Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-r6qrq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T15:31:25.470Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cyclic Quaternary Alluviation and Terracing in a Nonglaciated Drainage Basin on the North Flank of the Qinling Shan, Central China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Stephen C. Porter ,
An Zhisheng  and
Zheng Hongbo
Stephen C. Porter
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Academia Sinica, P.O. Box 17, Xian 710061, People's Republic of China
An Zhisheng
Affiliation:
Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195 USA
Zheng Hongbo
Affiliation:
Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195 USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Pleistocene alluvial terraces of the nonglaciated Ba River drainage basin on the north flank of the Qinling Shan are capped by a succession of loess units and paleosols that correlate with the standard marine isotope chronology and are used to date the subjacent alluvial gravels. Alluvial fills were deposited during isotope stages 2, 6, 8, 12, and 16, whereas terracing occurred during interglacial stages 1, 5, 7, 11, and 15. The apparent absence of terraces dating to stage 14 and stage 4 may be due to the lesser intensity of these glaciations compared to that of stage 2, although disruption of the alluvial regime by local tectonism is a likely alternative for the lack of a stage 4 terrace. A stage 10 terrace was not positively identified from available exposures; its possible absence could be related to post-stage 12 uplift. Aggradational episodes correlate with glaciations and loess deposition, whereas degradational episodes correlate with interglaciations or interstades and soil formation, implying that climate is the primary control on Quaternary paleohydrology. This in turn points to variations in the Earth's orbital geometry as the major factor that modulates both climate and, ultimately, the fluvial system in the Qinling Shan. In this region, glaciations were dominated by a cold, dry winter monsoon climate, whereas during interstades and interglaciations a warmer and wetter climate prevailed, implying strengthening of the summer monsoon. Both the loess/paleosol and the alluvial records are consistent with climate-model simulations spanning the last 18,000 yr that show a change from cold, dry conditions during the last glacial maximum to a climate warmer and wetter than present during the first half of the Holocene.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 38 , Issue 2 , September 1992 , pp. 157 - 169
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

An, Z.S. Kukla, G.J. Porter, S.C. Xiao, J. Magnetic susceptibility evidence of monsoon variation on the Loess Plateau of central China during the last 130,000 years Quaternary Research 36 1991 29 36 Google Scholar
An, Z.S. Wu, X.H. Lu, Y.C. Zhang, D.E. Song, X.J. Dong, G.R. A preliminary study on the paleoenvironmental changes in China during the last 20,000 years Liu, T.S. Loess, Quaternary Geology, and Global Change, Part II 1990 Science Press Beijing 1 26 [in Chinese] Google Scholar
Grove, J.M. The Little Ice Age 1988 Methuen London Google Scholar
Hays, J.D. Imbrie, J. Shackleton, N.J. Variations in the earth's orbit: Pacemaker of the ice ages Science 194 1976 1121 1132 Google Scholar
Imbrie, J. Hays, J.D. Martinson, D.G. McIntyre, A. Mix, A.C. Morley, J.J. Pisias, N.G. Prell, W.L. Shackleton, N.J. The orbital theory of Pleistocene climate: Support from a revised chronology of the marine δ18O record Berger, A. Imbrie, J. Hays, J. Kukla, G. Saltzman, B. Milankovitch and Climate (Part 1) 1984 Reidel Dordrecht 269 305 Google Scholar
