中国黄土高原洛川剖面 630 kyr 以来的孢粉记录

It is known that global climate changed from the early Tertiary “Green House” to the Quaternary “Ice House” of cyclic glacial-interglacial climatic changes. Since the middle Pleistocene, the climate cycles changed from 40 kyr to 100 kyr, and the amplitudes of climatic fluctuations increased significantly. Therefore, it is important to study the climate changes since the middle Pleistocene. The loess-paleosol sequence in China is considered as one of the most continuous continental records of the last 2.58 Ma. Paleoclimatic and environmental changes have been widely extracted through various climatic parameters. However, the history of paleovegetation on the Loess Plateau still remains unclear. Did an extensive broadleaf forest ever exist on the Loess Plateau? Pollen preserved in the loess and paleosol provides a direct record for vegetation and paleoenvironmental change on the Plateau. However, because it is difficult to extract sufficient pollen grains from loess, the pollen record since the middle Pleistocene especially in the central part of the Chinese Loess Plateau has not been well studied. So we preliminarily focus on the palynological records of the loess-paleosol sequence spanning the last 630 kyr at Luochuan and aim to understand the evolution of vegetation and climate change on the Chinese Loess Plateau. The main results and conclusions are as follows: 1. The palynological results show that the grassland has been a dominant vegetation in the Luochuan area since 630 kyr, even during the intervals of relatively warm and wet climatic conditions. 2. The pollen concentration of Luochuan section sharply decreases from the bottom of S1 to downward depth. This decrease can be attributed to depositional environment rather than climate change. In loess, not only oxidation, but also the PH of deposits and bacteria or fungi have been able to degrade sporopollenin. 3. The paleoclimatic condition during S4 stage, characterized with warmer condition during the early stage, was warmer and wetter than that during S5 in Luochuan area. Paleoclimate was warmer and wetter during the early stage of S5 and became colder and drier later. The special pedogenic features of S5-I can be attributed to a prolonged pedogenic duration rather than a warm-wet climate. 4. Evidence from pollen assemblage suggests that the Holocene vegetation has been affected by human impacts, especially after the Yangshao Culture. 5. The present steppe environment on the loess plateau is mainly due to natural conditions. Temperature, seasonal precipitation and soil structure are three important factors which control the vegetation type. 6. The vegetation on the loess plateau is characterized with zonal or azonal distribution. So local conditions should be taken into account when recover natural vegetation. Finally, the restoration and reconstruction of ecosystem on the loess plateau area should be focused on planting grassland rather than forests.

甘肃临夏盆地龙担剖面晚新生代磁性地层与古环境

Linxia Basin, situated in the northeast belt of the Tibetan Plateau, is a late Cenozoic depression basin bounded by the Tibetan Plateau and the Chinese Loess Plateau. The Cenozoic deposition, spanning over 30Ma, in which very abundant mammal fossils were discovered, is very suitable for study of uplift processes and geo-morphological evolution of the Tibetan Plateau. The Longdan section (35°31′31.6″N，103°29′0.6″E) is famous for the middle Miocene Platybelodon fauna and the late Miocene Hipparion fauna for a long time and is also one of the earliest known places for wooly rhino, which lies on the east slope of Longdan, a small village of township Nalesi in the south of the Dongxiang Autonomous County, Linxia Hui Nationallity Autonomous Prefecture. The Longdan mammal fauna was discovered at the base of the Early Pleistocene loess deposits at Dongxiang, where the lithology is different from the typical Wucheng Loess on the Chinese Loess Plateau. The rich fossils contain many new species and the major two layers of fossils are in the loess beds. Geologically the fossiliferous area is located in the central part of the Linxia Cenozoic sedimentary basin. Tectonically the Linxia Basin is an intermountain fault basin, bordered by the Leijishan major fault in the south and the north Qinling and Qilianshan major faults in the north. The section is 51.6m thick above the gravel layer, including the 1.6m Late Pleistocene Malan Loess on the top and the other loess-paleosol sequences in the middle of the section. The base of the section is the Jishi Formation, consisting of gravel layer of 13 ~ 17m thick. In this study, 972 bulk samples were collected with an interval of 5cm and other 401 orientied samples were taken with a magnetic compass. In the laboratory, the paleomagnetism, medium grain size, susceptibility, color, micromorphology, anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility were analyzed. From the stratigraphic analysis, the Longdan section from the top 0.3m to the bottom 51.6m, containing 5 normal polarities (N1-N5) and 5 reversal polarities (R1-R5). The paleomagnetic results show N3 is the Olduvai subchron in the middle of the Matuyama chron, and then the chronology of the Longdan mammal fauna is constructed along the section. The Matuyama-Gauss boundary is 45m and N5 enters Gauss chron. The Olduvai subchron with the age of 1.77 ~ 1.95Ma is found just in the upper fossiliferous level of Longdan mammal fauna. Taking the deposit rate of the section into account, the geological age of the upper fossiliferous level of Longdan mammal fauna is estimated to be about 1.9Ma. The lower fossiliferous level is just below the Reunion subchron and its age is estimated to be 2.25Ma. In addition, anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility of the loess-paleosol and other climatic indexes were used for discussing the late Cenozoic paleoenvironmental changes at Longdan, from which the Longdan area should have been an area of predominantly steppe the same as the Longdan mammal fauna.

