Spatial and temporal patterns of grain size and chemical weathering of the Chinese Red Clay Formation and implications for East Asian monsoon evolution

Palaeoclimatic interpretation of the Red Clay in the Chinese Loess Plateau is particularly important for understanding of the East Asian monsoon evolution from Pliocene to the Quaternary. In this study, a N-S transect involving five loess-Red Clay sections across the Loess Plateau was selected for detailed investigation with analyses of grain size and major element geochemistry, in order to address the spatial pattern. Results indicate that the Red Clay contains large amount of coarse (< 6 phi,i.e. > 16 mu m) fraction and shows a prominent N-S decreasing gradient much similar to that of the overlying loess, suggesting that the dust transport was dominantly by low-level northerly/northwesterly winds. Compared with overlying loess, the Red Clay is markedly fine and rather constant through all the sections, implying a distant and steady dust-source area about 200 km further north during most of the Pliocene time. Pedogenic leaching intensities inferred from geochemical data display a clear decreasing trend from south to north both for the Red Clay and the loess, suggesting that the modern spatial pattern of the East Asian monsoon regime has been maintained at least for the past 5 Ma. The N-S spatial gradient, however, might be smaller during the Pliocene than the Quaternary period. Temporally, two short periods of climatic deterioration implied by marked grain-size coarsening and low weathering intensity occurred at 5.3 and 3.5 Ma, respectively, which divide the Pliocene into two major stages. The 5.3-3.5 Ma stage is characterized by a steady state climate through the entire region, consistent with other records. In the 3.5-2.7 Ma stage, the Red Clay in the Jingbian section shows a noticeable coarsening in grain size than the previous stage, indicating some southward extension of the deserts, in agreement with mass accumulation rate record in the north Pacific. But the eolian dust deposition remained relatively stable in major part of the Loess Plateau until 2.7 Ma. The Red Clay deposition was then terminated by massive and coarse loess deposition in the entire region, suggesting dramatic intensification of the winter monsoon in response to the onset of extensive glaciation of Northern Hemisphere. (c) 2007 Published by Elsevier Ltd.