Figure
1.
Distribution of (a) the Chinese loess and (b) the loess deposits in Shandong Province. The red star denotes the location of the studied Fujiazhuang Section.
| Citation: | Yanfei Shen, Meiyan Liang, Jianxun Wu, Shuzhen Peng, Guoqiao Xiao. Detrital-Zircon Evidence for the Origin of the Late Quaternary Loess in Qingzhou, Shandong Province and Its Implications for the Evolution of the Yellow River. Journal of Earth Science, 2022, 33(1): 205-214. doi: 10.1007/s12583-021-1489-9
|
The loess-paleosol sequences on the Chinese Loess Plateau are precious continental sedimentary records comparable to the polar ice core and the deep-sea records, which provide detailed archives for studying the evolution of the Asian Monsoon (Guo et al., 2002), the atmospheric circulation pattern of East Asia (Xiao et al., 2012; Pullen et al., 2011; Stevens et al., 2010), and the environmental characteristics of the Asian inland deserts (Chen and Li, 2011). Researchers have made systematical and profound investigations on their origin by methods of geomorphology, sedimentology, geochemistry, mineralogy and so on. It has demonstrated that the loess on the Chinese Loess Plateau was mainly from the Asian inland deserts (Chen and Li, 2011), and it was a typical desert loess with obvious differences from the cold loess in Europe and North America (Li et al., 2020).
In addition to the loess on the Chinese Loess Plateau, loess deposits are also widespread in Shandong Province. The Shandong loess are mainly distributed in two regions (Fig. 1), one is the south coastal area and islands of the Bohai Sea in the easternmost Shandong Province (Lin et al., 2021; Xu et al., 2015; Liu and Zhao, 1995; Cao et al., 1988), including Yantai, Miaodao Archipelago, and the southern coast of the Laizhou Bay; and the other region is the mountainous region in central Shandong Province, including the northern piedmont and some intermountain valleys within this mountainous region (Peng et al., 2011, 2007; Zhang Z L et al., 2004), such as Zibo and Qingzhou cities. These loess deposits are important parts of the loess records in eastern China. In their classic work, Liu and his colleagues made a general description for the loess in the Shandong Peninsula, and called it as "Penglaige-type" loess, and firstly suggested that the loess was mainly derived from the Asian inland deserts and the loose materials in the coastal area of the Bohai Sea (Liu, 1985). Subsequent studies found that these coastal and island loess deposits contained foraminifer fossils (Liu and Zhao, 1995; Cao et al., 1988), indicating that the Bohai shelf may have been partly desertified in the glacial period with low sea level. This suggests that these coastal and island loess deposits were mainly sourced from the loose materials of fluvial and shallow sea sediments in the Bohai Bay, thus suggesting a proximal origin for the "Penglaige-type" loess. This view was further supported by the provenance studies for the loess in the coast of the Laizhou Bay (Yu, 1999; Zhang, 1995).
Many studies have focused on the loess in the mountainous region in central Shandong Province. Based on detailed field investigation in this region, Zheng et al. (1994) proposed that the Fujiazhuang loess section in the Qingzhou City was the thickest and continuous one in Shandong Province that could be used as a representative loess section. Peng et al. (2011) further studied the Fujiazhuang loess section by systematic magnetostratigraphic and optical stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating and concluded that the basal age of the section was ~0.5 Ma. Based on detailed the grain-size, clay minerals, and elemental geochemistry analyses, Peng et al.(2016, 2011) inferred that the loess materials in the Qingzhou region were mainly from the North China Plain that transported by the Yellow River, rather than the Bohai shelf, nor the Asian inland deserts. Previous studies also suggested that the loess in the Qingzhou region may contain a small part of materials from the proximal mountains based on the fact that the loess contains some local bedrock fragments (Zhang et al., 2004). However, a recent Sr-Nd isotope study suggested that the provenance of the Qingzhou loess not only include the loose materials of the Yellow River flood plain and the Bohai shelf that transported by the local winds, but also a small amount of dust materials from the distal Asian inland deserts (Zheng, 2018).
