Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-7cvxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T15:50:36.641Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Mollusk Record of Monsoon Variability during the L2–S2 Cycle in the Luochuan Loess Sequence, China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Denis-Didier Rousseau
Affiliation:
Paléoenvironnements et Palynologie, Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution (UMR CNRS 5554), Université Montpellier II, pl. E. Bataillon, case 61, 34095, Montpellier Cedex 05, France and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York, 10964
Naiqin Wu
Affiliation:
Institute of Geology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 9825, Beijing, 100029, China

Abstract

Molluscan changes that occurred in China over the S2–L2 upper middle Pleistocene series may be caused by monsoon variation. Study of terrestrial mollusks from the loess sequence in Luochuan, gathered in ecological groups according to the moisture and temperature requirements of the identified species, indicates alternating strengthened summer and winter paleomonsoons between 130,000 and 244,000 yr. The four occurrences of species, currently distributed in S.E. China in the sequence, indicate that the climate conditions were warmer and wetter than today between about 242,000 and 233,000 yr, at about 210,000, 164,000, and 140,000 yr. The main occurrence of xerophilous taxa at about 180,000, 154,000, and 138,000 yr is interpreted as indicating a drier environment than today. Such suggestions are in agreement with other proxy data such as grain size distribution. Higher numbers of individuals in the different ecological groups from the S2–L2 sequence indicate more favorable general environmental conditions than in the youngest S1–L1. This may agree with an increase in the regional aridity, since 500,000 yr, deduced from the study of the eolian flux in the northwestern Pacific downwind from China.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
University of Washington

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.)

References

An, Z.S., Kukla, G., Porter, S.C., Xiao, J.L. (1991). Magnetic susceptibility evidence of monsoon variation on the loess plateau of Central China during the last 130,000 year. Quaternary Research. 36, 2936.Google Scholar
Chen, D., Gao, J., Gao, F., Liu, T. (1985). Fossil snails and their environment. Loess and the Environment. C. O. Press, Beijing., p. 1251.Google Scholar
Chen, D.N., Gao, J.X. (1987). Terrestria Mollusca. Science Press, Beijing.Google Scholar
Dyduch-Falniowska, A. (1988). Similarity, diversity and equitability of snail communities in lower mountain zone in the Tatra mountains. Folia Malacologia. 1112, 728.Google Scholar
Guo, Z., Liu, T., Guiot, J., Wu, N., , H., Han, J., Liu, J., Gu, Z. (1996). High frequency pulses of East Asian monsoon climate in the last two glaciations: Link with the North Atlantic. Climate Dynamics. 12, 701709.Google Scholar
Guo, Z.T., Liu, T.S., Fedoroff, N., Wei, L.Y., Ding, Z.L., Wu, N.Q., Lu, H.Y., Jiang, W.Y., An, Z.S. (1998). Climate extremes in loess of China coupled with the strength of deep-water formation in the North Atlantic. Global and Planetary Change. 18, 113128.Google Scholar
Hovan, S.A., Rea, D.K., Pisias, N.G., Shackleton, N.J. (1989). A direct link between the China loess and marine δ18O records: Aelian flux to the north Pacific. Nature. 340, 296298.Google Scholar
Keen, D.H. (1995). Molluscan assemblages from the loess of north central China. Quaternary Science Review. 14, 699706.Google Scholar
Kukla, G. (1987). Loess stratigraphy in central China. Quaternary Science Reviews. 6, 191219.Google Scholar
Kukla, G., An, Z.S. (1989). Loess stratigraphy in central China. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 72, 203225.Google Scholar
Kukla, G., An, Z.S., Melice, J.L., Gavin, J., Xiao, J.L. (1990). Magnetic susceptibility record of Chinese Loess. Transactions of the Royal Society Edinburgh: Earth Sciences. 81, 263288.Google Scholar
Liu, T.S., Guo, Z.T., Liu, J.Q., Han, J.M., Ding, Z.L., Gu, Z.Y., Wu, N.Q. (1995). Variations of eastern Asian monsoon over the last 140,000 year. Bulletin de la Société géologique de France. 166, 221229.Google Scholar
Prell, W.L., Kutzbach, J.E. (1987). Monsoon variability over the past 150,000 year. Journal of Geophysical Research. 92, 84118425.Google Scholar
Puisségur, J. J. (1976). Mollusques Continentaux Quaternaires de Bourgogne. Significations Stratigraphiques et Climatiques. Rapports avec d'Autres Faunes Boréales de France, Centre de Paléogéographie et de Paléobiologie Évolutives, Dijon.Google Scholar
Rousseau, D.D. (1989). Réponses des malacofaunes terrestres Quaternaires aux contraintes climatiques en Europe septentrionale. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 69, 113124.Google Scholar
Rousseau, D.D. (1992). Terrestrial molluscs as indicator of global aeolian imputs during glacial stages. Boreas. 21, 105109.Google Scholar
Rousseau, D.D., Kukla, G. (1999). Abrupt paleomonsoon decline at the S1/L1 boundary in China?. Global and Planetary Change.Google Scholar
Rousseau, D.D., Limondin, N., Puisségur, J.J. (1993). Holocene environmental signals from mollusk assemblages in Burgundy (France). Quaternary Research. 40, 237253.Google Scholar
Rousseau, D.D., Limondin, N., Puisségur, J.J., Magnin, F. (1994). Oscillating temperature estimates for the last 10,000 year B.P. in Western Europe from mollusc assemblages. Boreas. 23, 6673.Google Scholar
Rousseau, D.D., Wu, N.Q. (1997). A new molluscan record of the monsoon variability over the past 130,000 yr in the Luochuan loess sequence, China. Geology. 25, 275278.Google Scholar
Shackleton, N.J., An, Z., Dodonov, A.E., Gavin, J., Kukla, G.J., Ranov, V.A., Zhou, L.P. (1995). Accumulation rate of loess in Tadjikistan and China: Relationship with global ice volume cycles. Derbyshire, E. Wind Blown Sediments in the Quaternary Record. Wiley, New York., 16.Google Scholar
Solem, A. (1984). A world model of land snail diversity and abundance. Solem, A., Bruggen, A.C.v. World-Wide Snails. Biogeographical Studies on Non-marine Mollusca. Brill & Backhuys, Leiden., 622.Google Scholar
Vandenberghe, J., An, Z., Nugteren, G., Lu, H., Van Huissteden, K. (1997). New absolute time scale for the Quaternary climate in the Chinese loess region by grain-size analysis. Geology. 25, 3538.Google Scholar
Yen, T.C. (1939). Die chinesischen Land- und Süsswasser-Gastropoden des Natur-Museums Senckenberg. Abhandlungen der senckenbergischen naturforschenden Gesellschaft. 444, 1233.Google Scholar