Source of the aeolian sediments in the Yarlung Tsangpo valley and its potential dust contribution to adjacent oceans

Ling, Zhiyong; Yang, Shengli; Xia, Dunsheng; Wang, Xin; Chen, Fahu

doi:10.1002/esp.5351

Cited by 11 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 59 publications

(137 reference statements)

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“…Sun et al., 2007). The dust generated in the Yarlung Tsangpo valley has been traced as far as the Japan Sea and North Pacific Ocean (Ling et al., 2022), although the volume of dust emissions and the importance of Yarlung Tsangpo sediments as a subordinate additional source for other loess areas remain to be ascertained.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fluvial‐Aeolian Interaction and Compositional Variability in the River‐Fed Yarlung Tsangpo Dune System (Southern Tibet)

Liang

Garzanti

et al. 2023

JGR Earth Surface

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River-fed dune fields characterized by relatively low quartz content are much more common on Earth than generally assumed, and the aeolian dune field system in the Yarlung Tsangpo (Upper Brahmaputra) river catchment is considered a typical example. As one of the highest-altitude fluvial-aeolian systems on Earth, the dune fields in different wide tracts of the Yarlung Tsangpo valley, made of sand entirely blown from the adjacent river bed, provides an excellent natural laboratory in which to investigate the diverse factors controlling textural and compositional changes induced by aeolian processes. To this aim, the textural (grain-size, roundness) and compositional (petrography, heavy minerals) properties of multiple size classes of fluvial and aeolian sands were quantified. The results show that sediment composition is markedly controlled by grain size, with greater intrasample than intersample variability. Grain-size controlled compositional differences cannot be exclusively ascribed to hydraulic-sorting effects. Independent of their density or shape, quartz, sedimentary rock fragments, zircon, apatite, and epidote grains are observed to be on average smaller than feldspars, volcanic rock fragments, and pyroxenes. This indicates that the original size of minerals in source rocks also played a significant role, limiting their availability in finer (e.g., garnet) or coarser (e.g., apatite) classes. In the river-fed dune system, the lower content of phyllosilicates and higher grain roundness could represent useful criteria to distinguish aeolian from fluvial sand. The efficient aeolian abrasion of riverfed sediments on the Tibetan Plateau may be an effective mechanism for the production of dust deposited as vast loess covers during the Quaternary.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fluvial‐Aeolian Interaction and Compositional Variability in the River‐Fed Yarlung Tsangpo Dune System (Southern Tibet)

Liang

Garzanti

et al. 2023

JGR Earth Surface

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“… (a) Terrain maps of study sites; (b) Photo of the Aima section; (c) Satellite maps of study sites; (d) Frequency distribution of gales from various directions in 2020 in Namling County modified from Zhang, Ma, et al. (2022); (e) Monthly dust totals for the Xigaze broad valley in 2019 (Ling et al., 2022). …”

Section: Regional Setting and Sample Collectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Loess, which is an excellent archive for the study of dust activity, is widely distributed in the southern TP, especially in the YTR valley. The loess in the YTR valley could have primarily been derived from nearby unconsolidated sediments from floodplains or dry riverbeds (Du et al., 2018; Liang et al., 2023; Ling et al., 2021, 2022; Sun et al., 2007; Wang et al., 2020; Zhang et al., 2021). During the past decades, accelerated mass spectrometry (AMS) 14 C (Cheng, Yang, Long, Zhang, et al., 2023; Feng, Wang, et al., 2022; Kaiser, Opgenoorth, et al., 2009; Li et al., 2016; Zhang, Feng, et al., 2015) and quartz optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) techniques have been used to date the YTR loess (Cheng, Yang, Long, Song, Chen, et al., 2023; Cheng, Yang, Long, Zhang, et al., 2023; Gao et al., 2021, 2023; Kaiser, Lai, et al., 2009; Lai et al., 2009; Li et al., 2016; Ling et al., 2020, 2023; Pan et al., 2024; Sun et al., 2007; Yang et al., 2021, 2023; Zhang, Feng, et al., 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in Late Pleistocene Dust Activity in the Southern Tibetan Plateau in Response to Orbital Precession and Mountain Glaciers

