Linking coarse silt production in Asian sand deserts and Quaternary accretion of the Chinese Loess Plateau

摘要: The Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) is a large, spatially well defined and persistent zone of loess accumulation developed near the fluctuating northwest margin East Asian monsoon. Many studies have analyzed its sediments to provide insights into paleoclimatic conditions. Although spatial temporal variations in grain sizes CLP are fundamental this effort, controversy over origin dominant coarse quartz silt has limited interpretations. Reexamination pattern grain-size distribution across field-scale experiment conducted Gobi Desert revealed genetic association between fraction primary production through eolian abrasion sand proximal Mu-Us, Tengger, Badain Jaran sandy deserts. Our results demonstrate effectiveness Central Asia identify process as most consistent with well-recognized systematic northwest-southeast depositional CLP. We suggest that only abraded grains transported short distances by long-term activity can build up thick sequences form massive plateau. These decouple transport finer clay particles, which more distant wider provenance, changing constraints on previous reconstructions.