Provenance of loess material and formation of loess deposits on the Chinese Loess Plateau

Abstract

Results of a multiple, isotopic, chemical and mineralogical analysis of loess from the three northwestern inland basins (the Junggar Basin, the Tarim Basin and the Qaidam Basin) and the Loess Plateau region of China are summarized. They suggest a qualification of the conventional views that the three northwestern basins were the important source areas of the Loess Plateau and that the sand deserts were the primary single source of the Chinese loess. It is argued that the gobi (stony desert) in southern Mongolia and the adjoining gobi and sand deserts (the Badain Jaran Desert, Tengger Desert, Ulan Buh Desert, Hobq Desert and Mu Us Desert) in China, rather than the three inland basins, are the dominant source areas of the Loess Plateau. However, although these gobi and sand deserts are regarded as the main source regions, they serve as dust and silt holding areas rather than dominant producers. The mountain processes (including glacial grinding, frost weathering, salt weathering, tectonic processes, and some fluvial comminution) in the Gobi Altay Mts., Hangayn Mts. and the Qilian Mts. have played an important role in producing the vast amounts of loess-sized material for forming the Loess Plateau.