Variations in erosion intensity and soil maturity as revealed by mineral magnetism of sediments from an alpine lake in monsoon-dominated central east China and their implications for environmental changes over the past 5500 years

Abstract

Measurements of mineral magnetism were performed on a sediment sequence recovered from Foye Chi, an alpine lake (3410 m a.s.l.) on the southern slope of the Taibai Mountain (3767 m a.s.l.), the highest mountain in east mainland China (east of 105°E) influenced by East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) and East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM). Mineral magnetism were also measured for surface sediments from the lake, rock debris, surface soils and a soil profile from its catchment and surface soils at the elevations of 600–3767 m a.s.l. of the southern slope of the Mountain. AMS¹⁴C dating, analyses of pollen, particle size, TOC, TN and δ¹³N_org were conducted for the sediment sequence while pollen analysis was also made for the surface-sediment sample. Variations in χ_lf, χ_ARM, IRM_300mT and SIRM of the sediment sequence were attributed to changes in erosion intensity, while those in IRM_20mT/ARM and particularly χ_ARM/SIRM to changes in soil maturity. With aid of the other data, the magnetic data of the sediment sequence revealed environmental changes over the past ~5520 years. The weighted χ_ARM/SIRM values of the sediment sequence in comparison with χ_ARM/SIRM of the surface soils distributed on different elevations allowed estimating the altitudes where the present environments are similar to the past ones for different periods of the past ~5520 years. The reconstructed environmental changes are generally in agreement with the centennial-scale variability of EASM indicated by a stalagmite ¹⁸O record and with that of EAWM indicated by an ¹⁸O record of planktonic foraminiferal.

Keywords

alpine lake sediments central east China environmental changes erosion intensity late mid- and late Holocene mineral magnetism soil maturity

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