Loess—palaeosol sequence in Kashmir: Correlation of mineral magnetic stratigraphy with the marine palaeoclimatic record

Abstract

AbstractIn this paper we use the mineral magnetic data (χ and χfd) to stratigraphically correlate different loess‐palaeosol profiles in Kashmir Valley. The two available thermoluminescence (TL) chronologies on the Kashmir loess profiles have been reinterpreted to identify the soil of the Last Interglacial (ca. 125 000 yr BP). We show that the mineral magnetic data correlates well with the global marine δ18O record. This correlation has revealed the well‐known Milankovich periodicities of 40 ka and 20 ka in the loess‐palaeosol record. On the basis of this study, we conclude that loess deposition in the Kashmir Valley started around 200 ka and not 350 ka ago as suggested by earlier workers, and that magnetic susceptibility variations provide a tool to decipher climatic changes from loess‐palaeosol sequences.