Chemical weathering since the Little Ice Age recorded in lake sediments: a high‐resolution proxy of past climate

• Published in: Earth Surface Processes and Landforms
• Main Authors: Jin, Zhangdong, Wang, Sumin, Shen, Ji, Zhang, Enlou, Li, Fuchun, Ji, Junfeng, Lu, Xinwei
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2001
• Subjects: ice core
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/esp.224; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fesp.224; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/esp.224

Abstract Because of the different geochemical behaviour of rubidium and strontium in earth surface processes, variations of the Rb/Sr ratios in lake sediments were used as a geochemical proxy of chemical weathering and past climate in a single watershed. Low magnetic susceptibility, low CaCO 3 , low Sr concentration and, hence, high Rb/Sr ratio in the lake sediments indicate weak chemical weathering under a cold but wet climate during the Little Ice Age (LIA) in the closed Daihai Lake watershed. The concordant change in both Sr and CaCO 3 concentrations with δ 18 O values in the Dunde ice core suggests that weak chemical weathering during the wet LIA was controlled by air temperature. After the LIA, however, precipitation played a dominant role in chemical weathering. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.