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Geology; May 2008; v. 36; no. 5; p. 415-418; DOI: 10.1130/G24524A.1
© 2008 Geological Society of America
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Optical dating of abrupt shifts in the late Pleistocene East Asian monsoon

Thomas Stevens1,*, Huayu Lu2, David S.G. Thomas3 and Simon J. Armitage4

1 School of Earth Sciences and Geography, Centre for Earth and Environmental Science Research, Kingston University, Penrhyn Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey KT1 2EE, UK
2 School of Geographical and Oceanographical Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
3 School of Geography, Oxford University Centre for the Environment, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3QY, UK
4 Department of Geography, Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX, UK

Correspondence: *E-mail: T.Stevens{at}kingston.ac.uk.

Chinese loess is regarded as one of the most detailed and complete terrestrial archives of late Cenozoic climate change. However, high-resolution optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates presented here reveal that the suborbital chronological framework of Chinese loess used in many previous climate reconstructions requires reassessment. Chronological uncertainty of as much as 10–15 k.y. for the late Pleistocene is largely a result of the widespread use of nonradiometric dating techniques that fail to account for site-specific depositional conditions associated with loess emplacement and diagenesis. OSL-based age models that account for these processes are used to examine detailed records of past sedimentation, as well as grain size and magnetic susceptibility proxies for late Pleistocene East Asian monsoon variation. Abrupt shifts in monsoon proxies occur over 102–103 yr time scales, potentially forced by a variety of factors and influenced by site location and site-specific changes in sedimentation.

Key Words: monsoon • luminescence • radiometric dating • Loess Plateau • China • Pleistocene






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