The chemical weathering intensity and element migration features of the Xiashu loess profile in Zhenjiang are studied in this paper. (1) The Xiashu loess profile underwent moderate chemical weathering. It seems that the precipitation is a more important factor than the temperature in controlling the process of the chemical weathering. (2) The major elements such as Si, K, Na, Ca, Mg, Mn and P were migrated and leached, while the elements Fe and Ti were slightly enriched. The migration features of the major elements reveal that the Xiashu loess finished the primary process of chemical weathering characterized by leaching of Ca and Na, and almost reached the secondary process characterized by leaching of K. Except the elements Sr and Ga, other trace elements such as Th, Ba, Cu, Zn, Co, Ni, Cr and V were enriched. It might be caused by both the biogeochemical process and the adsorption of trace elements by clay mineral and organic materials. (3) The difference of element migration down the Xiashu loess profile reveals that the climate was warm and wet at the early-middle stage of the middle Pleistocene. At the end of the middle Pleistocene, it became dry and cool. At the early stage of the Late Pleistocene, the paleoclimate became warm and wet again. As a whole, the paleoclimate generally became drier and cooler in this region from the beginning of the middle Pleistocene.
Variability in East Asian summer monsoon precipitation during the Holocene remains of debate. In this study, we use a closed lake with well‐dated lake beach ridges located on the margin of the East Asian summer monsoon, a region highly sensitive to monsoon precipitation changes, to obtain a temporal sequence of water volume in North China. The elevation of each beach ridge calibrated to the modern lake level was surveyed. Optically stimulated luminescence dating of undisturbed sediments of beach ridges was performed. The lake area and water volume corresponding to each beach ridge were calculated using a digital elevation model. This study reveals relatively reduced monsoon precipitation from ~12 to 7 ka interrupted by strengthening of the monsoon circulation to a maximum from ~7 to ~5 ka and followed by greatly reduced monsoon intensity until the present day. These results demonstrate that changes in the East Asian summer monsoon precipitation may not be directly driven by global temperature or atmospheric CO2 content. Rather, we suggest that variation in the the monsoon margin precipitation is probably mainly driven by ice volume and subordinately by the summer solar insolation difference between mid‐latitude land and low‐latitude ocean.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.