中国北方中新世风尘物质来源及古气候的地球化学指示

The most prominent tectonic and environmental events during the Cenozoic in Asia are the uplift of the Himalaya-Tibetan plateau, aridification in the Asian interior, and onset of the Asian monsoons. These caused more humid conditions in southeastern China and the formation of inland deserts in northwestern China. The 22 Ma eolian deposits in northern China provide an excellent terrestrial record relative to the above environmental events. Up to date, many studies have focused on the geochemical characters of the late Mio-Pleistocene eolian deposits, however, the geochemical characteristics of the Miocene loess and soils is still much less known. In this study, the elemental and Sr-Nd isotopic compositions of the eolian deposits from the Qinan (from 22.0 to 6.2 Ma) and the Xifeng (from 3.5 Ma until now) loess-soil sections were analyzed to examine the grain size effects on the element concentrations and the implications about the dust origin and climate. The main results are as follows: 1. The contents of Si, Na, Zr and Sr are higher in the coarser fractions while Ti and Nb have the highest contents in the 2-8 μm fractions. Al, Fe, Mg, K, Mn, Rb, Cu, Ga, Zn, V, Cr, Ni, LOI have clear relationships with grain-size, more abundant in the fine fraction while non significant relationship is observed for Y. Based on these features, we suggest that K2O/Al2O3 ratio can be used to address the dust provenance, and that VR (Vogt ratio = (Al2O3+K2O)/(MgO+CaO+Na2O)) can be used as a chemical weathering proxy for the Miocene eolian deposits because of their relative independence on the grain size. Meanwhile, SiO2/Al2O3 molar ratio is a best geochemical indicator of original eolian grain size, as suggested in earlier studies. 2. Analyses on the Sr and Nd isotope composition of the last glacial loess samples (L1) and comparison with the data from the deserts in northern China suggest that that Taklimakan desert is unlikely to be the main source region of the eolian dust. In contrast, these data suggest greater contributions of the Tengger, Badain Jaran and Qaidam deserts to the eolian dust during the last glacial cycle. Since the geochemical compositions (major, trace, REE and Sr, Nd isotope) of loess samples for the past 22 Ma are broadly similar with the samples from L1, these data trend to suggest relatively stable and insignificant changes of dust sources over the past 22 Ma. 3. Chemical weathering is stronger for Miocene paleosol samples than for the Plio-Pleistocene ones, showing warmer/more humid climatic conditions with a stronger summer monsoon in the Miocene. However, chemical weathering is typical of Ca-Na removal stage, suggesting a climate range from semiarid to subhumid conditions. These support the notion about the formation of a semi-arid to semi-humid monsoonal regime by the early Miocene, as is consistent with earlier studies.

