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Tracing the provenance of fine‐grained dust deposited on the central Chinese Loess Plateau
Author(s) -
Sun Youbin,
Tada Ryuji,
Chen Jun,
Liu Qingsong,
Toyoda Shin,
Tani Atsushi,
Ji Junfeng,
Isozaki Yuko
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2007gl031672
Subject(s) - provenance , aeolian processes , geology , loess , plateau (mathematics) , asian dust , physical geography , glacial period , paleoclimatology , dust storm , east asian monsoon , monsoon , climatology , earth science , geomorphology , climate change , paleontology , storm , oceanography , geography , aerosol , mathematical analysis , mathematics , meteorology
Eolian dust deposits in north China provide an excellent means of determining past variations in continental paleoclimate and atmospheric circulation. However, debate still exists on which deserts in east Asia are the dominant sources of Chinese loess and whether the dust provenance has shifted significantly at different time scales. Here we present new constraints on the provenance of fine‐grained dust deposited on the central Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) by combining electron spin resonance signal intensity and crystallinity index of fine‐grained quartz contained in samples from two loess‐paleosol sequences. Our results show that the fine‐grained dust deposits on the CLP originate mainly from the Gobi desert in southern Mongolia and the sandy deserts in northern China (primarily the Badain Juran and Tengger deserts), rather than from the Taklimakan desert in western China, at least during the last climatic cycle. The dominant source of fine‐grained dust varied significantly, from southern Mongolia during cold periods, to northern China during warm periods. The glacial‐interglacial provenance fluctuations are strongly coupled with changes in the intensity of the near‐surface northwesterly winter monsoon.