holocene loess in illinois revealed by osl dating implications for stratigraphy and geoarchaeology of the midwest united states abstract most uplands in illinois are blanketed by late wisconsinan peoria loess and the conventional wisdom is that little or no dust accumulation occurred during the holocene 11 7 ka to present in a recent effort to investigate if illinois holocene loess was deposited and preserved we applied optically stimulated luminescence osl dating to seven locations where loess is thick these include four sites along the mississippi river in westernmost illinois and three loess bluffs south of the illinois river in central illinois our results suggest that holocene aged loess is preserved along the mississippi river in the state of illinois in contrast no holocene loess was found south of the illinois river in the central portion of the state in addition to its spatially limited distribution holocene loess thicknesses range only up to 1 m nevertheless loess stratigraphy and osl dating results provide the first holocene loess reported east of the missouri river our new finding also resolves the long time archeological puzzle that a number of artifacts of several thousand years old were buried by upland loess along the mississippi river

the physics of wind blown loess implications for grain size proxy interpretations in quaternary paleoclimate studies abstract loess deposits are recorders of aeolian activity during past glaciations since the size distribution of loess deposits depends on distance to the dust source and environmental conditions at the source during transport and at deposition loess particle size distributions and derived statistical measures are widely used proxies in quaternary paleoenvironmental studies however the interpretation of these proxies often only considers dust transport processes to move beyond such overly simplistic proxy interpretations and toward proxy interpretations that consider the range of environmental processes that determine loess particle size distribution variations we provide a comprehensive review on the physics of dust particle mobilization and deposition furthermore using high resolution bulk loess and quartz grain size datasets from a last glacial interglacial sequence we show that because grain size distributions are affected by multiple often stochastic processes changes in these distributions over time allow multiple interpretations for the driving processes consequently simplistic interpretations of proxy variations in terms of only one factor e g wind speed are likely to be inaccurate nonetheless using loess proxies to understand temporal changes in the dust cycle and environmental parameters requires i a careful site selection to minimize the effects of topography and source distance and ii the joint use of bulk and quartz grain size proxies together with high resolution mass accumulation rate calculations if possible

five million year10be record in chinese loess and red clay climate and weathering relationships 10be measurements in bulk samples in different size fractions in selective chemically leached fractions of several representative loess paleosol sequences and in the underlying red clay sediments from the chinese loess plateau back to ca 5 ma were made using the ams accelerator mass spectrometer our data support but considerably extend the earlier studies of shen and beer and their colleagues in the upper 0 75 ma luochuan loess paleosol sequences the effect of climatic change is dramatically expressed by10be concentrations 1 in the red clay sediments for which we estimate model accumulation rates of 5 8 and 8 7 m ma 1 for the upper sequences in lingtai and baoji respectively 2 in the paleosols where soil maturation processes are manifest in the10be distribution within different size fractions accompanied by downward movement to zones of high authigenic mineral concentration and 3 in loess samples which at deposition had an appreciable endowment of10be from the dust source regions on the basis of leaching experiments we estimate that on average the paleosol layers lost about 3 3 of their initial10be content to the underlying layers by transport with water finally we estimate that the relative average zonal precipitation rate during glacial periods was 2 3 the average interglacial value the estimates of the initial10be concentrations and dust composition are consistent with the measured values for the recent atmospheric dust falls sampled from the loess plateau and the shandong peninsula

desert loess versus glacial loess quartz silt formation source areas and sediment pathways in the formation of loess deposits abstract pathways are presented which show the proposed sequence of events involved in the formation of loess deposits both hypothetical deposits and those of central china hungary nigeria and tunisia these pathways illustrate the potential role of and inter relationships between a variety of silt generating mechanisms in the formation of loess using these pathways the existence of desert loess is discussed and it is concluded that this depends on how the terms glacial loess and desert loess are applied if desert loess is taken either to signify nonglacial mechanisms of silt production or to characterise the environment from which aeolian entrainment took place then desert loess is a very real and widely distributed deposit however if the term glacial loess is used to refer to the global climatic regime under which the loess deposit has formed rather than the geomorphic mechanisms responsible for silt generation then desert loess would not be an appropriate term for the classification of loess deposits it is suggested that classifying loess deposits with reference to the global climatic regime under which they accumulated would facilitate a greater understanding of the role of environmental conditions at all stages in the formation of loess deposits

malacological and sedimentological evidence for warm glacial climate from the irig loess sequence vojvodina serbia four loess units and three paleosol layers are preserved in the irig brickyard vojvodina serbia amino acid geochronology provides stratigraphic correlations between loess units v l1 and v l2 at the irig section with loess of glacial cycles b and c respectively described from other central european localities luminescence dating results for the upper loess layers v l1l1 and v l1s1l1 confirm the geological interpretations although in samples below paleosol v l1s1s2 the age increase with depth is less than in our proposed age model magnetic susceptibility and sedimentological evidence from the irig loess paleosol sequence show general similarities with the mis 6 1 pattern of the specmap oxygen isotope curve malacogical investigations at the irig site reveal the continuous presence of the chondrula tridens and helicopsis striata faunal assemblages throughout the last glacial and final part of the penultimate glacial loess the loess snail fauna which is characterized by the complete absence of cold resistant species suggests a stable dry and relatively warm glacial climate compared with other central european loess localities furthermore these data suggest that the southern slope of fruska gora was a refugium for warm loving and xerophilus mollusc taxa during the otherwise unfavorable glacial climates of the late pleistocene

source regions and formation of the loess sediments on the high mountain regions of northwestern china loess on the high mountains of northwestern china is largely controlled by the topographic features distributed mainly on the northern slopes of the tianshan and kunlun mountains as well as in the ili valley between the northern and central tianshan ranges loess distributed in different regions has different ages with the oldest early pleistocene loess occurring in the ili valley geochemical mineralogical and granulometric analyses demonstrate that the loess in the three different regions has different provenance the loess on the northern tianshan and kunlun mountains is mainly derived from the junggar and taklimakan deserts respectively whereas the loess in the ili valley is derived mainly from the sary ishikotrau desert located in the republic of kazakhstan however these deserts serve mostly as holding areas for the silts rather than original source regions the production of the silt sized particles is mainly associated with glacial abrasion and tectonic induced rock denudation thus the loess in the studied regions can be described as mountainous loess rather than simply glacial loess or desert loess it is unlikely that the mechanisms of loess formation are the same in different regions given their dependence on specific geomorphological conditions and associated processes

