Large-number detrital zircon U-Pb ages reveal global cooling caused the formation of the Chinese Loess Plateau during Late Miocene.

ABSTRACT: The formation and evolution of the landscape of the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) is debated because of uncertainties regarding dust provenance. We present a quantitative estimation of dust source contributions to the CLP, based on more than 37,100 detrital zircon U-Pb ages, combined with mineral assemblages and isotope analyses. Our results reveal that the CLP was stepwise formed by ~8 million years (Ma) and is mainly composed of material from the Northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, with stepwise shifts in relative contributions of different eolian silt sources occurring at ~2.6 Ma and 1.5 to 1.2 Ma. We infer that these changes were driven by stepwise global cooling, which induced aridification and enhanced silt production in glaciated-cold climate dust source regions, as well as dust abl

SUBMITTER: Zhang H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9555786 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature