Origin and Paleoenvironmental Significance of the Old Red Sand Along the Southeast Coast of China

Qingbin Fan,Xiao Feng,Yan Li,Wei Ye,Jie Liao,Tao Wang

doi:10.3389/feart.2021.681361

Abstract

The “Old Red Sand” (ORS) along the southeast coast of China is of significant paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental significance. However, its provenance remains controversial. In this study, grain size characteristics and quartz grain surface microtextures were analyzed to study the origin and paleoenvironmental significance of the ORS, the results show that the grain size of the ORS show typical aeolian features, the quartz grain surface microtextures of the ORS show both aeolian features and subaqueous environments characteristics. Combined with the latest OSL dating data, we suggest that the ORS was coastal aeolian sand dunes developed since the last interglacial period. The formation of the ORS was restricted jointly by climate changes of the coastal area and the distance from the shoreline that resulted from sea level changes.

Highlights

Coastal dunes are common around the world and resulted from complex interactions related to prevailing winds, sand supply, climate changes and sea level fluctuations (Blumer et al, 2012)
Whereas the beach sand in Pingtan island is mainly composed of medium sand, fine sand and coarse sand, with average contents of 48, 32.18, and 17.68% respectively, and almost without silt or clay (Zhang and Ming-Tong, 2014)
Beach sand is mainly composed of medium sand and fine sand, its contents of coarse sand and gravel is significantly higher than those in the Old Red Sand” (ORS); in addition, the ORS contains more fine materials such as silt and

Summary

Introduction

Coastal dunes are common around the world and resulted from complex interactions related to prevailing winds, sand supply, climate changes and sea level fluctuations (Blumer et al, 2012). Different views on the origin of the ORS lead to contrasting environmental interpretations The former interpretation implies that the development of the ORS resulted from more sand supply brought by rivers during high sea level stages in interglacial period (Zeng et al, 1999a; Li et al, 2012). The latter view indicates low sea level conditions and an intensified East Asian winter monsoon

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion