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Radiocarbon AMS Dating of Pollen Concentrated from Eolian Sediments: Implications for Monsoon Climate Change Since the Late Quaternary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Weijian Zhou
Affiliation:
National Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Xi'an 710054 China
Douglas Donahue
Affiliation:
NSF-Arizona AMS Facility, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 USA
A. J. T. Jull
Affiliation:
NSF-Arizona AMS Facility, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 USA
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Abstract

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Dating pollen concentrated from eolian sediments provides a new way to establish a chronological framework on the Loess Plateau of China. We show that pollen deposited simultaneously with sediment in a stable environment can provide reliable ages. We suggest that the reliability of pollen dating can be evaluated by comparison with wood cellulose or charcoal ages from the same stratigraphic level. Dating pollen concentrates from the various profiles indicates paleomonsoon precipitation variability at the loess/desert transitional belt from the late Pleistocene to the early Holocene.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The American Journal of Science 

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