Magnetostratigraphy and paleoclimatic interpretation of a continuous 7.2Ma Late Cenozoic eolian sediments from the Chinese Loess Plateau

An almost 300m thick eolian sequence of Late Cenozoic sediments, which includes 162.5m of Quaternary loess-paleosols and 126m of Late Tertiary eolian Red Clay from the central part of the Chinese Loess Plateau, was investigated to determine the magnetostratigraphy. The results show that eolian dust accumulation, and by inference the related East Asia paleomonsoon, had begun by 7.2Ma. As paleomonsoon are largely controlled by the Tibetan Plateau, this implies that the Plateau had reached some critical elevation by 7.2Ma. The section also documents a rapid increase in eolian dust accumulation in the Late Cenozoic at 3.2Ma that is probably due to the influence of global ice volume on the East Asian monsoon.