泥河湾盆地大长梁剖面岩石磁学和环境磁学研究

The fluvio-lacustrine sequence in the Nihewan Basin is an important archive of late Pliocene-Pleistocene climate and environment changes in temperate northern China, which provides excellent sources of early human settlements in high latitude East Asia. The recent years have witnessed a considerable progress in the paleomagnetic dating of its stratigraphy, which has notably increased our understanding of a series of important issues such as the early human occupation in the Old World, the infilling history of the Nihewan Basin, and the chronological sequence of the Nihewan faunas. Up to now, the long-term paleoenvironmental changes directly retrieved from this basin, which might influence the evolution and expansion of early humans in the Nihewan Basin, are still poorly constrained, although several paleoclimatic records have been retrieved from this area. In this study, a combined mineral-magnetic and geochemical investigation was carried out on the fluvio-lacustrine sequence from the Dachangliang section at the eastern margin of the basin in order to reveal its rock magnetic and environmental magnetic characteristics and its implications for early human evolution in East Asia. The major findings and conclusions are listed as the following: First, there is an increased cooling coupled with an intensified aridification recorded in the fluvio-lacustrine sequence of the Dachangliang section. The cooling is related to an up-section decrease in propensity to chemical weathering as inferred from an increase in low-field susceptibility after cycling to 700 °C. Close to 700 °C, reacting chlorite is providing the iron source for newly formed very fine-grained ferrimagnetic minerals which enhances the susceptibility signal. The reactivity of chlorite after annealing at temperatures above 600 °C is documented with X-ray diffraction. Second, degrees of chemical weathering in the Nihewan Basin are further estimated by clay mineralogy (i.e. chlorite and illite contents and chlorite/illite ratio) and a series of major element proxies (i.e. Na2O/Al2O3 versus K2O/Al2O3 diagram, Al2O3-(CaO + Na2O)-K2O ternary diagram (A-CN-K), chemical index of alteration (CIA), (CaO + Na2O + MgO)/TiO2, (CaO + Na2O + MgO + K2O)/(TiO2 + Al2O3), CaO/Al2O3 and CaO/TiO2). The up-section decrease in propensity to chemical weathering suggested by the aforementioned rock mangetic measurement is further confirmed by these geochemical analyses. Combining the chemical weathering records from the Nihewan Basin, Chinese Loess Plateau, South China Sea and eastern China, we find that the consecutive decreasing trend in chemical weathering intensity during the late Cenozoic is ubiquitous across China. This pattern may result from a long-term decreasing East Asian summer monsoon and increasing East Asian winter monsoon, and thus a consecutive increasing of aridification and cooling in Asia during the Quaternary. Furthermore, the chemical weathering intensity increased from South China to North China during the Quaternary, in line with the decreasing East Asian summer monsoon and increasing East Asian winter monsoon and thus the gradually intensified aridification and cooling from South China to North China. Third, a combined mineral-magnetic and geochemical investigation provides evidences that the large-amplitude alterations of concentration of magnetic minerals mainly result from preservation/dissolution cycles of detrital magnetic minerals in alternately oxic and anoxic depositional environments. The preservation/dissolution model implies that the high-magnetic and low-magnetic cycles of this sedimentary sequence represent glacial and interglacial climate cycles, respectively. This contribute significnatly to our understanding of the link between climate and magnetic properties. Finally, the paleoclimatic implications of these rock magnetic and geochemical characteristics significantly increase our understanding of the general setting of early humans in high northern latitude in East Asia. We propose that the cold and dry climate may have contributed significantly to the expansion and adaptation of early humans, rather than bringing hardship, as is often thought. The relationship between magnetic properties and climate possibly provides valuable information on the climatic context of the Paleolithic sites in the basin, especially whether the occupation occurred during an interglacial or glacial period.