陆生蜗牛壳体同位素组成及其对生长季节的响应

Stable isotope compositions of land snail shells have a great potential as an indicator of paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental changes. However, some key issues, such as the relationship of carbon isotope between snail food and local vegetation, and the uncertainty of the dominant factors about snail body fluid changes in oxygen isotope composition, remain less well known, strongly limiting shell isotopic application. In this study, we measure the stable isotope compositions on the shells of both live snails and fossils collected from the Chinese Loess Plateau and a loess sequence at Mangshan, Xingyang, respectively. Based on the analyses, the association of the stable isotope compositions of land snail shells with their growing seasons is investigated. In addition, the climatic and environmental significances of isotopic differences among several snail species are discussed. The main results and conclusions are presented as follows: 1. δ18O values for the shell lip samples of Bradybaena ravida redfieldi range from -6.79‰ to -1.92‰, and parallels to the monthly changes of local rain water δ18O, temperature and humidity. The compatibility of shell lip δ18O with monthly modeled shell δ18O indicates that the shell lip δ18O changes are mainly resulted from the 18O variations of rain-water. The shells of a land snail growing in spring could be enriched in 18O, and those growing in summer depleted in 18O. 2. Carbon isotope compositions of snail shells are controlled by their diet, which is affected by the relative proportion of C3 to C4. There are some differences in carbon isotopic compositions among different snail species, especially between P. orphana and V. tenera or P. aeoli. Shell δ13C for P. orphana is the most positive with an average of -5.88 ± 2.54 ‰. The C4 plant fraction of the food for “cold-aridiphilous” taxa, P. aeoli and V. tenera, is distinctly lower than that for “thermo-humidiphilous” taxa, P. orphana, indicating that summer is likely to be the main active season of P. orphana and spring of P. aeoli and V. tenera. Therefore, some discrepancy of carbon isotopic compositions among different species may be related to snail active season. 3. δ13C values among different species have a certain degree of positive correlation, which may be influenced by local vegetation ecosystem. δ13C value of the snail shells (especially P. orphana) shows an eastward increasing trend and consists with the variations of C4 plants biomass in Loess Plateau. The result shows that the carbon isotope in local vegetation ecosystem is one of the main factors influencing δ13C values of snail food. Therefore, both carbon isotopes of local vegetation ecosystem and snail active season contribute to the carbon isotopic differences among different snail species and in different areas. 4. δ13C values of living snail shells and soil organic matter have a positive correlation with each other, which further supports the view that carbon isotope in local vegetation ecosystem is one of the main factors influencing δ13C values of snail food. However, the range of δ13C values of snail food for various species in response to carbon isotope in local vegetation ecosystem is different. It is suggested that 13C enrichment of snail shells relative to local vegetation ecosystem has a potential to indicate snail active season and the degree of climate temperature and humidity. 5. There is a significant negative correlation between carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions of living snail shells in Loess Plateau. This result further supports that snail active season can be inferred based on the shell carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions. Moreover, there are some positive correlations between mean annual temperature and differences of shell δ13C values ( 13CV. tenera-P. orphana) and that of δ18O values ( 18OV. tenera-P. orphana) for P. orphana, a typical “thermo-humidiphilous” taxa, and V. tenera, a typical “cold-aridiphilous” taxa, respectively. It shows that  13CV. tenera-P. orphana and  18OV. tenera-P. orphana may have a potential to indicate mean annual temperature or the length of biological growing season. 6. Stable isotopes of land snail shell in the Mangshan loess sequence show that the shell δ18O value of “cold-aridiphilous” taxa V. tenera is more positive than “thermo-humidiphilous” taxa P. orphana and δ13C value of the former is more negative than the latter. In addition, the shell δ18O value of V. tenera varies significantly in different period. During the last glacial maximum, its δ18O value with an average of -7.89 ‰ is more negative than that (-5.88 ‰) from the last deglaciation to the early Holocene. This phenomenon indicates that its growing season during different period is significantly different. It tends to grow in summer in last glacial maximum. With climate warming, it prefers growing in spring with relatively low temperature. While the shell δ18O value of P. orphana varies in a little range, which shows that its activity season is shorter and mainly in summer. These results further support that the change of the snail growing season is one of the main factors of differences of carbon isotopic compositions among different snail species and varies with time. Furthermore, it is consistent that changes in magnetic susceptibility and trend of differences of shell δ18O values and δ13C values respectively between the two snail fossils. It is further testified that 13CV. tenera-P. orphana and  18OV. tenera-P. orphana may have a potential to indicate mean annual temperature or the length of biological growing season.

