Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T00:29:20.007Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

High-Resolution Paleoclimatic Information from Chinese Eolian Sediments Based on Grayscale Intensity Profiles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Stephen C. Porter
Stephen C. Porter*
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences and Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195-1360
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Grayscale intensity profiles from photographic images offer a rapid means of obtaining paleoclimate proxy records from Chinese loess, dune sand, and paleosols. Although the data can be obtained using conventional 35-mm film images, a digital camera and laptop computer will produce a high-resolution grayscale profile at a field site within minutes. Comparison of grayscale profiles with profiles of magnetic susceptibility measured down loess and dune-sand sections at sites on the Loess Plateau and Tibetan Plateau in a range of altitudes and climatic regimes shows that the two parameters are highly correlated. Therefore, grayscale intensity is a convenient alternative to magnetic susceptibility for generating paleoclimatic data in the loess and desert-margin regions of China. The resolution of both grayscale and susceptibility profiles ultimately is limited by bioturbation, which is most pronounced in paleosols.

Keywords

ChinaloesspaleosolsLoess Plateaugrayscale intensitymagnetic susceptibilitybioturbation
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 53 , Issue 1 , January 2000 , pp. 70 - 77
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.J., Porter, S.C., Xiao, J., (1991). Magnetic susceptibility evidence of monsoon variation on the Loess Plateau of central China during the last 130,000 years. Quaternary Research 36, 29–36.Google Scholar
An, Z.S., Liu, T.S., Zhou, Y.Z., Sun, F.Q., (1987). The paleosol complex S5 in the China Loess Plateau—A record of climatic optimum during the last 1.2 Ma. Geojournal 15, 141–143.Google Scholar
An, Z.S., Liu, T.S., Lu, Y.C., Porter, S.C., Kukla, G., Wu, X.H., Hua, Y.M., (1991). The long-term paleomonsoon variation recorded by the loess–paleosol sequence in central China. Quaternary International 7, 91–95.Google Scholar
Cortijo, E., Yiou, P., Labeyrie, L., Cremer, M., (1995). Sedimentary record of rapid climatic variability in the North Atlantic Ocean during the last glacial cycle. Paleoceanography 10, 911–926.Google Scholar
Heller, F., Evans, M.E., (1995). Loess magnetism. Reviews of Geophysics 33, 211–240.Google Scholar
Heller, F., Shen, C.D., Beer, J., Liu, X.M., Liu, T.S., Bronger, A., Suter, M., Bonani, G., (1993). Quantitative estimates of pedogenic ferromagnetic mineral formation in Chinese loess and palaeoclimatic implications. Earth and Planetary Sciences Letters 114, 385–390.Google Scholar
Hughen, K.A., Overpeck, J.T., Peterson, L.C., Trumbore, S., (1996). Rapid climate changes in the tropical Atlantic region during the last deglaciation. Nature 380, 51–54.Google Scholar
Kukla, G., Heller, F., Ming, L.X., Chun, X.T., Liu, T.S., An, Z.S., (1988). Pleistocene climates in China dated by magnetic susceptibility. Geology 16, 811–814.Google Scholar
Lin, B., Liu, R., (1992). Stable isotope evidence of summer monsoon evolution in the Loess Plateau for the last 800 ka. Kexue Tongbao 18, 1691–1693.Google Scholar
Liu, T.S., (1985). Loess and the Environment. China Ocean Press, Beijing.Google Scholar
Maher, B.A., Thompson, R., (1995). Paleorainfall reconstructions from pedogenic magnetic susceptibility variations in the Chinese loess and paleosols. Quaternary Research 44, 383–391.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rodbell, D.T., Seltzer, G.O., Anderson, D.M., Abbott, M.B., Enfield, D.B., Newman, J.H., (1999). A 15,000-year record of El Niño-driven alluviation in southwestern Ecuador. Science 283, 516–520.Google Scholar
Rutter, N., Ding, Z.L., Liu, T.S., (1991). Comparison of isotope stages 1–61 with the Baoji-type pedostratigraphic section of north-central China. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 28, 985–990.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sun, D.H., Shaw, J., An, Z.S., Cheng, M.Y., Yue, L.P., (1998). Magnetostratigraphy and paleoclimatic interpretation of a continuous 7.2 Ma Late Cenozoic eolian sediments from the Chinese Loess Plateau. Geophysical Research Letters 25, 85–88.Google Scholar
Verosub, K.L., Fine, P., Singer, M.J., TenPas, J., (1993). Pedogenesis and paleoclimate: interpretation of the magnetic susceptibility record of Chinese loess-soil sequence. Geology 21, 1011–1014.Google Scholar
Zheng, H.B., An, Z.S., Shaw, J., (1992). New contributions to Chinese Plio–Pleistocene magnetostratigraphy. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors 70, 146–153.Google Scholar