The previous studies on the distribution, age framework, and provenance of the Shandong loess have laid a solid foundation for further study of the Qingzhou loess. However, the current studies on the provenance of the Qingzhou loess still faces two questions: (1) The relative contribution of dust materials from the local and distal sources to the Qingzhou loess is still uncertain (Zheng, 2018; Peng et al., 2016); and (2) under the backgrounds of the deterioration of climate (Ding et al., 2005) and significant alternation of the atmospheric circulation patterns associated with the glacial-interglacial fluctuation in East Asia during the Late Quaternary (Xiao et al., 2012; Pullen et al., 2011), it is not clear whether the provenance of the Qingzhou loess has significantly changed on different timescales. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out further investigations on the provenance change over different timescales of the Qingzhou loess by more effective provenance tracing methods.
In recent years, detrital-zircon U-Pb age distribution has been widely used in exploring the provenance of loess deposits, and have achieved a series of advances (Licht et al., 2016; Bird et al., 2015; Che and Li, 2013; Xiao et al., 2012; Pullen et al., 2011; Stevens et al., 2010). It is suggested that this method can distinguish the source contributions from different geological units, and thus more sensitive than traditional methods such as whole rock geochemistry, isotope and heavy mineral assemblage (Liang et al., 2014; Xiao et al., 2012; Stevens et al., 2010). In this study, two pairs of loess and paleosol samples from the most representative loess section at the Fujiazhuang Village, Qingzhou City, Shandong Province are selected to explore the provenance of the Qingzhou loess by the method of detrital-zircon U-Pb age distribution.
The study area contains varied landforms (Fig. 1b), including hills, mountains, plains, river valleys. Its overall terrain presents a decreasing trend from the south to the north. The Yellow River flows through the study area from southwest to northeast and finally empties into the Bohai Sea. To the north of the study area are the vast North China Plain and the Bohai Sea; and to the south of the study area are the Yimeng Mountains, where expose the Cambrian-Ordovician strata. The Qingzhou loess is distributed in the northern piedmont of the mountainous region in central Shandong Province. The North China Plain is covered by the loose Quaternary alluvial deposits, which are mainly transported by the Yellow River, as well as other rivers originating in the Taihang and Yanshan Mountains, and the mountainous region in central Shandong Province.
The studied Fujiazhuang loess section (36º40'N, 118º27'E) is located at the Fujiazhuang Village in the northern piedmont of the mountainous region in central Shandong Province, which is ~2 km to the southwest of the Qingzhou City. The section is an upright loess cliff with thickness ~28 m (Fig. 2). According to the stratigraphic characteristics, this section can be divided into four units, including the modern cultivated layer (0-0.85 m), the Holocene soil (0.85-2.45 m), the Malan loess (2.45-7 m), and the alternate of reddish-brown soil and light reddish loess (7.0-28.2 m). No hiatus was found in this section during our field survey. The bottom of the section was underlain by fluvial sands, with a basal age of ~0.5 Ma (Peng et al., 2011).
In order to investigate the variation in provenance of the Qingzhou loess over different timescales, we selected two pairs of representative loess (6.8 and 25 m) and paleosol (7.4 and 13 m) samples from the Fujiazhuang Section for detrital-zircon analysis. According to previous chronological framework (Peng et al., 2011), the ages of these four samples are ~71, ~85, ~230 and ~443 ka, corresponding to the MIS4, MIS5, MIS7, and MIS12, respectively.
For each sample, ~1 kg materials were used to extract zircon crystals by conventional mineral separation technique. Mineral separation was accomplished with heavy liquids and a magnetic separator. Finally, about 500 zircon grains were randomly handpicked under the binocular eyepiece and mounted in epoxy resin and polished. Before analysis, the cathodoluminescence (CL) images (Fig. 3) of all zircons on the four targets were taken to determine the locations for laser ablation.