making the material the formation of silt sized primary mineral particles for loess deposits abstract in 1911 e e free wrote it may be well to point out that there are really two problems of the loess a problem of the origin of material and a problem of deposition the problem of the origin of material has been relatively neglected in comparison to problems of deposition of the formation of deposits and latterly in comparison to studies of loess stratigraphy if we are to understand the true nature of loess this fascinating material we need to be aware of all the significant events in the processing of the particles which form a deposit a large amount of silt sized primary mineral material has to be produced to make a loess deposit loess is a quaternary phenomenon and we see the entire process being completed in quaternary times some powerful quaternary forces are able to produce very large amounts of granular material glacial grinding vigorously supported by smalley 1966a provides an obvious source for some loess material but the vast deposits of north china and central asia have no obvious glacial connection however they are adjacent to high asia a region of vast tectonic activity and an enormous release of terrestrial energy in the last several million years high asia is a large producer of loess silt much of which finds its way south to make the ganges delta but large amounts are moved north and east to make huge loess deposits africa presents a problem recent work e g coude gaussen 1987 suggests that there is a region of peri saharan loess but earlier observations e g penck indicate quite clearly that the sahara region is free of loess rathjens 1928 in his study of tripolitania indicated the presence of loess like deposits and described their nature but he did point out that 90 of the granular material was greater than 100 pm in diameter which would remove it from a strict loess definition on the soil taxonomy map of africa there is a belt of soil d3 which could include considerable loess deposits it stretches from the matmata loess in tunisia across northern libya to the western part of the egyptian coastal region if d3 contains loess this points to a genuine desert loess particle producing mechanism operating in the sahara

a late quaternary magnetic record of tunisian loess and its climatic significance magnetic measurements for a 10 m loess palaeosol sequence from the matmata plateau in southern tunisia show significant down profile variations in concentrations of pedogenic ferrimagnetic minerals the sequence appears to correlate with regional and global records of climate change over the past 70 kyr there is strong evidence from comparisons of mineral magnetic properties in modern soils and palaeosols that the sequence holds a proxy record of winter precipitation

cenozoic weathering covers in buchan scotland and their significance isolated occurrences of chemically weathered rock or saprolite are common in many formerly glaciated areas around the north atlantic1 6 these pockets of saprolite are widely regarded as remnants of cenozoic deep weathering covers which existed before the first extensive northern hemisphere glaciations at 2 4 myr ref 7 and their apparent survival has long been used as evidence for the local ineffectiveness of glacial erosion2 4 8 9 however the scarcity of correlative deposits means that the age and significance of these fragmented saprolites are uncertain i report here the results of a detailed survey which shows that in buchan scotland a combination of cenozoic tectonic stability and extremely limited pleistocene glacial erosion has allowed the preservation of deep weathering covers of probable miocene to early pleistocene age on a scale not previously reported from any other formerly glaciated area

the geochemistry of loess asian and north american deposits compared abstract loess is widely distributed over asia and north america and constitutes one of the most important surficial deposits that serve as terrestrial records of the quaternary the oldest pleistocene loess in china is likely 2 6 ma thus spanning much or all of the pleistocene in north america most loess is no older than the penultimate glacial period with the exception of alaska where the record may go back to 3 0 ma on both continents loess deposits date primarily to glacial periods and interglacial or interstadial periods are represented by paleosols both glacial and non glacial sources of silts that comprise the bulk of loess deposits are found on both continents although loess has been considered to be representative of the average upper continental crust there are regionally distinctive compositions of loess in both asia and north america loess deposits in asia from yakutia tajikistan and china have compositionally distinct major element compositions due to varying abundances of silicate minerals carbonate minerals and clay minerals in north america loess in the mississippi river valley the great plains and alaska are also distinguishable with regard to major element composition that reflects highly diverse source sediments trace element geochemistry sc th zr and the rare earth elements also shows regional diversity of loess bodies in both asia and north america on both continents most loess bodies show significant contributions from later cycle altered sedimentary rocks as opposed to direct derivation from igneous rocks further some loess bodies have detectable contributions from mafic igneous rocks as well as major contributions from average upper crustal felsic rocks intercalated paleosols in loess sections show geochemical compositions that differ significantly from the underlying loess parent materials ratios of soluble to insoluble elements show depletions in paleosols due to chemical weathering losses of calcite dolomite plagioclase mica apatite and smectite in asia and north america the last interglacial paleosol is more weathered than equivalent modern soils which could be due either to a climate that was warmer and more humid a longer period of pedogenesis or both in asia early pleistocene loess and paleosols are both more weathered than those from the middle and late pleistocene forming prior to a mid pleistocene aridification of asia from uplift of the tibetan plateau understanding the geochemistry of loess and paleosols can tell us much about past atmospheric circulation past temperature and moisture regimes and even tectonic processes

provenance of loess material and formation of loess deposits on the chinese loess plateau abstract results of a multiple isotopic chemical and mineralogical analysis of loess from the three northwestern inland basins the junggar basin the tarim basin and the qaidam basin and the loess plateau region of china are summarized they suggest a qualification of the conventional views that the three northwestern basins were the important source areas of the loess plateau and that the sand deserts were the primary single source of the chinese loess it is argued that the gobi stony desert in southern mongolia and the adjoining gobi and sand deserts the badain jaran desert tengger desert ulan buh desert hobq desert and mu us desert in china rather than the three inland basins are the dominant source areas of the loess plateau however although these gobi and sand deserts are regarded as the main source regions they serve as dust and silt holding areas rather than dominant producers the mountain processes including glacial grinding frost weathering salt weathering tectonic processes and some fluvial comminution in the gobi altay mts hangayn mts and the qilian mts have played an important role in producing the vast amounts of loess sized material for forming the loess plateau

ambient conditions associated with the maintenance and decay of quasi linear convective systems crossing the northeastern u s coast abstractquasi linear convective systems qlcss crossing the atlantic coastline over the northeastern united states were classified into three categories based on their evolution upon encountering the coast composite analyses show that convective lines that decay near the atlantic coast or slowly decay over the coastal waters are associated with 900 800 hpa frontogenesis with greater ambient 0 3 km vertical wind shear for the slowly decaying lines systems that maintain their intensity over the coastal ocean are associated with 900 hpa warm air advection but with little low level frontogenetical forcing neither sea surface temperature nor ambient instability was a clear delimiter between the three evolutions sustaining convective lines have the strongest environmental 0 3 km shear of the three types and this shear increases as these systems approach the coast in contrast the low level shear decreases as decaying and slowly decaying convective lines move toward the atlantic coastline there was als

