This study investigated the glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) in a loess-paleosol sequence (LPS) to quantitatively reconstruct the mean annual air temperature (MAT) on the central Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) during the past 130-5 ka. The results show that: (1) MAT variations reconstructed by global MBT (methylation index of branched tetraethers) and CBT (cyclisation ratio of branched tetraethers) transfer functions at Xifeng range from 7.3 degrees C to 28.4 degrees C. The MAT variation on the central CLP (Xifeng site) is between the previously reported MAT variations on the western (Yuanbao site) and eastern CLP (Mangshan site), in agreement with the pattern that temperature increases from the northwestern CLP to the southeastern CLP. (2) MAT variations estimated by transfer functions of global MBT-CBT, global MBT'-CBT and Chinese MBT-CBT for LPS are nearly all higher than the modern MAT at Xifeng, indicating that the reconstructed MAT values are probably over-estimated. (3) The maximum value of magnetic susceptibility at Xifeng lagged that of the MAT derived by MBTCBT proxy during the last interglacial (similar to 9 ka lag) and since the last deglacial (similar to 6 ka lag).
1.Chinese Acad Sci, Qinghai Inst Salt Lakes, Key Lab Comprehens & Highly Efficient Utilizat Sa, Xining 810008, Qinghai, Peoples R China 2.Chinese Acad Sci, Qinghai Inst Salt Lakes, Qinghai Prov Key Lab Geol & Environm Salt Lakes, Xining 810008, Qinghai, Peoples R China 3.China Univ Geosci, State Key Lab Biogeol & Environm Geol, Wuhan 430074, Hubei, Peoples R China
Recommended Citation:
Zeng, Fangming,Yang, Huan. Temperature changes reconstructed from branched GDGTs on the central Loess Plateau during the past 130-5 ka[J]. QUATERNARY INTERNATIONAL,2019-01-01,503:3-9