Luminescence dating of sand–loess sequences and response of Mu Us and Otindag sand fields (north China) to climatic changes

• Published in: Journal of Quaternary Science
• Main Authors: Zhou, Yali, Lu, Huayu, Zhang, Jiafu, Mason, Joseph A., Zhou, Liping
• Other Authors: China National S&T Basic Work Program, 111 project to Nanjing University, US National Science Foundation, Earth System History Program
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2009
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jqs.1234; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fjqs.1234; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jqs.1234

Abstract The sand–loess transition zone in north China is sensitive to climate change, and is an ideal place to investigate past environmental changes. However, past climate change at millennial–centennial timescales in this region has not been well reconstructed because of limited numerical dating. Alternations of sandy loam soils with aeolian sand layers in the Mu Us and Otindag sand fields, which lie along the sand–loess transition zone, indicate multiple intervals of dune activity and stability. This change is probably a response to variations of the East Asian monsoon climate during the late Quaternary. The single aliquot regeneration (SAR) optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating protocol, which has been successfully applied to aeolian deposits worldwide, is applied to these two sand fields in this study. The OSL ages provide reliable constraints for reconstruction of past climate changes at suborbital timescale. Sections in both sand fields contain aeolian sand beds recording millennial‐scale episodes of dry climate and widespread dune activation, including episodes at about the same time as Heinrich Event 5 and the Younger Dryas in the North Atlantic region. These results demonstrate the potential of aeolian sediments in semi‐arid north China to record millennial‐scale climatic events, and also suggest that dry–wet climate variation at the desert margin in China may be linked to climatic change elsewhere in the Northern Hemisphere, through atmospheric circulation. This article was published online on 27 November 2008. An error was subsequently identified. This notice is included in the online and print versions to indicate that both have been corrected (16 December 2008). Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.