13万年以来黄土高原东缘与捷克的风成沉积序列

The loess-paleosols in the Chinese loess plateau and Europe are the main eolian sediment sequences in mid-latitude area of north hemisphere. They record not only the paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental processes since the last interglacial, but also the configuration of magnetic field during polarity transition. Comparisons of environmental magnetism, paleomagnetism and climate proxy analysis has been made for the loess/paleosol sequences in Datong and Czech Republic. The Datong loess/paleosol sequence is composed of the Holocene soil SO, the last glacial loess LI, the last interglacial soil SI and the upper penultimate loess L2. A basalt layer occurs in L2. The main magnetic minerals in LI and SI are magnetite, maghemite and ilmenite. The presence of local volcanic elastics in the loess and the characteristics of the magnetic minerals indicate that there are local materials in Datong loess, which differentiate the Datong loess from the central and eastern loess of the Chinese Loess Plateau. In addition, there are four polarity events in Datong loess, which are generally consistent with Gothenburg> Mono Lake, Laschamp and Blake events. Some signals of the East Asia monsoon were recorded in the Datong loess/paleosol sequences. Magnetic susceptibility, the content of >63um grains and the organic matter are used as climate proxies, which are similar to those of the typical eolian sediments in the loess plateau. In addition, it is possible that the Datong loess also recorded the Younger Dryas and the climatic fluctuations during the Holocene. The main magnetic minerals in the loess/paleosol at Znojmo section are magnetite, maghemite, hematite, pyrite, pyrrhotite and goethite. The morphology of these grains reveals that the iron sulfides originated from the eluvium loam above hypothetical ore deposits in the vicinity of the section or glaciofluvial sediments from nearby glacial margins. The pattern of the susceptibility variation at Dolni Vestonice section is coincident with that of the organic matter content. The grain size variation along the section recorded the climate instability since the last interglacial. The climate events in the Dolni Vestonice section may be correlated with the Heinrich events recorded in North Atlantic sediments, suggesting they controlled by the same marine-continent climate system.