晚中新世以来中国北方风成沉积的磁性地层学和沉积学研究

The past two decades have witnessed an unprecedented growth of interest in the palaeoenvironmental significance of the Pleistocene loess deposits in northern China. However, it is only several years ago that the Tertiary red clay sequence underlying Pleistocene loess attracted much attention. One of the major advances in recent studies of eolian deposits on the Loess Plateau is the verification of the eolian origin for the Tertiary red clay sediments. The evidence of the eolian origin for the red clay is mainly from geochemical and sedimentological studies. However, sedimentological studies of the red clay deposits are still few compared with those of the overlying loess sediments. To date, the red clay sections located near Xifeng, Baoji, Lantian, Jiaxian, and Lingtai have been studied, with an emphasis on magnetostratigraphy. These sections have a basal age ranging from ～4.3 Ma to ～7.0 Ma. The thickness of the sections varies significantly, depending perhaps on the development of local geomorphological conditions and the drainage system. Although the stratigraphy of the red clay sections has been recorded in some detail, correlation of the red clay sequences has not yet been undertaken. Geological records (Sun J. et al., 1998) have shown that during glacial periods of the Quaternary the deserts in northem China were greatly expanded compared with modern desert distribution. During interglacial periods, desert areas contracted and retreated mostly to northwestern China because of the increase in inland penetration of monsoonal precipitation. According to pedogenic characteristics of the red clay deposits, the climatic conditions of the Loess Plateau is warmer and wetter generally in the Neogene than in the late Pleistocene. Panicle analyses show that grain size distribution of the red clay sequence is similar to that of the paleosols in the Pleistocene loess record, thus implying a relatively remote provenance of the red clay materials. However, the quantitative or semiquantitative estimates of the distance from the source region to the Loess Plateau during the red clay development remains to be investigated. In this study, magnetostratigraphic and sedimentological studies are conducted at two thick red clay sequences-Jingchuan and Lingtai section. The objectives of these studies are focused on further sedimentological evidence for the eolian origin of the red clay, correlation of red clay sequences, provenance of the red clay, and the palaeoclimate reconstruction in the Neogene. Paleomagnetic studies show that the Jingchuan red clay has a basal age of 8.0 Ma, which is 1 million years older than the previously studied Lingtai section. The Lingtai red clay sequence was divided into five units on the basis of pedogenica characteristics (Ding et al., 1999a). The Jingchuan red clay sequence, however, can be lithologically divided into six units according to field observations. The upper five units of the Jingchuan red clay can generally correlate well with the five units of the Lingtai red clay. Comparison of magnetic susceptibility and color reflectance records of four red clay sections suggests that the Lingtai red clay sequence can be the type-section of the Neogene red clay deposits in northern China. Pleistocene loess and modem dust deposits have a unimodal grain-size distribution. The red clay sediments at Jingchuan and Lingtai also have a unimodal grain-size distribution especially similar to the paleosols in the Pleistocene loess record. Sedimentological studies of a north-south transect of loess deposits above S2 on the Loess Plateau show that loess deposits had distinct temporal and spatial sedimentary differentiation. The characteristics of such sedimentary differentiation can be well presented in a triangular diagram of normalized median grain size, normalized skewness, and normalized kurtosis. The triangular diagrams of the red clay-loess sequence at Lingtai and Jingchuan indicate that loess-paleosol-red clay may be transported and sorted by the same agent wind, thus extending the eolian record in the Loess Plateau from 2.6 Ma back to about 8.0 Ma. It has been recognized that during the last glacial maximum (LGM) the deserts in northern China had a distribution similar to the present, whereas during the Holocene Optimum the deserts retreated to the area west of the Helan Mountains. Advance-retreat cycles of the deserts will lead to changes in the distance of the Loess Plateau to the dust source regions, thereby controlling changes in grain size of the loess deposited in a specific site. To observe spatial changes in sedimentological characteristics of loess during the last glacial-interglacial cycle, the texture of loess was measured along the north-south transect of the Loess Plateau. Since the southern margin of the Mu Us desert during the LGM is already known, several models of grain size parameters versus the minimum distance from the source region to depositional areas were developed. According to these semiquantitative models, the minimum distance from the source region to Lingtai and Jingchuan areas is about 600 km during the Neogene. Therefore the estimated provenance of the Tertiary red clay deposits is the areas now occupied by the Badain Jaran desert and arid regions west of it. The ratio of the free iron to total iron concentration attests to being a good proxy indicator for the summer monsoon evolution. The Lingtai Fe_20_3 ratio record shows high values over three time intervals: 4.8-4.1 Ma, 3.4-2.6 Ma, and during the interglacial periods of the past 0.5 Ma. The increase in summer monsoon intensity over the three intervals also coincides with the well-developed soil characteristics. It is therefore concluded that the East-Asia summer monsoon has experienced a non-linear evolution since the late Miocene. In general, the East Asia summer monsoon was stronger in Neogene than in Quaternary and the strongest East Asia summer monsoon may occur between 4.1 and 4.8 Ma. The relatively small ice volume and high global temperature may be responsible for the strong summer monsoon during the early Pliocene.