The U-Pb age analyses were carried out on the laser-ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (LA-ICP-MS) at the State Key Laboratory of Geological Processes and Mineral Resources, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, following the analytical procedures of Liu et al. (2010). In order to achieve a required level of statistical adequacy (Andersen, 2005), 100-120 individual zircon grains < 63 μm that can be transported by wind were randomly selected from each sample for measurement by a laser spot diameter of 24 μm. According to the CL images, we avoided the inclusion, fracture, and multi-growth boundary in the zircon grains during the U-Pb age analysis. The zircon standards 91500 and Gj-1 were used as internal and external standards to calibrate isotope fractionation. Off-line selection and integration of background and analytical signals, and time-drift correction a quantitative calibration was conducted by ICPMSDataCal 11.5 (Liu et al., 2010). The 206Pb/238U age was used for zircon dated as ≤1 Ga, and the 207Pb/206Pb age was used for zircon age > 1 Ga. These zircons with < 90% concordance were rejected. The kernel density estimation plots were made using Density Plotter (Vermeesch, 2012).
The representative CL images of the studied samples from the Fujiazhuang Section are showed in Fig. 3. By detailed measurement, zircon grains with diameter > 63 μm in the four samples (6.8, 7.4, 13, 25 m) were 22.3% (n = 390), 21.7% (n = 350), 33.3% (n = 420), and 39.2% (n = 390), respectively, suggesting that there were relatively coarser zircon grains in the lower part of the section. These coarse zircons (> 63 μm) were precluded for dating by laser ablation, as they were probably derived from the slope deposits.
A total of 397 valid ages were obtained after removal of zircon grains with concordance < 90%. Kernel density estimate plots of detrital-zircon ages and the pie charts of different ages for the four samples are showed in Fig. 4. The results show that: (1) All the four samples contain relatively large percentage of zircons in the ranges of 200-360 Ma (> 25%) and > 1 100 Ma (> 25%); (2) all the four samples contain a small number of zircons in the range of 66-200 Ma, with a peak at ~130 Ma; and (3) the zircon age spectra of the loess (6.8 m) and paleosol (7.4 m) samples in the upper section are very similar, and the two samples from the lower section (13 and 25 m) are also very similar, suggesting that there is no obvious provenance change on glacial-interglacial timescale. However, there are three differences between the samples in the upper and lower section: (1) The two samples in the upper section contain relatively less percent of zircons in the range of 200-360 Ma, with 25% (6.8 m) and 26% (7.4 m), respectively, but these zircons in the two lower samples are up to 41% (13 m) and 37% (25 m), respectively; (2) the two upper samples contain relatively more zircons in the range of 360-560 Ma, with 27% (6.8 m) and 24% (7.4 m), respectively, while the two lower samples contain only 19% (13 m) and 22% (25 m) of these zircons; and (3) the two upper samples contain relatively more zircons in the range of 560-1 100 Ma, with 11% (6.8 m) and 14% (7.4 m), respectively, but the two lower samples contain 6% (13 m) and 9% (25 m) of these zircons.