碳、氧稳定同位素分析在古环境研究中的应用

A number of proxy records of paleoenvironment using stable isotopes could show the history of past environmental changes. These archives include peat and lake sediments, loess-paleosot sequence, fossil mammals and stalagmite, and so on. The stable isotopic composition of carbonate and organic matter and frequency magnetic susceptibility from Tianshuigou and Yuanlei loess-palesol sequence can be used to give estimates of the paleoenvironmental history of Dali, and even of the whole Chinese Loess Plateau during the last 250ka. Features of the High Temperature and Large Precipitation Event in the Tibet Plateau and its adjacent area during 40~30kaBP had been studied by Professor Shi Y. In this dissertation, its impact on Chinese Loess Plateau has been discussed again. Carbon and oxygen isotopic ratios, magnetic susceptibility and frequency magnetic susceptibility in Tianshuigou and Yuanlei profiles show that the Event in this area is not so stronger as the Tibet Plateau. The carbon isotopic composition of organic matter in Tianshuigou, Yuanlei, dingcun and Jingcun loess-palesol sequences are indicative of major changes in the paleovagetation between terrace and plain of the Chinese Loess Plateau. Water is one of the most important factors adjusting the relative biomass of C4 plant in terrestrial ecosystems. Stable carbon isotope ratio of vertebrate tooth enamel is used increasingly to reconstruct environmental and ecological information modern and ancient ecosystems. The SI3C value of tooth enamel bioapatites can distinguish between browsers and grazers. Data from typical grassland of Inter Mongolia, the Alpine meadow of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Yaluzangbu Great Canyon indicate that diets of mammals could record the relative biomass of C4 plant only in the C4 dominated ecosystem. In a C3 dominated ecosystem, diet of mammals would include more C3 plants than vegetation. According to Professor Cerling, proxy records from North and South America, Africa and Pakistan show that at the end of the Miocene (between 8Ma to 6 Ma) there was a global expansion of CA biomass, probably when atmospheric CO2 levels declined. Thus, "C4 world" and "CO2 starvation" are put forward. In this dissertation, carbon isotopes of fossil tooth such as Equus sanmeniensis and Hipparion chiai from Linxia, China reveal that there is a C3 dominated ecosystem in the late Miocene. Diets of ancient mammals in Linxia are not evidence of global expansion of C4 biomass.

黄土高原粉尘堆积源区环境及风化历史初步研究

In this study, we examined the surface features of quartz grains, the quartz oxygen isotopic ratios and the mineralogical compositions of the loess - paleosol - red clay sediments systematically. The surface features of quartz grains do not show significant changes of the dust deposits through the past seven million years. The particles were mainly created in the process of glacial and frost weathering of high mountains. Then the surfaces were altered in some degree by the flood and wind abrasion. The surface features registered all these processes. The assemblages of surface features changed for four times in the past seven million years, the occurrence ages are: 5.0~4.2MaBP, about 3.6MaBP, about 2.6MaBP and about 0.9MaBP, respectively. This may indicate that there were uplift events of the Tibetan Plateau during those times. The oxygen isotopic compositions of quartz in the sediments represent the oxygen isotopic compositions of the initial dusts because of the stable properties of quartz both physically and chemically. The oxygen isotopic compositions of 4~16um quartz changed significantly at about 2.6MaBP, decreasing from about 19.5%o to about 18.5%o. This decrease of quartz oxygen isotopic ratio suggests that the environments of the dust source areas changed at that time, or the range of dust source area changed at that time. The environmental change may result from the structural evolution of the Tibetan Plateau and global cooling at that time. The coarse fractions (>30μm) of the dust deposits were examined using the EDXA device for mineral identification. The quartz content has a decrease trend during 7~2MaBP, then increase rapidly at about 2MaBP. After 2MaBP, quartz content continues to decrease. The Ca-plagioclase content / quartz content ratio increase at about 3.6MaBP. The ratio shows a peak of 3-6 fold values at about 2.5~1.8MaBP, the cause of this is still unknown. The Ca-plagioclase content / quartz content ratio continues to increase after 1 MaBP. The flowing can be regarded as the conclusion remarks of this study: Some of the red clay sediment of the Chinese Loess Plateau (at least Lingtai and Jingchuan red clays) is eolian in origin. The quartz grains from dust deposits throughout the past seven million yeas showed the clues of glacial and frost processes. This indicates that the high mountains of western China reached a certain altitude to favor the glacial and/or frost processes at least seven millions years before. The weathering intensities of the past seven nnillion yeas have a decreasing trend. In about 5~4.5MaBP, the weathering is relatively weak, and the dust supply is relatively low. At about 3.6MaBP and 2.6MaBP, the dust supply increased significantly. The mineralogical composition, the quartz surface feature and the quartz oxygen isotope composition were influenced by the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau. The Plateau may have reached a certain altitude to generate the arid regions of inland China and favor the glacial and frost weathering. And it underwent a phased uplift, which have uplift events at about 3.6MaBP and 2.6MaBP.