中新世秦安黄土一古土壤序列记录的古气候变化周期

Analysis of periodic oscillations of climate is very important in understanding the behavior of the climate system. Milankovitch hypothesis, which holds that the glacial-interglacial climatic cycles during the Quaternary were primarily driven by variations in orbital parameters, has been supported by substantial geological evidence. Continuous long-term and high-resolution records are crucial to detect how variations of Earth's orbital parameters affected climate before the Quaternary when the boundary conditions were significantly different. Qinan loess formed in the Miocene is nearly continuous aeolian deposit in northern China. Previous study has established a constrained chronology, which provides a basis to examine long-term climatic variations. One of important issues to untangle the mechanisms behind major climate changes is the investigation of climate cycles recorded in Qinan loess. In this paper, two climatic proxies, magnetic susceptibility and redness, are analyzed for QA-I section to evaluate climate cycles using Maximum entropy spectral analysis and Blackman-Tuckey method. Main conclusions are presented as following: Results exhibit significant peaks at periods of 100 ka, 64 ka, 41 ka, 30 ka and 23 ka, but also 1000 ka, 600 ka and 400 ka. These peaks correspond to the dominant periods of the Earth's orbit parameters, which indicates that the formation of the aeolian sediment in northern China might be primarily driven by variations in orbital parameters. Fluctuations with different cycles respectively dominated in different periods. Major shifts in the dominant cycles occurred at 20.3, 19.0, 17.9, 15.2, 12.5 and 11.3 Myr ago. The transition that happened at 17.9 Myr ago was synchronous with the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau, while others at 15.2, 12.5 and 11.3 Myr ago were in good agreement with the timing of the development of Antarctic ice sheet. Therefore we inferred that these shifts might be related to changes in global ice volume and/or the Tibetan uplift. 3. The strong period of 100 ka is observed between 17.9 and 15.2, and 12.5 and 11.3 Myr ago. Ice sheet-climate models that have been used to explain the cause of the 100 ka period since the middle Pleistocene couldn't be responsible for driving the 100 ka climate cycle in the Miocene in Northern China because of the different boundary of climatic conditions between the Quaternary and Miocene. Further investigation is needed to understand how this cycle became dominant in Qinan loess records during these two time segments.

2200万年来风尘沉积的粒度变化及古气候意义

Three eolian deposit formations, including Quaternary loess (QL, Liu et al.3 1985), Hipparion red earth (HRE, also called red clay, Liu et al., 1985) and Miocene loess (ML, Guo et al., 2002) constitute a set of unique paleoclimatic archives in northern China dated back to at least 22Ma ago. The Miocene loess is a recently discovered loess-soil sequence. Detailed investigation has been made on its origin, chronology and paleoclimatic significance (Guo et al., 2002), but further work is still needed to obtain detailed paleoclimate information, and mechanical links behind paleoclimatic changes. In this study, grain size analysis of QL, HRE and ML has been conducted on two sections: Qinan and Xifeng. The objective is focused on comparison of the grain size distribution characteristics (GSDC) among different eolian deposit formations, and reconstruction of the Asian monsoon circulation in the past 22 Ma. Results show that GDSC of ML resembles that of QL and HRE, and GDSC of ML is especially similar to HRE. Both ML and HRE contain a significant proportion of fine fraction, however, QL has a large amount of coarse sediments. This is mainly due to that the wind system transported aeolian dust was weaker in the late Tertiary than that in the Quaternary. Grain size difference between loess and paleosol in ML is much smaller than that in QL, indicating that the climatic fluctuations during the late Tertiary were much smaller than that happened in the Quaternary The grain size records of the past 22 Ma reveal several evolution phases of the Asia winter monsoon. -2.7 Ma BP is the most important boundary in the process of the winter monsoon evolution: the wind strength have significantly enhanced since 2.7 Ma ago. During a period between -22.0 and -3.6 Ma, three periods with relatively stronger winter monsoon are recorded in the QA-I section, between 21.2 and 19.9, and 16.0 and 13.3, and 8.7 to 6.9 Ma, respectively. From 3.6 to 2.7, the winter monsoon was enhanced gradually. In the Miocene time, the intensified winter monsoon phases (between 21.2 and 19.9, and 16.0 and 13.3, and 8.7 and 6.9 Ma) seemed to have a close relationship with the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and/or the ongoing global cooling, but the forcing mechanism behind the Asia winter monsoon evolution need to be further investigated. During the Pliocene-Pleistocene time, the Asia winter monsoon strengthened at 3.6 and 2.7Ma ago are in good agreement with the ongoing global cooling and the Arctic ice sheet development. In the mean time, much evidence suggests that an intense uplift of the Tibetan Plateau occurred at ~3.6 Ma, which is synchronous with a major increase in Asia winter monsoon. Therefore, two major factors may be invoked to explain the winter monsoon enhancement: Arctic ice sheet development and Tibetan uplift. We propose that changes in location and intensity of the Siberian-Mongolian high that were caused by the Tibetan uplift and Arctic ice sheet development might be an important factor for Asian winter monsoon evolution in the Pliocene-Pleistocene.

