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Use of Rubidium to Date Loess and Paleosols of the Louchan Sequence, Central China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jun Chen ,
Junfeng Ji ,
Yang Chen ,
Zhisheng An ,
John A. Dearing  and
Yongjin Wang
Jun Chen
Affiliation:
Institute of Surficial Geochemistry, State Key Laboratory of Mineral Deposit Research, Department of Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China
Junfeng Ji
Affiliation:
Institute of Surficial Geochemistry, State Key Laboratory of Mineral Deposit Research, Department of Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China
Yang Chen
Affiliation:
Institute of Surficial Geochemistry, State Key Laboratory of Mineral Deposit Research, Department of Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China
Zhisheng An
Affiliation:
Xian Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Academia Sinica, Xian, 710061, China
John A. Dearing
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3BX, United Kingdom
Yongjin Wang
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, 210097, China
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Abstract

Rb concentrations, analyzed at 20-cm intervals from the Luochuan sequence of loess and paleosols, are sensitive to the loess–paleosol alternation controlled by monsoon climate. Because it is geochemically immobile, Rb can be well preserved in the loess–paleosol sequence after deposition, and its concentration depends mainly on properties of the winter monsoon-blown dust and on intensity of the summer monsoon-induced pedogenesis. A curvilinear relation has been developed between the measured Rb-concentration and the apparent sedimentation rate for the last glacial–interglacial cycle. This relation provides a time scale that corresponds well with the presently accepted ages for paleomagnetic reversals of Brunhes/Matuyama and Jaramillo events. With allowance for reduced Rb concentrations caused by early Pleistocene climate, the Rb-based time scale is also consistent with the boundary ages of other major paleomagnetic reversals of the past 2.58 myr.

Keywords

Rb distributionsedimentation rateQuaternary time scaleLoess PlateauEast Asian monsoon
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 54 , Issue 2 , September 2000 , pp. 198 - 205
Copyright
University of Washington

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