Neogene global climate change and East Asian dust sources: Combined rutile geochemistry and zircon U-Pb analysis from the northern Chinese Loess Plateau

Abstract

During the late Neogene, global climate underwent a long-term transition to cooler climates that culminated in the Quaternary icehouse conditions. In the East Asian terrestrial realm, atmospheric dustiness increased, and the volume of aeolian dust deposits expanded significantly. The Neogene Red Clay deposits, located on the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP), provide an exceptional geologic archive to investigate pre-Quaternary climates and environments. Constraining the provenance of the Red Clay is crucial for unravelling the links between late Neogene Central-East Asian climate, tectonics and desertification. However, Red Clay provenance is highly debated and data are scarce. In this study, we have used a multi-proxy approach at a high sampling resolution to study the provenance of the c. 7–2.6 Ma Baode Red Clay. Our data consist of joint detrital zircon U-Pb ages and detrital rutile trace element geochemistry of the Baode Red Clay, and of a massive rutile geochemistry dataset from 14 potential dust source areas. The data indicate that the Mio-Pliocene and Plio-Pleistocene global climate transitions were coupled with gradual dust provenance shifts. We propose these shifts indicate the intensification of East Asian winter monsoon and/or enhanced Central-East Asian drying as a response to global cooling. We also identify temporary Pliocene provenance changes that interrupt the long-term winter monsoon -controlled dust transport at c. 4 Ma and c. 3.5 Ma. Several indicators point to dust transport by the westerly jet at c. 4 Ma, possibly caused by a shift in the jet position as a response to global cooling, and/or enhanced wet deposition caused by intensified summer monsoon. Alternatively, the role of the paleo-Yellow River should be investigated further. We infer the 3.5 Ma provenance signal was caused by increased Yellow River -transported material from eroding Northeastern Tibetan Plateau and/or western CLP. Implications of our results not only shed light on the links between late Cenozoic global climate change and Central-East Asian dust cycle, but also provide detailed information to further investigate the late Neogene regional geomorphology and its effects on dust emission, transport, and deposition. Our combined rutile-zircon analysis also verifies that a multi-proxy single-grain approach that targets different types of primary source rocks is needed for reliable provenance analysis of the CLP dust.