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Arid Land Geography ›› 2019, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (3): 551-558.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2019.03.11

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Paleoclimatic changes reflected by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy since LastGlacial Maximum from Selin Co Lake sediments,central Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

DU Dingding1, Muhammad Saleem Mughal2, Dembele Blaise2, ZHANG Chengjun2   

  1. (1 East China University of Technology,Nanchang 330013,Jiangxi,China; 2 School of Earth Sciences & Mineral Resources,Lanzhou University; Key Laboratory of Western Chinas Mineral Resources of Gansu Province,Lanzhou 730001,Gansu,China)

  • Received:2018-10-19 Revised:2019-02-15 Online:2019-05-25 Published:2019-05-20

Abstract: The Selin Co Lake is located in the central Qinghai Tibetan Plateau,China,which is a sensitive region to climate. Meanwhile,the area is less influenced by human activities.In recent years,the region became a hotspot for the paleoenvironmental research community.In this paper,the profile is selected in the third terrace of the lakeshore and 122 samples were collected there.By using 14C dating method,we get the exact age of the profile.The combination of many different methods,such as TOC,Xray diffraction (XRD),CaCO3 (%),magnetic susceptibility and grain size,were used to investigate the paleo environment.Three components were considered in this investigation including red (a*),yellow (b*) and brightness (L*).The a* and b* are mainly related to the value of goethite and the a* in sediment is primarily related to wet warm climate,which can be used to monitor paleoclimatic changes in the area.The L* has a good correlation with TOC and CaCO3(%); and almost has correlation with magnetic susceptibility and grain size.If the grain size of the lake sediment became coarser,magnetic susceptibility was bigger,the organic content went higher,and the CaCO3(%) got decreased,all these indicated the climate was in the warm wet condition which was reflected by a higher a* value and a lower L* value; otherwise,the climate was in the cold dry condition which was reflected by a lower a* value and a higher L* value.Therefore,the paleoclimatic changes were divided into 5 stages: The cold dry climatic period from 13.33 to 12.23 ka BP,the significant cold dry climatic period from 12.23 to 10.07 ka BP when the Younger Dryas event occurred,the Holocene Megathermal period from 10.68 to 8.70 ka BP when the values of a* and b* kept higher and the value of L* sustained a dropping trend, the warm wet climatic period from 8.70 to 3.93 ka BP and the cold dry climatic period from 3.93 to 0 ka BP. The result was very similar to the monsoon changes in Qinghai Tibetan Plateau.

Key words: Hue, grain size, paleoclimate and paleo environment, Selin Co Lake