loess is not just the accumulation of dust most regrettably there is much misuse of terminology in connection with the concept of loess and the interpretation of its origin people often speak and write incorrectly about loess accumulation even loess specialists who are aware of the fact that loess as a concept has to satisfy at least 10 criteria loess is not simply dust carried and deposited by wind dust only becomes loess after the passage of a certain amount of time in a given geographical zone i e only through diagenesis in certain ecological environments to state that loess is of aeolian origin is an oversimplification and an incorrect definition because an aeolian origin applies only to the dust from which the loess has been formed we are aware of the fact that airborne dust cannot be transformed into loess in every geographical environment but only under those conditions typical of semi arid grassland or steppe or forested steppe the process primarily occurs where the rate of dust accumulation exceeds sheet wash or weathering soil formation rates if the rate of dust accumulation is less than that of surface erosion or of soil biogenetic processes the dust then develops into soil or through intensive weathering and increased precipitation into loam or clay only part of the aeolian dust transported and deposited in a zone suitable for loess formation remains there permanently and is transformed in situ into loess dust not affected by diagenesis is usually further transported by snowmelt or rainwash and is only transformed into loess after it has been redeposited the loess itself however is easily erodible and its minerals are readily reworked and reaccumulated and given the appropriate conditions it readily undergoes diagenesis again we do not always have sufficient evidence to determine whether a given loess body is of primary or secondary origin traditionally the minerals making up primary loess have been regarded as originating in dust accumulated by aeolian processes secondary loess by contrast is different from typical loess in many ways and it is not unusual to find various loess series in which superimposed dust fractions have been transformed into loess by different processes recently we have observed that the origin of various types of loess is governed by differences in litho ecological conditions rather than by the way in which the mineral material from which the loess is derived dust has been primarily accumulated loessification is therefore determined by environmental conditions

dust transport and the question of desert loess formation although contemporary dust storms are frequent in arid and semi arid areas desert loess deposits are poorly developed much of the world s loess occurs in mid latitude areas which experienced glaciation during the pleistocene ocean core evidence indicates that dust transport from sub tropical deserts increased during cold stages of the pleistocene but loess formed only on certain desert margins for reasons which have not been fully explained this paper re examines the mechanisms of dust transport and deposition and the circumstances leading to the accumulation of thick loess typical loess is composed mainly of medium silt grains which are transported in short term suspension a few metres above the ground significant thicknesses of loess form only when dust is trapped within a limited area often relatively close to the source dust particles finer than 20 m are transported mainly in long term suspension over a greater height range and may be widely dispersed the availability of silt and the frequency magnitude and direction of dust transporting winds are important factors governing the potential for loess formation but the existence of a suitable dust trap is particularly important traps may be formed by topographic obstacles areas of moist ground or vegetated surfaces vegetation adjacent to glacial outwash plains and braided meltwater streams trapped dust in mid latitudes during the pleistocene dust blown during glacial periods from certain deserts notably in sinai soviet central asia and china accumulated as loess in neighbouring semi arid regions on the margins of other deserts loess formation was inhibited partly by the absence of vegetation traps during most of the holocene net dust deposition rates in all desert marginal areas have been too low for significant loess accumulation this is mainly due to a reduction in silt availability and a tendency towards landscape stability reported dust storm frequencies during the past 50 years over estimate the longer term holocene dust flux due to the effects of human activities much modern dust owes its origin to erosion of cultivated soils in semi arid areas and is finer than typical loess

possible formation mechanisms for the modal coarse silt quartz particles in loess deposits abstract the first major event in the formation of a loess deposit is the production of silt sized quartz particles many particle production methods have been proposed the bulk of loess particles appear to be produced by a glacial grinding to give ice sheet loess or b cold weathering in high regions to give mountain loess there are close relationships between mountain loess and desert loess loess material can be seen as a product of the cold phase of the glacial cycle

origin and paleoclimatic significance of late quaternary loess in nebraska evidence from stratigraphy chronology sedimentology and geochemistry muhs d r bettis iii e a aleinikoff j n mcgeehin j p beann j skipp g marshall b d roberts h m johnson w c benton r 2008 origin and paleoclimatic significance of late quaternary loess in nebraska evidence from stratigraphy chronology sedimentology and geochemistry gsa bulletin 120 11 12 1378 1407

age and palaeoclimatic significance of the loess of lanzhou north china extending in a broad arc that abuts the sandy non gobi deserts the loess plateau of northern china1 3 is one of the most massive accumulations of loess in the world the loess sequence is typically characterized by an alternation of silty or sandy loess with more clay rich palaeosols these alternations in conjunction with their enclosed faunas and distinctive mineralogies have been interpreted as reflecting pleistocene glacial interglacial cycles3 8 because it holds implications for the climatic and anthropological history of china9 10 the definition of a reliable chronological framework for loess deposition is of great interest recent palaeomagnetic studies4 5 have indicated that loess deposition in shaanxi province commenced 2 4 myr ago to assess the synchrony of loess accumulation across the loess plateau we have dated a 330 m thick loess sequence near lanzhou gansu province the magnetostrati graphical results reported here indicate that the base of this loess succession dates from 1 3 my r ago this young age in comparison to the shaanxi sequence is attributed to uplift along the northern fringe of the tibetan plateau11 that precluded early pleistocene loess preservation in this mountainous region palaeosols in the basal loess occur on average once every 25 kyr suggesting that climates conducive to soil forming events may have been modulated by orbital precession in the early pleistocene

