Abstract
The thick, widely distributed lacustrine sediments in northern China may have recorded abundant information on the Asian monsoon evolution during the Late Cenozoic. However, reconstruction of such a history with these materials has been hampered by the paucity of reliable chronological constraints. In this study, systematic paleomagnetic measurements were conducted on a well-exposed, 2880-m thick fluviolacustrine sequence on the east side of the Liupan Mountains, a relatively monsoon-sensitive region. Correlation of the resultant magnetic polarity column to the Geomagnetic Polarity Timescale (GPTS) suggests that this sequence spans a time interval of 20.13–0.07 Ma and is generally continuous. The reliability of this correlation was further supported by three lines of independent evidence: i.e. Hipparion fossils, pollen assemblages and color changes of the sediments. Measurements of redness of the sedimentary succession suggest a remarkable decrease in air temperature over northern China, which may be closely associated with the global Mid-Miocene cooling caused by the extension of the Antarctic ice sheets. This event may have had an important influence on the evolution of the Asian monsoon circulation.
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