In order to investigate the origin of the Qingzhou loess, we collected the published detrital-zircon age data from its potential source areas (Table. 1), including the loess materials on the Chinese Loess Plateau (Licht et al., 2016; Bird et al., 2015; Che and Li, 2013; Xiao et al., 2012; Pullen et al., 2011; Stevens et al., 2010) that potentially eroded by the Yellow River and transported to the North China Plain, the modern alluvial materials from the lower reaches of the Yellow River (Nie et al., 2015; Zheng et al., 2013; Yang et al., 2009), the materials of the mountainous region in central Shandong Province (Li et al., 2013), and fluvial deposits from the Yanshan and Taihang Mountains that were transported to the North China Plain by modern and ancient (> 1.5 Ma) rivers (Xiao et al., 2020; Yang et al., 2009). It is shown that the detrital-zircon age spectra of the loess on the Chinese Loess Plateau and the modern Yellow River fluvial sediments are very similar to that of the Qingzhou loess (Figs. 5a-5c). They all contain two major age populations in the ranges of 200-360 and 360-500 Ma, and three minor peaks at ~900, ~1 800, and ~2 450 Ma. In contrast, the Qingzhou loess contain more zircons in the ranges of 200-360 and 66-200 Ma, which is obviously different from the loess on the Chinese Loess Plateau and the Yellow River alluvial sediments (Figs. 5a-5c). It is worth noting that the most important age peaks in the materials of the mountainous region in central Shandong Province are at ~2 500, ~1 800, and ~280 Ma (Fig. 5d). The peaks of ~2 500 and ~1 800 Ma corresponded to the crustal growth of the North China, and the ~280 Ma peak corresponded to the formation of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (Yang et al., 2009; Zhang et al., 2009). In addition to these three peaks, the fluvial sediments from the Yanshan and Taihang Mountains contain significant percent of zircons in the range of 66-200 Ma (Fig. 5e) that associated with the destruction of the North China Craton during the Mesozoic (Zhai et al., 2020; Qin et al., 2019; Wang et al., 2018). In contrast to the loess in Qingzhou and Chinese Loess Plateau, zircons of 360-560 and 560-1 100 Ma are very rare in the materials of the mountainous region in central Shandong Province, with only 5% and 2%, respectively, and these zircons are even less (< 1%) in the alluvial sediments of the Yanshan and Taihang Mountains.
| Potential source | References | Site | Sample ID | Description |
| Loess on the Chinese Loess Plateau | Stevens et al. (2010) | Beiguoyuan | CH04/1/16-19 | Loess |
| Pullen et al. (2011) | Heimugou | HL1/9/15/33 | Loess | |
| Xiao et al. (2012) | Xining, Xifeng, Weinan | XF-S1/L1, TJZ-1, CJB-L1, 10YG-1/2 | Loess or paleosol | |
| Che and Li (2013) | Caoxian, Xifeng, Xining | CaoxianL1, XifengS1, XifengL1, XiningL1 | Loess or paleosol | |
| Bird et al. (2015) | Jingbian, Lingtai, Beiguoyuan | CH11-04-01/05/09/10/11, CH11-06-01/02/03/04/05, CH11-05-01/02/03/06/07/08/09/10/11/12/13 | Loess or paleosol | |
| Licht et al. (2016) | Heimugou | S-0/1/9/22 | Paleosol | |
| Fluvial sands from the lower reaches of the Yellow River | Nie et al. (2015) | Lower reaches of the Yellow River | S4517A, S4520 | Fluvial sand |
| Yang et al. (2009) | Lower reaches of the Yellow River | HH02, HH01SD | Fluvial sand | |
| Zheng et al. (2013) | Lower reaches of the Yellow River | HH | Fluvial sand | |
| Materials from the mountainous region in central Shandong | Li et al. (2013)) | Zichuan Basin | BD-1, KL-1, YW-1, FS-1/2 | Fine-grain sandstone |
| Fluvial sands from the Yanshan and Taihang Mountains | Yang et al. (2009) | Luanhe and Yongding rivers | YDH01, LH01 | Fluvial sand |
| Xiao et al. (2020) | North China Plain | Boreholes of G2, G3, and CK3 | Fluvial sand, > 1.5 Ma |
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The zircon age spectrum of the Qingzhou loess is highly similar to that of the loess on the Chinese Loess Plateau and the fluvial sediments in the Lower Reaches of the Yellow River (Fig. 5), indicating that there are genetic linkages between the Qingzhou loess and the loess on the Chinese Loess Plateau. There are two possible genetic relationships between them: (1) Both of them were directly from the inland deserts of Asia; and (2) the source area of the Qingzhou loess is different from the loess on the Chinese Loess Plateau; specifically, the Qingzhou loess was mainly from the sediments on the North China Plain that fed by the Yellow River and other local rivers. If it is the first case, the grain size of the Qingzhou loess should be smaller than the loess on the Chinese Loess Plateau, because the loess grain-size decreases from northwest to southeast of the Chinese Loess Plateau (Liu, 1985). Peng et al. (2007) show that the median grain-size of the Qingzhou loess is between 10-20 μm, which is between the Luochuan loess (15-25 μm) and the Weinan loess (5-15 μm) on the Chinese Loess Plateau (Ding et al., 2005). However, Qingzhou is much far away from the Asian inland deserts than Weinan, thus precluding the possibility that the Qingzhou loess is directly sourced from the Asian inland deserts.
