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Geoscience ›› 2025, Vol. 39 ›› Issue (04): 1059-1067.DOI: 10.19657/j.geoscience.1000-8527.2024.056

• Geochemistry • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Climatic Evolution Characteristics in the Upper Hanjiang River Since the Late Pleistocene: Evidence from Soil Geochemistry of the Zhujia Village Section

ZHAO Chao1(), WEI Xiang2,*(), SUN Jianwei1, GONG Wenqiang1, ZHAO Hao1, LI Xiaoming1, ZHENG Jianfeng1, ZHAO Lilei1   

  1. 1. Xi’an Center of Mineral Resources Survey, China Geological Survey, Xi’an 710100, Shaanxi, China
    2. Development and Research Center, China Geological Survey, Beijing 100037, China
  • Online:2025-08-10 Published:2025-08-27
  • Contact: WEI Xiang

Abstract:

The Quaternary is a period of rapid climatic fluctuations, and loess records abundant paleoclimatic information. To explore the process of climate change in the Upper Hanjiang River since the Late Pleistocene, this study investigated the sedimentary characteristics, distribution of major elements, geochemical parameters, and formation age of the Zhujia Village section, which is located on the first river terrace of the Hanjiang River in Yang County, upper reaches of the Hanjiang River. The results indicate that the first river terrace in the upper reaches of the Hanjiang River formed around 50 ka BP; the section has a typical stratigraphic sequence from bottom to top: loess (L1)→paleosol (S0)→Holocene loess (L0)→topsoil (TS); the main chemical components of the section are SiO2, Al2O3, and Fe2O3; during chemical weathering, Ca and Na elements are more strongly leached and migrated, while K and Mg elements are relatively weakly leached and migrated; the degree of chemical weathering in the section gradually increases from typical loess (L1) to paleosol (S0), and slightly decreases in the Holocene loess (L0) layer, recording the regional climatic evolution process: dry and cold during 50~11 ka BP, gradually warming and wetting since 11.00 ka BP, reaching the warmest and wettest at 2.50 ka BP, and continuously cooling and drying during 2.50~0 ka BP. The research results can provide data reference for the reconstruction of paleoclimate in the northern subtropical zone of China.

Key words: Upper Hanjiang River, sediments, major elements, chemical weathering, climate change, OSL dating

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