The wind system responsible for transporting dust onto the Chinese Loess Plateau during the late Miocene and Pliocene is still unknown and recent investigations highlight many controversies. This report aims to investigate spatiotemporal changes in grain-size and sedi- mentation rate of the Neogene Red Clay deposits in north China and to explore palaeoclimatic changes during the late Miocene and Pliocene, in particular the palaeowind system that trans- ported dust. Samples were collected from eight Red Clay sections on the Loess Plateau. Meas- urement and analysis show that there is a clear southward decrease in the mean grain-size index and in the coarse particle fraction (>20 μm). At Jiaxian site on the northern Loess Plateau, the average mean grain-size is around 20 μm, while at Lantian site in the south, the mean is around 9 μm. The coarse particle fraction >20 μm makes up 24.4% and 5.6%, at the two sites respec- tively. This distinct diversity of grain-size in the aeolian Red Clay deposit between the north and south indicate that the palaeodust was transported mainly by northerly low-level winds. The grain-size variations in the Red Clay deposits can also be divided into three stages (the lower, the middle and the upper interval): grain-size of the lower stage is significantly coarser than that of the middle stage, but finer than that of the upper stage. As a consequence, the intensity of pa- laeowind and desiccation of the dust source region during the late Miocene and Pliocene can be divided into three stages: 6.2―5.4 Ma, 5.4―3.5 Ma and 3.5―2.6 Ma. Strength of the palaeowind during the middle stage (5.4―3.5 Ma) is weaker than that of the previous and subsequent stages and the intensity of palaeowind during the latest stage (3.5―2.6 Ma) is stronger than that of the early time (6.2―5.4 Ma). Variations in the sedimentation rate of the Red Clay deposit can also be divided into three stages: the earlier, the middle and the later interval. The sedimentation rate of the earlier stage is higher tha
The sequences of fluvial terraces in the Yazi Spring Stream are signs of the stepwise uplift of the Kunlun Mountains in the northern part of the Tibetan Plateau since the Late Pleistocene. Geomorphic and sedimentary features of the terraces reveal that they have resulted from the phased tectonic uplift and the consequent river incision in the northern plateau. Using the method of Single-aliquot Regenerative-dose (SAR) Protocol and Radiocarbon 14C dating, the deposit ages of three-grade terraces were ob- tained, which are 57.5, 12.8 and 5.7 kaBP, respectively. The features and ages of terraces reveal that the incision rate of the stream accelerated at the beginning of the Holocene. The incision rate changed suddenly at 12.8 KaBP, from 0.43±0.07 mm/a to 1.59±0.55 mm/a. This implicates that uplift of the Kunlun Mountains is intensive at the first onset of the Holo- cene, corresponding to the obvious change of slip-rate on the Altyn Tagh Fault. But its uplift rate is much lower than that of the latter, which suggests that growth of the northern mar- gin of the Tibetan Plateau is stronger than its interior.