Therefore, the Qingzhou loess and the loess on the Chinese Loess Plateau were from the different source areas. Two lines of evidence support this. Firstly, the zircon age spectra of the lower and upper parts of the Fujiazhuang Section are obviously different, indicating that the provenance of the Qingzhou loess underwent a significant transition in the Latest Pleistocene. However, provenance study demonstrated that the loess on the Chinese Loess Plateau was devoid such a provenance transition (Bird et al., 2015), suggesting that the loess deposits in Qingzhou and Chinese Loess Plateau were not from the same source area. Secondly, the zircon age spectra of loess (6.8 m) and paleosol (7.4 m) samples in the upper part of the Fujiazhuang Section is similar, as well as the loess (25 m) and paleosol (13 m) samples in the lower part, indicating that no significant change in provenance of the Qingzhou loess on glacial-interglacial timescale. However, the provenance of the Chinese Loess Plateau has changed significantly over glacial-interglacial cycle (Xiao et al., 2012), also indicating that the source of the Qingzhou loess is different from the loess on the Chinese Loess Plateau.
Then where is the source area of the Qingzhou loess? Three aspects of observations indicate it was sourced from the desertified land within the North China Plain. Firstly, similar to the Xiashu loess (Jiang et al., 2020), the Qingzhou loess also contains large percentage of particles > 20 μm (Peng et al., 2007), indicating that the Qingzhou loess was transported from the nearby source areas; This is because the > 20 μm particles are generally able to transport a few hundred kilometers by wind (Tsoar and Pye, 1987). Secondly, the Qingzhou loess contains significant numbers of ~130 Ma zircons, which are absent in the loess of the Chinese Loess Plateau, but it is consistent with the age of the Yanshanian magmatism (Wang et al., 2018). These zircons are very common in the fluvial deposits derived from the Yanshan Mountains, as well as in the modern and ancient sediments of the North China Plain (Xiao et al., 2020; Yang et al., 2009), but very rare in other potential source areas (Fig. 5). This suggests that these zircons were mainly originated from the Yanshan Mountains and transported to the North China Plain by local rivers. Thirdly, the Qingzhou loess contains higher percentage of zircons in the range of 200-360 Ma than that of the loess on the Chinese Loess Plateau, especially in the samples of 25 and 13 m (Fig. 4). These zircons are widespread in the detrital materials of the mountainous region in central Shandong Province, indicating that they were probably originated from the mountainous region in central Shandong Province. They also can be transported to the North China Plain by local rivers and as a part of source materials for the Qingzhou loess.
Thus, the Qingzhou loess is a kind of proximal-sourced loess that transported by the local winds. Its source materials include the eroded loess materials from the Chinese Loess Plateau, the detrital materials from the mountainous region in central Shandong Province and from the Yanshan and Taihang Mountains. As the Yellow River flows through the Tibetan Plateau and the Chinese Loess Plateau, vast amounts of fluvial sediments would be transported to the North China Plain by the Yellow River. The eroded loess from the Chinese Loess Plateau was the dominant material in the fluvial sediments of the Yellow River (Liu, 1985), and this is the reason that the detrital-zircon age spectrum of the modern Yellow River sediments is very similar to that of the loess on the Chinese Loess Plateau (Figs. 5b, 5c). In addition to the Yellow River, the North China Plain has also received detrital materials from the Yanshan and Taihang Mountains and the mountainous region in central Shandong Province by local rivers, so the North China Plain would contain zircon age populations of the fluvial sediments of the Yellow River, the detrital materials of the mountainous region in central Shandong Province, and materials of the Yanshan and Taihang Mountains.