库车坳陷-南天山盆山系统第三纪脆性构造研究

Study on the structural coupling relationship between basin and range is not only helpful to recognize the basin formation and evolution systematically, but also to guide petroleum exploration in the basin. As a late Paleozoic Orogen, the South Tianshan Mountains reactivated and uplifted rapidly during the Cenozoic, and led to the Mesozoic-Cenozoic considerable thick deposits in the Kuqa Depression. The researches of the dissertation were carried out in the Kuqa depression-South Tianshan M ountain s ystem, a nd t he b rittle m icrotectonics w. ere c hosen as t he m ost important object. Based on observations and measurements of the field, we made detailed investigations on the geometry and kinematics of this area, and analyzed the abutting and cutting relationships and relative sequence of many brittle structures, such as joint, shear fractures, faults and some small-scale structures related to them closely. According to those brittle fractures' relationships with stress, the nature and variation of regional palaeostress field during the Cenozoic were studied through inversion of fault slip data and inferring stress state from joint sequences. And the deformation time was estimated primarily via ESR dating of faulting. Results show that the stress field varies as well in times as in space. The maximal principal stress direction shifted from the vertical to the horizontal, and stress regime from weak extension to strong compression from the Paleogene to the Neogene regionally. During the late Neogene, the structural deformation of the South Tianshan and the basin-range boundary was dominated by near N-S extension, while near N-S compressive deformation in the interior of the Kuqa Depression. There exits obvious differential stress state from the north to the south. ESR dating of the faulting during the Cenozoic indicates that, the normal faulting in the north edge of the Kuqa Depression have been active all along from the Miocene to the early Pleistocene, but the thrusting and reverse faulting in the interior only been active from the Pliocene to the early Pleistocene. On the base of those geological data and some geophysical information and theoretical calculation results, we infer that, the different stress regime the basin-range system is ascribed to the vertical uplift of the Tianshan Mountain. It was the vertical uplift that lead to the gravity-driven gliding of thick layers lying on the faulted basement from the South Tianshan Mountain to the Kuqa depression, and to folding and thrusting in the interior and frontal of the Kuqa depression. Combining the structural evolution with petroleum geological conditions of the Kuqa Depression, we think that the strong compressive deformation of the Kuqa Depression during rapid uplifting of the Tianshan Mountains from the Pliocene to the early Pleistocene play crucial role in the structural trap formation and proliferous gas accumulation.

黄土高原22万年来的黑碳记录和古火灾害历史重建

The term black carbon is used to describe a relatively inert and ubiquitous form of carbon, comprising a range of materials from char and charcoal to element or graphite carbon produced by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels and biomass. Due to its inertness, the BC in soils, lacustrine and marine sediments and ice can persist over a long period of time. So BC signatures in geological deposits can be used as evidence of natural fires happened in their surroundings. To study the temporal and spatial changes in paleofires over the Chinese Loess Plateau, black carbon concentrations were analyzed on the loess-paleosol samples from three sections including Lijiayuan, Lingtai and Weinan along a north-south transect. Using the orbitally-tuned time-scales of the sections, the black carbon sedimentation rates (BCSR) were calculated. Meanwhile, with objective to document fine resolution fire history during late Pleistocene and Holocene periods, we measured BC concentrations of loess-paleosol samples at dense sampling intervals since 28 ka BP. in Lijiayuan section. The BCSR of the samples were also calculated. In addition, we also conducted observation on black carbon morphologies to examine their sources. Based on the results, the following remarks can be concluded: 1. In the last two glacial cycles, the BCSR values in glacial periods are 2-3 times higher than in interglacial periods, and the BCSR variability has a relatively strong precession-associated 23 kyr period, suggesting that the glacial cold-dry climate conditions were apt to induce natural fires over the Loess Plateau, 2. Comparison of the BCSR records among the three loess sections demonstrates that natural fire occurrence was much more intensive and frequent in the northern and interglacial periods. 3. Pollen records and carbon isotope analyses of organic matter have shown that the Loess Plateau was covered by an Artemisia-dominated grassland vegetation both during glacial and interglacial periods, So grassland fires were the dominant fire types in the Plateau, which is also corroborated by the observation of black carbon morphology. In addition, statistics and comparison of BC particle sizes among the sections demonstrated that BC records probably reflected local fires. 4. According to previous studies about the effect of fires on vegetation changes, we considered that the fires might play an important role in the expansion of grassland during glacial periods, besides the control of climate changes. 5. The high resolution black carbon record in Lijiayuan section has shown that the BCSR series well documented Younger dryas (YD) and Heinrich (HI和H2) events, suggesting that natural fires in the northwestern part of Chinese Loess Plateau could regularly respond to the millennial scale climate oscillation.

