气候变化领域集成服务门户

Controversy remains in decoding paleoclimatic information via environmental magnetic methods based on loess deposition in drylands of northwestern China. A systematic mineral magnetic investigation was carried out in the loess-paleosol sequence at Zhongliang, located on the north slope of the Tianshan Mountains. The results show that ferrimagnetic minerals are mainly comprised of magnetite and maghemite. Besides, no evidence for the existence of pedogenic superparamagnetic particles is found in this work, which indicates that magnetic variation was caused mainly by changes of input concentration of magnetic assemblages, thus the higher susceptibility reflects stronger wind intensity and/or closer dust source(s). This kind of "dust input mode" can be used to reconstruct paleo wind intensity in dry lands.