response of surface processes to climatic change in the dunefields and loess plateau of north china during the late quaternary this paper draws on recent optically stimulated luminescence osl dating to evaluate the long held assumption that dust accumulation rates in the loess plateau and the extent of active aeolian sand in the dunefields to the north have varied together over time because both are controlled by the strength of the asian monsoons and also possibly because the dunefields are proximal loess sources the results show there is little evidence that high rates of loess accumulation coincided with well dated episodes of extensive dune activity in the mu us otindag and horqin dunefields at 11 8 ka and 1 0 ka explanations for the apparent lack of coupling include local variation in the trapping of dust and post depositional preservation of the loess and dune sediments in response to varying local environmental conditions in addition a substantial portion of the loess may be transported directly from source areas where dust emission has somewhat different climatic and geomorphic controls than aeolian sand activity within the dunefields the results of this study cast doubt on the use of loess accumulation rate as a palaeoclimatic proxy at millennial timescale the dunefield and loess stratigraphic records are interpreted as primarily recording changes in effective moisture at a local scale but the timing of late quaternary dune activity along with a variety of other evidence indicates that moisture changes in many of the drylands of northern china may not be in phase with precipitation in core regions of the asian monsoons copyright 2011 john wiley sons ltd

late quaternary drift deposits of north central nigeria examined by scanning electron microscopy summary samples of drift were studied by mechanical analysis and scanning electron microscopy of individual grains and compared with nearby fixed dunes and present day pedisediment results indicate that the drift is well sorted and has the textural characteristics of a loess modal grain size 4 5 o 62 31 m this differs markedly from the fixed dunes modal grain size 2 3 o 250 125 m sem micrographs show that the drift contains grains with a wide variety of morphologies although they are predominantly angular to sub angular with only limited evidence of abrasion by aeolian and or fluvial transport and some ovegrowths of secondary silica this suggests that much of the drift material is of local origin and was deposited by aeolian reworking of alluvium and coarse surface soil horizons when sand dunes were forming further north it is envisaged that concomittant with aeolian activity was periodic reworking of the drift by slopewash associated with individual storms and a wet season of reduced duration and intensity

age models sediment fluxes and palaeoclimatic reconstructions for the chinese loess and palaeosol sequences palaeomagnetic studies of the chinese loess provided the first firm chronology for these sediments and revealed that their depositional history reaches back over 2 5 ma magnetic susceptibility records can provide an even more detialed chronology through correlation with d18o deep sea stratigraphy the susceptibility fluctuations have been used also either alone or in combination with 10be measurements to reconstruct palaeoclimate however there is still debate as to the origin of the 10be and magnetic minerals in the chinese loess and hence their palaeoclimatic significance here we analyse magnetic data from six sites across the loess plateau and reinterpret the 10be data from luochuan as largely reflecting primary 10be dust loading rather than as a palaeorainfall indicator we discount previous ideas of both constancy of the flux of magnetically susceptible minerals i e susceptibility flux or constancy of the ratio of the flux of 10be and susceptibility we explain the susceptibility of chinese loess in terms of in situ pedogenic ferrimagnetic enhancement the competing effects of reduction and oxidation are taken to control the degree of magnetic enhancement such that magnetic susceptibility is a direct indicator of palaeorainfall our reconstructions yield variations in palaeorainfall of between 28 per cent and 12 per cent in the central loess plateau rather than 100 per cent to 50 per cent as suggested from previous 10be and magnetic susceptibility studies

enhanced warming of the northwest atlantic ocean under climate change the intergovernmental panel on climate change ipcc fifth assessment of projected global and regional ocean temperature change is based on global climate models that have coarse 100 km ocean and atmosphere resolutions in the northwest atlantic the ensemble of global climate models has a warm bias in sea surface temperature due to a misrepresentation of the gulf stream position thus existing climate change projections are based on unrealistic regional ocean circulation here we compare simulations and an atmospheric co2 doubling response from four global climate models of varying ocean and atmosphere resolution we find that the highest resolution climate model 10 km ocean 50 km atmosphere resolves northwest atlantic circulation and water mass distribution most accurately the co2 doubling response from this model shows that upper ocean 0 300 m temperature in the northwest atlantic shelf warms at a rate nearly twice as fast as the coarser models and nearly three times faster than the global average this enhanced warming is accompanied by an increase in salinity due to a change in water mass distribution that is related to a retreat of the labrador current and a northerly shift of the gulf stream both observations and the climate model demonstrate a robust relationship between a weakening atlantic meridional overturning circulation amoc and an increase in the proportion of warm temperate slope water entering the northwest atlantic shelf therefore prior climate change projections for the northwest atlantic may be far too conservative these results point to the need to improve simulations of basin and regional scale ocean circulation

seismic stratigraphy of chinese loess abstract a loess section near lanzhou china has been investigated using the seismic refraction technique the results show that the method is able to discriminate four distinct seismic boundaries within the section as well as indicating that the loess bedrock contact occurs at a depth of more than 200 m a 30 m deep pit was subsequently dug and revealed that the first two seismic boundaries correspond to soil units sa an intermediate soil within loess unit l1 and s1 the last interglacial soil at the base of l1 these results though preliminary indicate the potential of the technique not only for mapping loess bedrock contacts but also for determining the finer subsurface detail of the loess palaeosol stratigraphy

timing and significance of the initiation of present day deserts in the northeastern hexi corridor china abstract the tengger desert and badain jaran desert are two typical deserts in the northwest arid area of china naac located near the margin of the monsoonal region through chronological research of the oldest loess sections formed from synchronous deposition of the desert dusts we suggest that the initial present day tengger and badain jaran deserts appeared no later than about 0 85 ma because this timing of present day desert initiation in the eastern part of the naac is very similar to the other two deserts in the west we suggest that the naac formed at approximately 0 85 ma the uplifting of the tibetan plateau accelerated at around 0 85 ma an event that caused the plateau to enter the cryosphere this resulted in remarkable enhancement of the winter monsoon as well as bifurcation of the mid lower westerlies this is the most fundamental factor that affected the formation of the naac

climate change loess and palaeosols proxy measures and resolution in north china the loess plateau of north china is a key region for the study of records of quaternary climatic change various techniques to abstract climatically sensitive data were first applied to the classic loess palaeosol site at luochuan and current views on climatic change in asia have been strongly moulded by results from this central part of the loess plateau data including the magnetic susceptibility granulometry mineralogy geochemistry micromorphology fossil content and inorganic and organic carbon content of asian loess palaeosol series have been used singly and in combination as surrogate measures of palaeoclimates to infer climatic changes with particular reference to changes in the asian monsoon some of this work is reviewed and the status of a number of parameters as climatic proxies is discussed some lithostratigraphic sequences from which proxy measures of climate have been derived are incomplete as shown by erosion surfaces water laminated zones and truncated palaeosol profiles while others provide records of relatively low resolution most descriptions of quaternary climatic changes based on studies of the loess emphasize alternations in the relative dominance of warm and moist v cool dry and dust laden monsoons some recent studies of the much higher resolution loess palaeosol successions on the western margins of the loess plateau have suggested that such changes may sometimes be out of phase with the inference that the current climate model is too simple means of testing this hypothesis are proposed