7.0Ma以来中国黄土粉尘源区的化学风化历史研究-Sr同位素比值的证据

To investigate the changes in the chemical weathering intensity of dust source region in Asia continent, ~(87)Sr/~(86)Sr ratios of acid-washed residues from the loess deposits in China and Tajikistan were analyzed, respectively. The results and conclusions are listed as below. 1. The oscillation of ~(87)Sr/~(86)Sr ratios of acid-insoluble residues in the Chinese Loess Plateau was mainly attributed to the chemical weathering intensity of the source region and the grain size. Counteracted the effect of particle size, the calibrated 87Sr/S6Sr ratio can be used as a proxy for the chemical weathering intensity of the source region. 2. The Sr/ Sr ratios of red clay-loess sequence from the Loess Plateau indicate that the chemical weathering intensity of the dust source region between 7.0 and 2.6 Ma is stronger than that in the Quaternary period. This also suggests a general decline in chemical weathering intensity of the source region from 2.6 Ma to the present. Such pattern is more remarkable since 1.0 Ma BP. 3. The ~(87)Sr/~(86)Sr ratios of the Tajik loess during 0.8-1.8 Ma is much more higher than those from 0.8 Ma to the present. This implies that the chemical weathering intensity of the source region in Central Asia is much stronger during 0.8-1.8 Ma than the period since 0.8 Ma. 4. The record of Sr isotope ratios from both sections shows an accelerating course of aridity of the Asian dust source region over the Quaternary period.

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.

Magnetic and mineralogical analyses of Ganzi and Luochuan sections

We present a first combined environmental magnetic and geochemical investigation of a loess-paleosol sequence (<55 ka) from the Chuanxi Plateau on the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau. Detailed comparison between the Ganzi section and the Luochuan section from the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) allows quantification of the effects of provenance and climate on pedogenic magnetic enhancement in Chinese loess. Rare earth element patterns and clay mineral compositions indicate that the Ganzi loess originates from the interior of the Tibetan Plateau. The different Ganzi and CLP loess provenances add complexity to interpretation of magnetic parameters in terms of the concentration and grain size of eolian magnetic minerals. Enhanced paleosol magnetism via pedogenic formation of ferrimagnetic nanoparticles is observed in both sections, but weaker ferrimagnetic contributions, finer superparamagnetic (SP) particles and stronger chemical weathering are found in the Ganzi loess, which indicates the action of multiple pedogenic processes that are dominated by the combined effects of mean annual precipitation (MAP), potential evapotranspiration (PET), organic matter and aluminium content. Under relatively high MAP and low PET conditions, high soil moisture favours transformation of ferrimagnetic minerals to hematite, which results in a relatively higher concentration of hematite but weaker ferrimagnetism of Ganzi loess. Initial growth of superparamagnetic (SP) particles is also documented in the incipient loess at Ganzi, which directly reflects the dynamic formation of nano-sized pedogenic ferrimagnets. A humid pedogenic environment with more organic matter and higher Al content also helps to form finer SP particles. We therefore propose that soil water balance, rather than solely rainfall, dominates the type, concentration and grain size of secondary ferrimagnetic minerals produced by pedogenesis.

An 8.1 Ma calcite record of Asian summer monsoon evolution on the Chinese central Loess Plateau

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