The Qingzhou loess is located in the downwind area of the Yellow River flood plain, with only about 80 km away from the modern Yellow River. Nowadays, the Yellow River flood plain still remains some sandy lands (Chen et al., 1989), and the loose materials in these sandy lands are easily transported to the northern piedmont of the mountainous region in central Shandong Province by the local winds. It is reasonably to deduce that the area of the sandy lands within the North China Plain would vary over the glacial-interglacial cycle. However, the changes in area of the sandy lands within the North China Plain would not cause the glacial-interglacial change in detrital-zircon age spectra of the Qingzhou loess (Fig. 4), because the materials composition of these sandy lands within the North China Plain would keep stable over the glacial-interglacial cycle.
As the source materials of the Qingzhou loess were dominant by the sediments transported by the Yellow River, the basal age of the Qingzhou loess can be as an indicator for the timing of the integration of the Yellow River. Despite over a century of scientific investigations, there is still no agreement on the timing of the integration of the Yellow River, with estimates ranging from > 34 to ~0.15 Ma (Xiao et al., 2021, 2020). Among them, some researchers suggested that the timing of integration of the Yellow River was between 0.25 and 0.15 Ma, based on the drying of the Sanmen paleolake in the Fenwei Basin and the increase in sedimentation rate and grain size of the Mangshan loess on the western of the North China Plain (Jiang et al., 2007; Zheng et al., 2007; Zhang et al., 2004) (Fig. 6c). However, our detrital-zircon results indicate that the Yellow River have provided source materials for the Fujiazhuang loess section in Qingzhou by 0.5 Ma. Although it is not clear whether it is the oldest loess record in the Qingzhou area, the timing of integration of the Yellow River must be not later than 0.5 Ma. The age of the uppermost river terraces in the Sanmen gorge indicates that the integration of the Yellow River was earlier than 1.2 Ma (Pan et al., 2005). Recent provenance study from the Lower Reaches of the Yellow River indicates that the integration of the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yellow River occurred between 1.6 and 1.5 Ma (Xiao et al., 2020).
It is worth noting that our detrital-zircon evidence reveals that the provenance of the Qingzhou loess experienced an important provenance transition between 0.23 and 0.08 Ma, with the age spectra of the two samples in the lower part (> 0.23 Ma) of the section are conspicuously different from those in the upper part (< 0.08 Ma) (Fig. 4). In this provenance transition, the relative contents of the 66-200 and 200-360 Ma zircons are significantly decreased, and the zircons of 360-560 and 560-1 100 Ma are increased. Because the zircons of 360-560 and 560-1 100 Ma are mainly from the Yellow River alluvium, suggesting that the contribution from the Yellow River alluvium to the Qingzhou loess increased between 0.23 and 0.08 Ma.
The change in provenance between 0.23 and 0.08 Ma was broadly synchronous with the suggested timing (between 0.25 and 0.15 Ma) for the integration of the Yellow River (Jiang et al., 2007; Zheng et al., 2007; Zhang Z K et al., 2004). Meanwhile, the grain-size record of the Qingzhou loess exhibits a significant increase in component of the medium silt at ~0.22 Ma (Fig. 6a), indicating an expansion of sandy land and/or increase in velocity of wind on the North China Plain since ~0.22 Ma that may be linked to regional climate deterioration. It is worth noting that the loess deposits in Beijing (Fig. 6b) and Zhengzhou (Mangshan Section, Fig. 6c) also exhibit a significant increase trend in grain-size and accumulation rate at ~0.22 Ma (Zheng et al., 2007; Xiong et al., 2001), while there is no obvious change in the Luochuan and Xifeng sections (Figs. 6d, 6e) on the Chinese Loess Plateau (Hao et al., 2012). This phenomenon indicates that the eastern China has experienced an important climate deterioration since ~0.22 Ma. We therefore argue that the sudden increase in grain-size and accumulation rate of the Mangshan loess at ~0.22 Ma should not be attributed to the integration of the Yellow River, but linked to the expansion of sandy land within the North China Plain that associated with the climate deterioration of the eastern China.