the nature origin and accumulation of loess abstract loess can be defined simply as a terrestrial clastic sediment composed predominantly of silt size particles which is formed essentially by the accumulation of wind blown dust there are three fundamental requirements for its formation 1 a sustained source of dust 2 adequate wind energy to transport the dust and 3 a suitable accumulation site most loess has been modified to some degree by local reworking bioturbation and syn depositional weathering but a process of loessification is not necessary for a dust deposit to qualify as loess the terms primary loess and secondary loess have previously been used to described wind deposited loess and redeposited loess respectively but it is more accurate to describe material reworked and redeposited by non aeolian processes as loess derived colluvium or loess derived alluvium during the quaternary loess formed in three main situations 1 mid continental shield areas beyond the limits of ice sheets periglacial loess 2 on the margins of high mountain ranges perimontane loess and 3 on the semi arid margins of some lowland deserts peridesert loess peridesert loess is relatively poorly developed partly due to the limited efficiency of silt generating mechanisms in low land deserts compared with glaciation but also important is the tendency in arid areas for dust to be dispersed over a wide area and to be rapidly reworked after deposition particularly in areas which experience frequent climatic changes the remarkably thick loess of china and central asia results from an unusual combination of conditions which has persisted for much of the last 2 3 million years namely rapid uplift of the tibetan plateau and surrounding mountain ranges high rates of sediment production and supply to adjacent basins a strong northwesterly and westerly wind regime and the existence of effective dust traps downwind of the source regions

on the formation of desert loess sequences of quartz rich coarse 20 63 m silt occur in many low and midlatitude unglaciated arid and semiarid areas and have been termed desert loess the processes by which these deposits are generated have been debated for decades all hypotheses to explain their origin seek to provide mechanisms for the generation of silt sized material without glacial grinding which is the main process involved in the production of coarse silt at high latitudes possible mechanisms for the formation of coarse silt in arid regions include derivation from preexisting siltstones mechanical weathering of silicate rocks and abrasion of sand grains in active dune environments during intense transport events examination of the characteristics of desert loess and field and laboratory experiments to assess the role of dune areas as a source of coarse silt by abrasion and or resuspension of residual fines suggests that many loess sequences are dominated by locally derived coarse silt improvements in the characterization of desert loess particle size mineralogy and geochemistry are needed however to identify sources and sinks of coarse silt especially when combined with climatic back trajectory analysis properly scaled experiments and modeling of particle collisions will also help to better quantify the effectiveness of abrasion in the generation of coarse silt in support of field observations

the upper pleistocene loess of southern tunisia a statement on the matmata plateau the sedimentological characteristics of the peri desert loess and the interbedded palaeosols particle size distribution chemical and mineralogical composition of major components trace elements clay mineral assemblage heavy mineral assemblage sem examined surficial textures of the quartz and palygorskite grains show notable homogeneity they also indicate its allochthonous origins the main sedimentary source being the great eastern erg its transport as an aeolian suspension sediment prior to deposition and moderate pedogenesis acting during deposition the emplacement of the loess was synchronous with a pluvial steppe palaeoenvironment moister than at present as shown by 18o and 13c data the palaeosols point to a weak pedogenesis and colluvial and alluvial reworking that were contemporary with the aeolian deposition 14c radiometric dating suggests a main period of pluvial dust fall loess deposition in the upper pleistocene until 10 000 yr bp and a shorter one in the middle holocene

holocene changes in tropical wind intensity and rainfall evidence from southeast ghana abstract remnants of a fixed aeolian dune ridge occur along the southeast coast of ghana just behind the present shoreline aeolian sands also cover extensive areas of the accra plains no dunes are present here the sands mainly occurring as sheets which blanket an early holocene landscape the sediments are of mid holocene age and were deposited during the interval 4500 b p 3800 yr b p when the southwesterly winds were stronger than they are at present and much of tropical africa seems to have been subject to marked aridity the onset of drier windier conditions around 4500 yr b p brought to an end the more equable climates than had characterized much of west africa during the earlier holocene aridity intensified winds and desert expansion between 4500 and 3800 yr b p parallel environmental conditions in tropical continental areas at the height of the late pleistocene glaciation

subglacial preservation of valley morphology at amundsenisen western dronning maud land antarctica on the high altitude polar plateau of amundsenisen western dronning maud land east antarctica a subglacial valley with a broad horizontal valley floor interpreted as a sediment floodplain or valley delta was studied by radio echo sounding in addition a small probably glacial valley was mapped within the same subglacial massif basal ice temperatures were calculated using field data on precipitation air temperature and ice sheet thickness discoveries of old landforms which have been preserved more or less intact beneath the former fennoscandian and laurentide ice sheets have received increasing attention during the last decade the aim of this study is to investigate whether preservation of landforms occurs under the east antarctic ice sheet and to discuss under that climatological and glaciological circumstances preservation may take place the results show that the ice sheet covering the investigated localities is frozen to bed and therefore has an insignificant erosional capability the observations suggest that a large scale subglacial sediment deposit and a small valley formed by glacial erosion have survived beneath a cold based ice sheet marginal zone for a long time period the process of glacial preservation recognized for bedrock features and tentatively observed for sediment accumulations should act on similar large scale landforms under any cold based ice sheet present or past on the basis of existing studies of the age and stability of the east antarctic ice sheet a middle pliocene age is suggested for the preserved landforms the presence of the presumed sediment filled valley further indicates that no prolonged periods of basal melting have occurred at the amundsenisen study area during the ice sheet history which includes the quaternary glaciation periods finally calculations of basal temperature for localities at different altitudes within the same subglacial massif were used to demonstrate local altitudinal control of glacial preservation 1997 by john wiley sons ltd

