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›› 2015, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (6): 1151-1160.

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Climate variability recorded by the major elements in the TMS5e of the Tumen section during the MIS5e in the southern Tengger Desert,northwest China

SUN Ye-feng1, WEN Xiao-hao1, LI Bao-sheng1,2, NIU Dong-feng1, ZHAO Zhan-lun1, MENG Jie1, YANG Qin-jiang1   

  1. 1. School of Geographical Science, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510631, Guangdong, China;
    2. State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 710075, Shaanxi, China
  • Received:2015-03-19 Revised:2015-06-02 Online:2015-11-25

Abstract: Situated in the interlaced belt between the desert and loess under control of the East Asia winter and summer monsoons,the Tumen section on the southern edge of the Tenger Desert is very sensitive to the global climate changes,and it is the ideal place to study paleoclimate and paleoecology. Through the field investigation, collecting samples and experiment of x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy,we chose the TMS5e segment in the Tumen section to discuss the paleo-climate changes during the MIS5e of the Last Interglacial. The TMS5e consists of 16 layers of aeolian dune sands,11 layers of loess and 5 layers of lacustrine facies. Based on the analysis of the major elements and ages of the TMS5e segmemt,we found 14.5 major elememt cycles that are similar to the sedimentary cycles. The contents of 8 major elements in the TMS5e display as SiO2 >Al2O3 >CaO >TOFE >K2O >MgO > Na2O >TiO2,ranging from 53.63 to 74.14%,8.32 to 12.98%,2.70 to 6.99%,2.5 to 5.80%,2.07 to 2.81%,1.22 to 3.47%,1.60 to 2.41%,and 0.24 to 0.60%,respectively,with the average of 64.11%,11.31%,5.15%,4.08%, 2.37%,2.26%,2.01%,and 0.41%,respectively. The curves of major elements within the TMS5e sequence vertically present symmetric changes:SiO2 shows high peaks in the dune sands,but low values in the lacustrine and loess. the other element Al2O3,CaO,TOFE,K2O,MgO,Na2O and TiO2 show the opposite trend,with low values in the dune sands and high peaks in the lacustrine and loess. It suggests that the climate is instable in the TMS5e in southern Tengger Desert during the MIS5e period,and it has experienced at least 14.5 warm-cold climate fluctuations. The TMS5e could be divided into five sub-stages:TMS5e5(139-129.3 ka BP),TMS5e4(129.3-124 ka BP),TMS5e3(124-119.5 ka BP),TMS5e2(119.5-116.5 ka BP),and TMS5e1(116.5-113.7 ka BP),which correspond to the MIS5e5-MIS5e1 in the GRIP ice core. This study helps us to further understand the paleo-climate variations on the marginal areas in the Northwest of China during the MIS5e,and provide geological evidence to support the climate instability in the MIS5e.

Key words: Tenger Desert, Tumen section, MIS5e, major element

CLC Number: 

  • P532