Our results indicate that the Qingzhou loess is sourced from the sandy lands within the North China Plain. In this sense, the basal age of the Qingzhou loess indicates that the initiation desertification of the North China Plain occurred by 0.5 Ma. A recent study on the provenance of the Mangshan loess near Zhengzhou revealed that the desertification of the North China Plain may have started at ~0.9 Ma (Shang et al., 2018), which was synchronous with the Early-Middle Pleistocene climate transition (Clark et al., 2006). At ~0.22 Ma, the increase in grain-size suggests a further expansion of sandy lands in eastern China (Fig. 6), together with a provenance change of the Qingzhou loess that indicating a transition of material composition of the North China Plain. According to the detrital-zircon results (Fig. 5), the materials of the North China Plain in the past 0.22 Ma was mainly derived from the eroded loess of Chinese Loess Plateau transported by the Yellow River, indicating that the erosion of the Chinese Loess Plateau may have accelerated since ~0.22 Ma. However, the erosion history of the Chinese Loess Plateau is still required to further constrain.
In this paper, we have chosen four representative samples from the Fujiazhuang loess section in Qingzhou City, Shandong Province for provenance study via detrital-zircon U-Pb method, and compare them with published zircon data from the surrounding potential source areas, with aims to explore the source and origin of the Qingzhou loess. Based on these results, the evolution of the Yellow River and the desertification history of the North China Plain are also discussed. The main conclusions are as follows.
(1) The detrital-zircon age spectra and grain-size of the Qingzhou loess indicate that it was sourced from the proximal sandy lands within the North China Plain, and the materials on the North China Plain were fed by the eroded loess from the Chinese Loess Plateau via the Yellow River, as well as the detrital materials from the proximal mountainous regions, including the mountainous region in central Shandong Province and the Yanshan and Taihang Mountains. The Qingzhou loess was transported by local winds on the North China Plain, and its formation was under the background of climate deterioration since the Middle Pleistocene. The Asian inland deserts are not the direct source areas for the Qingzhou loess, and thus the origin of the Qingzhou loess is obviously different from the loess on the Chinese Loess Plateau. Our detrital-zircon age results also suggest that there is no significant change in provenance of the Qingzhou loess over the glacial-interglacial cycle.
(2) The onset accumulation of the Qingzhou loess indicates that the desertification of the North China Plain was not later than 0.5 Ma. The provenance and grain-size of the Qingzhou loess shown an obvious change at ~0.22 Ma, indicating that the North China Plain experienced a significant expansion in sandy land area and material composition. Prior to ~0.22 Ma, the Qingzhou loess mainly consisted of the detrital materials from the surrounding mountains, such as the mountainous region in central Shandong Province, and the Yanshan and Taihang Mountains; after that, the contribution of eroded loess materials from the Chinese Loess Plateau significantly increased. This change reflects a further deterioration of environment in eastern China and the increase in erosion rate of the Chinese Loess Plateau at ~0.22 Ma.
