Magnetic properties and paleoclimatic implications of loess-paleosol sequences of Czech Republic

Abstract

Detailed rock magnetic investigations and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were carried out on loess-paleosol sequences of the last interglacial-glacial at Znojmo section in Czech Republic. The results indicate that pedogenesis causes susceptibility enhancement in the paleosols, which is similar to that observed in the Chinese Loess Plateau. k -T curves, IRM, and XRD show that magnetite is the dominant magnetic mineral in the loess-paleosol sequences at the Znojmo section, while maghemite, hematite, and pyrite/pyrrhotite are minor minerals. Measurements of anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) indicate that the magnetic lineation is smaller than the foliation. The susceptibility ellipsoids are oblate and the directions of the maximum principal axes (K max ) are distributed randomly, and cannot be used to determine the paleo-wind direction.