong glacial–interglacial correlations between chemical weathering/erosion and sediment discharge imply the monsoon-controlled weathering and erosion.

Keywords

ErosionChemical weatheringGrain sizeClay mineralsNeodymium isotopeFourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) spectroscopyEast Asian monsoonTibetan PlateauMekong RiverSouth China Sea
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 63 , Issue 3 , May 2005 , pp. 316 - 328
Copyright
University of Washington

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