origin of desert loess from some experimental observations a longstanding problem of quaternary geology has been the origin of the silty deposit known as loess of the many explanations for its formation and distribution1 2 the most commonly accepted is that the silt is produced by subglacial grinding processes1 3 4 followed by redistribution and deposition by the wind the large expanses of loess in central europe are therefore considered to be the consequence of quaternary glaciation5 there is however a view6 7 that loessic silt may also originate as the product of processes in hot deserts some proponents of the desert loess hypothesis consider that silt size material is the product of weathering processes7 which may include salt weathering8 or weathering down incipient cracks9 an alternative mechanism is aeolian attrition of sand grains although probably as a result of the experimental work of kuenen10 smalley and krinsley11 consider that only fine silt 2 6 m is produced in large quantities by the abrasion of quartz grains we have simulated aeolian attrition of angular quartz grains previously produced by weathering in deserts the products of abrasion show that both coarse and fine silt sizes are produced these findings suggest that desert aeolian processes can produce loess we also suggest that much of this material from many deserts has been deposited in the sea but that the chinese loess could have been produced in the gobi desert the finest particles produced by such attrition may be a source of silica for silcrete formation

simulated aeolian abrasion of pannonian sands and its implications for the origins of hungarian loess quartz sand from southern hungary was agitated for 128 hours in an abrasion chamber using a constant airstream the fines produced by abrasion were collected from the exhaust air using an electrostatic precipitator analysis of the fines at set intervals by coulter counter show particle size distributions after 16 hours with 50 per cent in the 20 60 m range the size range normally associated with loess deposits results demonstrate the feasibility of a local abrasion derived contribution to hungarian loess

loess stratigraphy of central asia palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental aspects abstract the loess palaeosol succession of central asia is comparable with that of the loess plateau in north china palaeomagnetic investigations and palaeontological studies in south tadjikistan suggest a date of 2 2 5 ma for the oldest loess indicating that dust storms became frequent in the region since 2 2 5 ma bp under the prevalently arid and semi arid environments of central asia aeolian processes had a gradually increasing influence on subaerial sedimentation during the pleistocene however atmospheric aeolian processes in central asia have mainly developed in accordance with pleistocene climatic cyclicity without extremely high intensification during the late pleistocene as implied by the previous tl dating results the identification of loess and palaeosol horizons with respective glaciations and interglacials is sometimes disputable nevertheless the available data in spite of limited evidence characterise well developed palaeosols of the middle and late pleistocene as warm and wet intervals associated with interglacials palynological studies of loess sections show that loess and palaeosol horizons have palynological spectra that are sometimes difficult to interpret interregional loess palaeosol correlation with glacial interglacial events as well as with oxygen isotope records should be supplied by multidisciplinary investigations

mechanisms of loess sized quartz silt production and their relative effectiveness laboratory simulations the production of loess sized quartz silt is frequently ascribed to glacial grinding mechanisms in this study a series of laboratory simulations was set up the purpose of which was to demonstrate that a range of geomorphic mechanisms are capable of producing silt under laboratory conditions the geomorphic mechanisms investigated were aeolian abrasion fluvial comminution glacial grinding salt weathering and frost weathering the results confirmed that under laboratory conditions all of these mechanisms were capable of producing silt the relative effectiveness of these mechanisms at producing silt under laboratory conditions was then calculated in order to provide a starting point for a consideration of their potential effectiveness within the natural environment these results indicate that fluvial and aeolian activity are highly effective at producing quartz silt over short time periods in a dust storm of four days duration 287 g of silt could potentially be produced from every kilogram of sand entrained while fluvial comminution in a turbulent fluvial environment could potentially produce 900 g of silt from every kilogram of sand entrained within 32 h over longer periods of time the glacial grinding and weathering mechanisms represent more continuous and hence more effective silt producing mechanisms although it is realised that the relative importance of each silt producing mechanism will differ spatially and temporally due to differences in climate relief geology and geomorphic history the findings from this work do have implications for the genesis of loess deposits they demonstrate that glacial and cold weathering processes are not solely responsible for fine particle formation and that efficient silt producing mechanisms can operate within a variety of environments under suitable conditions weathering together with episodic contributions from aeolian and fluvial mechanisms could be responsible for a considerable proportion of global quartz silt production

late pleistocene and holocene aeolian dust deposition in north china and the northwest pacific ocean abstract rates of dust deposition in the north pacific and the central loess plateau of china show a poor correlation during the last 30 000 yr although in both cases the dust was derived from deserts in northern china loess accumulation rates were high at the time of the last glacial maximum while dust flux to the north pacific was low at this time maximum dust flux to the north pacific is recorded in the mid holocene but holocene rates of loess accumulation have been low these differences are shown to reflect the different nature of the wind conditions responsible for dust transport to the loess plateau and the north pacific dust transport responsible for formation of the loess occurred mainly in the lower 1 5 km of the atmosphere and was accomplished by cold low level northwesterly winds associated with cold waves emanating from the mongolian anticyclone at present such conditions occur quite frequently in winter but during the coldest phases of the pleistocene they probably also occurred in the spring and summer long range dust transport from northern china to the north pacific requires that the dust is lifted to high levels above 3 km where it can be incorporated into the strong mid latitude westerlies strong vertical motions of the atmosphere occur most frequently in the spring when the mongolian anticyclone begins to weaken and frontal depressions move across the deserts of northern china such frontal depressions were probably more frequent during the climatic optimum of the mid holocene and during previous interglacials changes in continental aridity have probably played a minor role in controlling the magnitude of the dust flux to the north pacific

origin of siltstones glacial grinding versus weathering siltstones are unusual rocks they are mainly made up of quartz glacial grinding is considered by some authors to be the main or even the only process generating silt this is supported by 1 the presence of silt in basal tills from present ice caps and above all 2 by the volumetric importance of quaternary loess however ancient glaciogenic sediments contain only a little silt scattered in the matrix of tillites or forming thin intercalations in pro and periglacial deposits these siltstones represent less than 5 of the total volume of upper proterozoic and upper ordovician glaciogenic sequences of west africa on the other hand silt is abundant in weathering profiles of tropical equatorial and mediterranean zones this silt is generated by splitting of minerals mainly quartz inherited from the parent rock quartz grains are partly dissolved in situ and their fragments cemented by iron oxi hydroxides in tropical and equatorial zones and by calcite in mediterranean zones silt is particularly abundant in tropical soils comprising up to 50 75 secondary dissolution of the iron or calcite matrix induces disaggregation of these soils and the release of silt which is later reworked and concentrated by wind or running water weathering processes and especially those operating in tropical zones are the main phenomena generating silt glacial grinding would generate only a little silt a large part of the material of quaternary loess may be derived from glacially reworked weathering profiles

