Open AccessNew High‐Temperature Dependence of Magnetic Susceptibility‐Based Climofunction for Quantifying Paleoprecipitation From Chinese Loess
Author(s) -
Gao Xinbo,
Hao Qingzhen,
Oldfield Frank,
Bloemendal Jan,
Deng Chenglong,
Wang Luo,
Song Yang,
Ge Junyi,
Wu Haibin,
Xu Bing,
Li Fengjiang,
Han Long,
Fu Yu,
Guo Zhengtang
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
geochemistry, geophysics, geosystems
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.928
H-Index - 136
ISSN - 1525-2027
DOI - 10.1029/2019gc008401
Subject(s) - maghemite , ferrimagnetism , geology , environmental magnetism , pedogenesis , magnetic susceptibility , remanence , loess , magnetic mineralogy , mineralogy , superparamagnetism , rock magnetism , precipitation , single domain , magnetite , soil science , soil water , hematite , geomorphology , magnetic domain , condensed matter physics , magnetic field , magnetization , paleontology , physics , quantum mechanics , meteorology
The ferrimagnetic properties of soils are used to quantitatively reconstruct paleomonsoon precipitation from Chinese loess. Numerous magneto‐climofunctions have been established based on the magnetic proxies that are selectively sensitive to neoformation of fine‐grained superparamagnetic (SP) or single‐domain (SD) ferrimagnetic particles. Accumulating evidence has indicated that maghemite is the final product of the ferrimagnetic phases during pedogenesis in loessic soils. Quantitative estimates of abundance of maghemite of both SP and SD grains are therefore still required in developing magneto‐climofunctions. Here, we present detailed measurements on a suite of modern soil samples from the Chinese Loess Plateau to determine pedogenic ferrimagnetic mineralogy and to develop a new magneto‐climofunction based on a new parameter derived from the high‐temperature‐dependent magnetic susceptibility. Particle size fractionation processes combined with magnetic measurements indicate that fine‐grained SP and SD maghemite is the dominant pedogenic ferrimagnetic phases. High‐temperature‐dependent susceptibility measurements show that the thermally induced susceptibility drops between ~230 and ~400 °C during heating mainly result from the conversion of maghemite to hematite. We proposed a new parameter quantifying changes in the temperature dependence of magnetic susceptibility between 230 and 400 °C, χ td , that captures the concentration of pedogenically formed maghemite. Results show that χ td has a strong correlation with known quantities of maghemite in synthetic standard samples and that χ td of modern soils correlates with modern mean annual precipitation quite well ( R 2 = 0.82, n = 24). The established χ td ‐mean annual precipitation climofunction provides a new approach to reconstructing paleorainfall during past warm interglacials from paleosols in Chinese loess.