Kukla, G. Loess stratigraphy in central China Quaternary Science Reviews 6 1987 191 219 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kukla, G. An, Z.S. Loess stratigraphy in central China Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 72 1989 203 223 Google Scholar
Kukla, G. An, Z.S. Melice, J.L. Gavin, J. Xiao, J.L. Magnetic susceptibility record of Chinese loess Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (Earth Sciences) 81 1990 263 288 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kukla, G. Heller, F. Liu, X. Xu, T.C. Liu, T.S. An, Z.S. Pleistocene climate in China dated by magnetic susceptibility Geology 16 1988 811 814 Google Scholar
Kutzbach, J.E. Guetter, P.J. The influence of changing orbital parameters and surface boundary conditions on climate simulations for the past 18,000 years Journal of Atmospheric Sciences 43 1986 1726 1759 Google Scholar
Lanzhou Institute of Glaciology and Geocryology (Academia Sinica) Glacial Geologic Map of the Mount Tormur Region, Xinjiang, Western China 1980 China Publishing Company Shanghai scale 1:200,000 Google Scholar
Li, Y.S. Chang, C.Y. Han, H.Y. Li, J.Z. Zhou, C.Y. Lu, L. Investigation of the Huaxian great earthquake damage and of paleoearthquake traces Papers of Prehistoric Earthquakes and Quaternary Geology 1982 Shaanxi Science and Technology Publishers Xian 30 42 [in Chinese] Google Scholar
Liu, T.S. Loess and the Environment 1985 China Ocean Press Beijing Google Scholar
Liu, Y. Times and Characteristics of Glaciation in the Qinlin Mountains 1982 Quaternary Geologic Map of the People's Republic of China. Ministry of Geology Beijing [in Chinese] Google Scholar
Martinson, D.G. Pisias, N.G. Hays, J.D. Imbrie, J. Moore, T.C. Shackleton, N.J. Age dating and the orbital theory of the ice ages: Development of a high-resolution 0 to 300,000-year chronostratigraphy Quaternary Research 27 1987 1 29 Google Scholar
Mattauer, M. Matte, P. Malavielle, J. Tapponnier, P. Maluski, H. Xu, Z.Q. Lu, Y.L. Tang, Y.Q. Tectonics of the Qinling Belt: Build-up and evolution of eastern Asia Nature 317 1985 496 500 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peltzer, G. Tapponnier, P. Zhang, Z. Xu, Z.Q. Neogene and Quaternary faulting in and along the Qinling Shan Nature 317 1985 500 505 Google Scholar
Qi, Z. Hui, Z. Glacial Relicts and Quaternary Glaciation in Mt. Taibei (Qinlin Mountains) 1980 Shaanxi Normal University Xian [in Chinese] Google Scholar
Schumm, S.A. Quaternary paleohydrology Wright, H.E. Jr. Frey, D.G. The Quaternary of the United States 1965 Princeton Univ. Press Princeton, NJ 783 794 Google Scholar
Schumm, S.A. The Fluvial System 1977 Wiley New York Google Scholar
Shackleton, N.J. Oxygen isotopes, ice volume, and sea level Quaternary Science Reviews 6 1987 183 190 Google Scholar
Shi, X. The natural environment of the Neolithic age in China Liu, T.S. Quaternary Geology and Environment in China 1991 Science Press Bejing 141 150 Google Scholar
Shi, Y. Glaciers and geomorphology in China Liu, T.S. Quaternary Geology and Environment in China 1991 Science Press Bejing 16 27 Google Scholar
Shi, Y. Wang, J. The fluctuations of climate, glaciers and sea level since late Pleistocene in China Sea level, Ice, and Climatic Change IAHS Publication 131 1979 281 293 Google Scholar
Sun, J. Zhao, J. et al. Quaternary of Loess Plateau in China 1991 Science Press Beijing 1 12 [in Chinese] Google Scholar
Walling, D.E. Webb, B.W. Patterns of sediment yield Gregory, K.J. Background to Paleohydrology 1983 Wiley New York 69 100 Google Scholar
Zheng, B. Preliminary studies of Quaternary glaciation and palaeogeography on the south slope of West Kunlun Bulletin of Glacier Research (Japanese Society of Snow and Ice) 5 1987 93 102 Google Scholar
Zheng, H. An, Z. Shaw, J. Liu, T. A detailed terrestrial geomagnetic record for the interval 0–5.0 ma Tungsheng, Liu Loess, Environment and Global Change 1991 Science Press Beijing 147 156 Google Scholar