contemporary glacigenic inputs to the dust cycle the importance of glacigenic dust in the earth s system during glacial periods is widely acknowledged under contemporary conditions the world s largest dust sources are in low lying hot arid regions and this is where most aeolian research is focused however the processes of dust production and emissions are still operating in cold climate regions particularly in proglacial areas this paper assesses current understanding of the relationship between glacierised landscapes and dust emissions and inputs to the global dust cycle it focuses on how elements in the glacial and aeolian geomorphic sub systems interact to determine the magnitude frequency and timing of aeolian dust emissions and on feedback mechanisms between the systems where they have been measured dust emission intensity and deposition rates in glacierised catchments are very high in some cases far exceeding those in lower latitudes however few studies span long time scales the impact of future glacier retreat on the balance between sediment supply availability and aeolian transport capacity and implications for glacigenic dust emissions is also considered this balance depends on relative spatial and temporal changes in meltwater suspended sediment concentration and wind strengths which promote dust emissions and patterns and rates of soil development and vegetation succession on recently deglaciated terrain which protect sediments from deflation retreat of the antarctic ice sheet could mean that in future glacigenic contributions to the dust cycle exceed those of non glacigenic sources in the southern hemisphere copyright 2012 john wiley sons ltd

the nature and origin of the aeolian mantles of central northern nigeria abstract evidence is presented here to show that the upland soils of central northern nigeria are formed in aeolian mantles deposited by two aeolian processes aeolian suspension or dust deposition and aeolian saltation or dune sand deposition the soils to the south and west of kano are largely the product of harmattan dust deposition whereas the northern soils appear to originate from dune sand migration from the quaternary dune fields to the east of the study area the spatial pattern of particle size populations or quanta and quartz grain roundness characteristics within the mantles and dune sands indicates that considerable mixing of dune sands and dust has occurred in the formation of these mantles

upbuilding pedogenesis under active loess deposition in a super humid temperate climate quantification of deposition rates soil chemistry and pedogenic thresholds abstract although the importance of dust deposition as an integral component of terrestrial biogeochemical cycles is well recognised few studies have directly addressed pedogenic processes associated with dust deposition on the land surface itself and if so mainly as relict features this work addresses this gap by looking at the pedogenic response to an active loess flux gradient in a super humid strong weathering environment on the west coast of new zealand s south island along the gradient seven soil pits were examined for a range of soil physical colour texture bulk density structure roots and chemical properties ph fe o fe d al o soil organic carbon measured to a depth of 50 cm to capture the transitional changes arising from minimal to maximal loess deposition rates maximal deposition rate was estimated to be 28 4 g m 2 y 1 along the gradient towards the highest deposition rate loess free sandy spodosols changed to increasingly more finely textured soils ultimately featuring a two fold increase of silt the pedogenic oxides fe o fe d and al o gradually increased each by 50 and soil organic carbon by 60 these increases were facilitated by continuous accession of loess the loess mixed with organic matter at the surface and became increasingly weathered and leached with the time that it had spent undergoing eluviation subsequently the loess increments were buried within the subsoil as part of an upwardly thickening spodic horizon upbuilding pedogenesis because of the high deposition rates under maximum loess flux spodosol formation became ultimately retarded and an inceptisol formed because loess supply overwhelmed topsoil leaching having also an illuvial subsoil horizon this inceptisol showed the strongest chemical indicators for podzolisation of the gradient soil data from supplementary sites suggested that more developed soils required lower loess fluxes to retard further pedogenic differentiation than younger soils the existence of a loess gradient that is capable of forming distinctive deposits in a super humid environment gives evidence that not only dry arid climates e g during glacials are potentially suitable for the formation of aeolian substrates loess the study indicates enhanced soil organic carbon storage in soils as a result of loess deposition and concomitant pedogenesis

the formation of silt material for terrestrial sediments particularly loess and dust abstract there are certain controls which operate to demarcate the nature and size range of quartz particles in terrestrial detrital sediments the particles fall into discrete and definable populations which are separated by tanner gaps quartz sand nature is determined largely by a eutectic like reaction which takes place in the original igneous rock this reaction delivers a fine mix of quartz and feldspar units which on weathering deliver quartz sand the formation of quartz silt is more contentious it appears that silt production is essentially controlled by the presence in larger quartz particles of moss defects crystalline defects introduced into the quartz structure by earlier events e g the high low displacive transformation in cooling quartz there appear to be two modes in airborne quartz particles which have been called large dust and small dust the larger mode is the loess mode around 20 60 m and the smaller mode falls into the classification with high level long travel dust mode around 2 6 m the quartz in small dust is around the same size as the clay mineral agglomerate particles cma which form a considerable proportion of high level dust clouds the cma particles form from lake deposits the size is controlled by the openness of the packing in the lake sediments this can be demonstrated by a simple monte carlo model

a geochemical study of loess and desert sand in northern china implications for continental crust weathering and composition abstract chemical compositional variations of desert sands and loess loess like deposits river deposits and saline lacustrine deposits collected mostly from the southern margin of the taklimakan desert china provide strong constraints on the chemical weathering processes of continental crust and also on the provenance compositions of these quaternary deposits constant but lower concentrations of al relative to the average upper continental crust ucc in these quaternary deposits could be attributed to chemical weathering of al rich minerals such as feldspar and mica and removal of clay minerals by wind and water large variations of mobile na ca mg and sr compared to relatively immobile al k and ba resulted from the chemical weathering of plagioclase and carbonate minerals salinization and carbonation of the arid lands most trace elements are not significantly fractionated their variations in absolute concentration are caused by the dilution of quartz evaporates and carbonate minerals variations in sn concentrations probably depend on relative contents of some heavy minerals high sr ba low th u k cs ratios of the saline lake deposits suggest differences in aqueous chemistry of these elements the occurrence of the m type tetrad effect a ree pattern with four convex curves of ree compositions found mainly in the river deposits is considered the result of water particle interaction during chemical weathering of crustal materials y ho ratios of these samples are significantly higher than those of chondrite and the ucc this suggests different chemical behavior of these two elements and possibly the enrichment of carbonate materials the low lree hree feature of the saline lake deposits can be interpreted as due to the different aqueous chemical behavior of the ree s however it can also be reasonably considered as the result of inheritance from their provenance since lree and lree hree variations may be related to the geological setting of the source according to some elements that are not significantly fractionated the average provenance composition of these quaternary deposits are probably characterized by enrichments of ni cr and v over fe higher la th lower la sc and th sc and lower ta w and nb w ratios compared with the ucc composition