(3) As the sediments transported by the Yellow River to the North China Plain were very important source materials for the Qingzhou loess, the basal age of the Qingzhou loess indicates that the timing of integration of the Yellow River was not later than 0.5 Ma. Our results also indicate that the suddenly increase in grain-size and accumulation rate in the Mangshan and Qingzhou loess sections at ~0.22 Ma were due to expansion of the sandy lands within the North China Plain that linked to the climate deterioration in eastern China.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41672338, 41888101, 41572339) and the "Strategic Priority Research Program" of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. XDB26000000). Meiyan Liang also acknowledges the support from the China Scholarship Council (No. 201806415030). We are grateful to Profs. Tao Luo and Zhaochu Hu for laboratory assistance.The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-021-1489-9.| Andersen, T., 2005. Detrital Zircons as Tracers of Sedimentary Provenance: Limiting Conditions from Statistics and Numerical Simulation. Chemical Geology, 216(3/4): 249-270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2004.11.013 |
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Figures(6) / Tables(1)
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| Potential source | References | Site | Sample ID | Description |
| Loess on the Chinese Loess Plateau | Stevens et al. (2010) | Beiguoyuan | CH04/1/16-19 | Loess |
| Pullen et al. (2011) | Heimugou | HL1/9/15/33 | Loess | |
| Xiao et al. (2012) | Xining, Xifeng, Weinan | XF-S1/L1, TJZ-1, CJB-L1, 10YG-1/2 | Loess or paleosol | |
| Che and Li (2013) | Caoxian, Xifeng, Xining | CaoxianL1, XifengS1, XifengL1, XiningL1 | Loess or paleosol | |
| Bird et al. (2015) | Jingbian, Lingtai, Beiguoyuan | CH11-04-01/05/09/10/11, CH11-06-01/02/03/04/05, CH11-05-01/02/03/06/07/08/09/10/11/12/13 | Loess or paleosol | |
| Licht et al. (2016) | Heimugou | S-0/1/9/22 | Paleosol | |
| Fluvial sands from the lower reaches of the Yellow River | Nie et al. (2015) | Lower reaches of the Yellow River | S4517A, S4520 | Fluvial sand |
| Yang et al. (2009) | Lower reaches of the Yellow River | HH02, HH01SD | Fluvial sand | |
| Zheng et al. (2013) | Lower reaches of the Yellow River | HH | Fluvial sand | |
| Materials from the mountainous region in central Shandong | Li et al. (2013)) | Zichuan Basin | BD-1, KL-1, YW-1, FS-1/2 | Fine-grain sandstone |
| Fluvial sands from the Yanshan and Taihang Mountains | Yang et al. (2009) | Luanhe and Yongding rivers | YDH01, LH01 | Fluvial sand |
| Xiao et al. (2020) | North China Plain | Boreholes of G2, G3, and CK3 | Fluvial sand, > 1.5 Ma |
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| Potential source | References | Site | Sample ID | Description |
| Loess on the Chinese Loess Plateau | Stevens et al. (2010) | Beiguoyuan | CH04/1/16-19 | Loess |
| Pullen et al. (2011) | Heimugou | HL1/9/15/33 | Loess | |
| Xiao et al. (2012) | Xining, Xifeng, Weinan | XF-S1/L1, TJZ-1, CJB-L1, 10YG-1/2 | Loess or paleosol | |
| Che and Li (2013) | Caoxian, Xifeng, Xining | CaoxianL1, XifengS1, XifengL1, XiningL1 | Loess or paleosol | |
| Bird et al. (2015) | Jingbian, Lingtai, Beiguoyuan | CH11-04-01/05/09/10/11, CH11-06-01/02/03/04/05, CH11-05-01/02/03/06/07/08/09/10/11/12/13 | Loess or paleosol | |
| Licht et al. (2016) | Heimugou | S-0/1/9/22 | Paleosol | |
| Fluvial sands from the lower reaches of the Yellow River | Nie et al. (2015) | Lower reaches of the Yellow River | S4517A, S4520 | Fluvial sand |
| Yang et al. (2009) | Lower reaches of the Yellow River | HH02, HH01SD | Fluvial sand | |
| Zheng et al. (2013) | Lower reaches of the Yellow River | HH | Fluvial sand | |
| Materials from the mountainous region in central Shandong | Li et al. (2013)) | Zichuan Basin | BD-1, KL-1, YW-1, FS-1/2 | Fine-grain sandstone |
| Fluvial sands from the Yanshan and Taihang Mountains | Yang et al. (2009) | Luanhe and Yongding rivers | YDH01, LH01 | Fluvial sand |
| Xiao et al. (2020) | North China Plain | Boreholes of G2, G3, and CK3 | Fluvial sand, > 1.5 Ma |
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