泥河湾盆地磁性地层学研究——以东谷索和岑家湾剖面为例

The Nihewan Basin is a key area for research into human occupation at high northern latitudes in northeast Asia after the initial expansion of early humans out of Africa. Well-developed late Cenozoic lacustrine deposit sequence in this basin offers a unique opportunity to address this issue. In this thesis, detailed magnetostratigraphic investigation coupled with mineral magnetism was conducted on the Donggutuo and Cenjiawan sections in the eastern basin, where lacustrine deposits sequences containing the Donggutuo, Maliang and Cenjiawan Paleolithic sites are well developed. The sequences are mainly composed of grayish-white clays, grayish-green clayey silts, grayish-yellow silts and fine-grained brown sands, which have recorded reliable polarity variations of geomagnetic field.Characteristics of the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility show that the sediments have preserved typical original magnetic fabric for sediments, indicating that the strata were developed in a low-energy lake environment and were never perturbed by tectonic stress since deposition. High-temperature magnetic susceptibility measurements (x-T) of representative specimens and demagnetization experiments indicate that the dominant magnetic mineral and remanent carrier at the two sections is magnetite. In addition, hematite and possibly minor maghemite exists in some portions of the sequences. The majority of the samples have relatively simple demagnetization behaviors. After removal of soft magnetic components, the stable characteristic remanent magnetizations (ChRMs) are isolated, which can represent the original remanences.The Donggutuo section mainly records the Brunhes chron, the Matuyama chron and the Jaramillo subchron. The Maliang stone artifact layer occurs just below the Brunhes/Matuyama boundary; and the Donggutuo artifact layer, just below the Jaramillo onset. Accordingly, the Maliang and Donggutuo sites can be dated at about 0.78 Ma and 1.1 Ma, respectively. The Cenjiawan section has recorded a portion of the Matuyama chron. After correlations with the magnetic polarity sequence of the Majuangou section adjacent to this section, the Cenjiawan stone artifact layer is determined below the Jaramillo onset, with an estimated age of 1.1 Ma.To establish the magnetic stratigraphy framework for the lacustrine sediments in the eastern Nihewan Basin, this thesis draws on the magnetic polarity sequences of the Donggutuo and Cenjiawan sections as well as previously obtained results from the Majuangou, Haojiatai, Xiaochangliang and Donggou sections for magnetostratigraphic correlations. The accumulation of the lacustrine sequences at the east margin of the basin commenced from about 2.0 Ma. These sequences record not only the coarse magnetostratigraphy of the Brunhes normal chron and the middle to late Matuyama reverse chron (that is, the Jaramillo and Olduvai subchrons) but also some of the fine structure (that is, the Kamikatsura, Santa Rosa, Punaruu and Cobb Mountain geomagnetic events). The development of the Nihewan paleolake experienced at least twice large expansion periods, split by a large-scale shrinking event in the middle period of the paleolake development. The accumulation of the lacustrine strata was controlled by fault activities.After temporal control for the Donggutuo, Maliang and Cenjiawan Paleolithic sites were established, the three sites along with other well-dated Paleolithic/hominin sites of the Early Pleistocene in North China were combined to construct a chronological sequence of early human occupation in northeastern Asia. Furthermore, after incorporation of paleoclimate changes retrieved from Chinese loess/paleosol sequences and marine sediments, it could be possibly proposed that human groups of the Early Pleistocene in North China might have survived repeated warm/humid interglacials and cold/dry glacials, which were paced by earth orbital variations of the Eastern paleomonsoon.