Maher, Barbara A. and Alekseev, A. and Alekseeva, T. (2002) Variation of soil magnetism across the Russian steppe: its significance for use of soil magnetism as a palaeorainfall proxy. Quaternary Science Reviews, 21 (14-15). pp. 1571-1576. ISSN 0277-3791
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
Modern soils across the Chinese Loess Plateau exhibit strong but disputed correlation between their pedogenic magnetic content and annual rainfall. A soil magnetism/rainfall transfer function could provide a quantitative proxy of Quaternary rainfall for this region. However, some argue that �magnetic dilution�, through spatially varying fluxes of weakly magnetic dust, controls the soil magnetic properties. Here, we test the soil magnetism/rainfall couple by examining 22 Russian steppe soils (free of present dust accumulation) across a climatic transect. From the semi-arid Caspian region to the more humid Caucasus, the soils display systematic increases in topsoil ferrimagnetic concentrations. With the exception of climate (and its co-variant, vegetation), soil-forming factors are essentially constant across this stable area. Hence, the soil magnetic variations dominantly reflect climate and from statistical analysis, principally rainfall. Further, the Russian steppe magnetic/rainfall relationship matches that observed for the Chinese Loess Plateau. These independent data thus substantiate the soil magnetism/rainfall climofunction and, by inference, eliminate �dust dilution� as a significant magnetic factor.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Journal or Publication Title: | Quaternary Science Reviews |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | soil magnetism ; palaeoclimate proxy ; Holocene ; Quaternary ; palaeorainfall ; modern soils |
| Subjects: | G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > G Geography (General) |
| Departments: | Faculty of Science and Technology > Lancaster Environment Centre |
| ID Code: | 298 |
| Deposited By: | Professor Barbara A Maher |
| Deposited On: | 02 Jan 2007 |
| Refereed?: | Yes |
| Published?: | Published |
| Last Modified: | 26 Jul 2012 16:48 |
| Identification Number: | |
| URI: | http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/298 |
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