Cheng,

Long,

Zhang

et al. 2024

JGR Earth Surface

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The Tibetan Plateau (TP) serves not only as the “water tower” of Asia but also as an important source in the global atmospheric dust cycle. While our knowledge of modern dust activity and its impacts and interactions with climate change in the TP has greatly advanced in the past decades, the emission, transport, and deposition of dust on the geological time scale remains unclear. This study analyzed a 7.6‐m thick sedimentary sequence consisting of loess and sand from the Yarlung Tsangpo River (YTR) valley in the southern TP. The sequence chronology was established using nineteen K‐feldspar post‐infrared infrared stimulated luminescence (pIRIR) ages, which ranged from 47.11 ± 1.95 to 116.65 ± 5.55 ka in a general stratigraphical order. The dust sedimentation rate and sorting coefficient of grain size were used to reflect dust activity and near‐surface wind, respectively. The results indicated that dust activity in the southern TP is mainly regulated by the near‐surface wind intensity and follows the variation pattern of precession, although the waxing and waning of mountain glaciers also affect the amplitude of dust activity. This pattern is not consistent with the Greenland dust record, which follows the variation pattern of obliquity. Therefore, dust accumulation in the southern TP is concluded to be primarily controlled by the South Asian winter monsoon (SAWM) forced by precession, whereas dust accumulation in Greenland is closely related to the intensity of the high‐level westerlies forced by obliquity.

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“…The Nd isotopic composition of sediments is only affected by the parent rock lithology and is basically not affected by chemical weathering [158]. It is accepted that the difference of between-sample Nd isotopic ratios (εNd(0)) can be considered to be controlled by geological factors rather than experimental error only if the difference is greater than 1ε unit [157].…”

Section: Influence Of Foreign Substancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics and Influencing Factors of the Granite Weathering Profile: A Case Study of a High Latitude Area in Northeastern China

Liu,

Chi,

Xie

et al. 2023

Minerals

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Rock weathering, an important geological process on the earth’s surface, plays a key role in shaping surface morphology, providing nutrients needed by the ecosystem, and regulating the global climate. However, the regimes for controlling rock weathering in different regions are still controversial. In this respect, the heavy minerals, elements, Sr-Nd isotope, magnetic susceptibility, and chromaticity of the granite weathering profile in Harbin, a high latitude area of China, were analyzed for understanding the weathering characteristics and mechanisms of the granite weathering profile in the cold area. The results indicate that the profile underwent strengthened physical weathering (large volumes of cracks in the granite parent rock) and low–moderate chemical weathering (CIA = 56~68). However, the chemical weathering does not clearly affect the composition of the weathering products, making the weathering products a good inheritance from the parent rocks, as evidenced by the binary diagram (e.g., TiO2-Zr, and La/Sc-Co/Th) and geochemical genes (LG01 and LG03). The development process of the weathering profile has been affected by the input of external materials and biological activities, as evidenced by the Sr-Nd isotopic composition, Th/Zr values, chemical depletion fractions, ΔAl/Ti ratios, χfd%, and geochemical genes (LG03). Notably, a progressively decreasing weathering degree with a reduced depth is observed in the profile, which is likely to be related to an addition of external materials and/or effects of biological activities. In addition, the weathering regime of the profile does not vary in geology time, characterized by a kinetic-limited weathering regime with a limited supply.

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Source of the aeolian sediments in the Yarlung Tsangpo valley and its potential dust contribution to adjacent oceans

Cited by 11 publications

References 59 publications

Fluvial‐Aeolian Interaction and Compositional Variability in the River‐Fed Yarlung Tsangpo Dune System (Southern Tibet)

Fluvial‐Aeolian Interaction and Compositional Variability in the River‐Fed Yarlung Tsangpo Dune System (Southern Tibet)

Changes in Late Pleistocene Dust Activity in the Southern Tibetan Plateau in Response to Orbital Precession and Mountain Glaciers

Characteristics and Influencing Factors of the Granite Weathering Profile: A Case Study of a High Latitude Area in Northeastern China

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