the argentine neotropical loess an overview abstract the neotropical loess primary and reworked covers a large part of argentina north of 30 s it is different in some ways from the loess of the pampa which is generally considered the typical argentine loess the mineralogical chemical and physical composition of the neotropical loess has been analyzed and is here compared with both pampean and northern hemisphere european and north american loess the distribution of neotropical loess is established following the former teruggi scheme and the bio stratigraphical data indicating a late pleistocene age is described the great climatic variability of this period is documented through description of a loess paleosol sequence that mantles the pre andean valleys the influence of loess influx upon the genesis of the paleosols and the stadial interstadial environmental changes are considered in relation to the generalized truncation of paleoedaphic sequences the migration of the polar front and the weakness of the pacific high pressure system are also analyzed in relation to south american environmental evolution during the upper quaternary in that sense the genesis of pre andean fluvial valleys and mega fans extending outward into the andean piedmont plains having sources on the eastern dry side of the andes would have been influenced by such a paleoclimatic situation

glacial comminution of quartz sand grains and the production of loessic silt a simulation study abstract traditional views have attributed the formation of loess sized quartz silt particles to glacial processes glacial grinding was considered to be the only mechanism capable of producing loessic silt in the quantities necessary for the formation of loess deposits this idea has been strengthened by the apparent close association between present or former glacierised regions and major global loess deposits however some doubts exist as to whether or not glacial grinding is capable of producing sufficient quantities of quartz silt because of the difficulties entailed in the observations and direct measurement of subglacial abrasion and crushing this paper describes and discusses the results of a simulation study designed to examine abrasion and size reduction of quartz grains under grinding conditions analogous to those experienced in a subglacial environment the findings from these experimental runs suggest that although particle breakage and comminution does occur little silt sized material is actually produced the amount of silt produced ranges from approximately 9 of the original sample in one experimental run to less than 1 for the other seven runs it is suggested that the results obtained may show considerably less abrasion and loessic silt production than may be expected to occur within a natural subglacial environment because 1 subglacial grains experience much greater overburden pressures for much longer periods of time 2 the use of sand sized grains may represent a stable component resistant to further size reduction through crushing or abrasion and 3 the use of a monomineralic sample of relatively sound quartz grains although care must be taken when relating results obtained from these experimental runs to silt production within a glacial environment findings from this work do question whether large amounts of quartz silts are produced within subglacial environments the importance of glacial processes in the formation of loess deposits may lie in the reworking of pre existing sediments by ice rather than the actual production of vast quantities of silt this in turn suggests that care should be taken in the interpretation of the provenance of particles comprising loess deposits

the onset of extensive loess deposition around the g m boundary in china and its palaeoclimatic implications abstract in northern china the red clay loess contact is palaeomagnetically defined at about the gauss matuyama boundary the red clay formation has recently been proposed as mostly of wind blown origin and can be interpreted as having been formed under climatic conditions of continuous warmth punctuated by small amplitude oscillations the shift from red clay development to extensive loess deposition exhibits a 3 fold abrupt increase in aeolian dust deposition rate and marks the beginning of frequent and chaotic climatic fluctuations this event implies a large scale reorganization of the atmospheric circulation over east asia in particular the northward shift and intensification of the siberian high which may have resulted from a dramatic uplift of the tibetan plateau compared to another climatic shift recorded by the chinese loess deposits which occurred at about the upper boundary of the olduvai subchron the red clay loess shift is much more pronounced and recognizable in the field it appears that in regional stratigraphic studies the g m magnetic reversal has a better correlation potential than the upper olduvai

an approach to the problem of loess deposit formation some comments on the in situ or soil eluvial hypothesis abstract the problem of loess formation has been widely discussed for a long time and in many languages at the beginning of the 21st century some parts of this debate are still going on a case is still being made for the in situ approach and there are problems of terminology and mechanism for the central asian loess consideration of the origin of loess material has now replaced the discussion on deposit formation as the major intrinsic problem and in the world of ground engineering there is still much investigation on the origins of collapsibility which is in effect a discussion of loess origins there remain some interesting and useful observations to be made on the north african loess and the loess like materials in australia and the desert loess controversy is still running connections of loess to chernozems fragipans and rendzinas are becoming clearer and it seems that it may be possible to appreciate a loess landscape in which the loess contribution is not immediately apparent recent sem observations suggest that collapsibility develops after metastability as the in situ theory appears to imply

perspectives oxygen isotopes and the origin of quartz published data indicate that in igneous rocks the delta 18 o of quartz averages about 9 per thousand in metamorphic rocks 13 to 14 per thousand in sandstones 11 per thousand in shales 19 per thousand quartz overgrowths in sandstones 20 per thousand and cherts 28 per thousand either a very large proportion of the silt and clay size quartz in shales about 90 of the total quartz in shales is secondary or the isotopic data are incomplete it is concluded that the latter interpretation is correct because published isotopic analyses of metamorphic rocks consider only the coarser grained rocks phyllites and slates whose quartz is nearly all of silt and clay size and has more positive delta 18 o values than quartz from schists and gneisses probably supplies the bulk of quartz to mudrocks

tephrochronology and paleoclimatology of the last interglacial glacial cycle recorded in alaskan loess deposits abstract alaskan loess deposits contain long paleoclimatic records analogous to those found in marine and lacustrine sediments and in ice sheets the sedimentology and geophysical properties of alaskan loess were influenced by climatically forced changes in wind intensity storminess temperature and precipitation loess deposits also contain evidence of episodic permafrost and paleosol formation explosive volcanic eruptions paleoecologic changes in high latitude regions quaternary fossils and early human sites and artifacts the old crow tephra ca 140 000 10 000 bp dates the transition between full glacial conditions and the last interglaciation in central alaska climatic amelioration in alaska apparently began prior to astronomically forced increases in insolation a finding consistent with the well dated devil s hole record however time series analysis of loess proxy climate data also demonstrates the effects of orbital precession and obliquity on alaskan climate change numerous short term climate events are recorded in alaskan loess deposits including a climate reversal corresponding to the younger dryas