The effect of weathering on the grain-size distribution of red soils in south-eastern China and its climatic implications

摘要

Particle-size analysis is a useful way to determine the source and deposition of sediments. However, there are inconsistencies when this method is used to constrain the origin of the red soils in south-eastern China. To address this problem, we performed a detailed grain-size analysis of two red soil sequences in Xuancheng and Qiliting located along the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. By comparing their particle-size characteristics with those of the loess on the Loess Plateau in northern China, we found that the aeolian samples plot in a particular zone in the C-M (grain size of the cumulative 1% versus median grain size) plot and cluster nearer the lower left corner of the plot as their degree of weathering increases. The grain-size features suggest that the onset of large-scale aeolian deposition along the lower reaches of the Yangtze River occurred at approximately 0.8 Ma. Although both sedimentary sorting and post-deposi-tional weathering control the grain-size variations in the deposits, the extremely strong weathering due to the humid, warm climate along the lower reaches of the Yangtze River primarily modified the grain-size distributions of the primary red soil deposits. Strong weathering increased the very fine silt (2-5 μm) fraction and decreased the coarse (＞63 μm) fraction. We also found that certain grain-size parameters of the red soils varied with the weathering intensity, which can be used as indicators of pal-aeoclimate variations. The grain size variations in both the Qiliting and Xuancheng sequences suggest that the mid-Pleistocene climate transition (MPT) may have affected the lower reaches of the Yangtze River at 0.9 Ma.