Skip to main content
Geochemistry, Geophysics, GeosystemsVolume 9, Issue 8, August 2008, Article number Q08Q09

Aeolian dust dynamics in central Asia during the Pleistocene: Driven by the long-term migration, seasonality, and permanency of the Asiatic polar front(Article)(Open Access)

  Save all to author list
  • aS3 Geochronology and Isotope Hydrology, Leibniz Institute for Applied Geosciences, Stilleweg 2, D-30655 Hannover, Germany
  • bDepartment of Geomorphology, University of Bayreuth, D-95440 Bayreuth, Germany
  • cNatural and Applied Sciences Department, Bentley College, Jennison Hall 126, 175 Forest Street, Waltham, MA 02452-4705, United States
  • dG.A. Mavlyanov Institute of Seismology, Uzbek Academy of Sciences, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
  • eDepartment of Physical Geography, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovića 3, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia
  • fDepartment of Geography, Humboldt University of Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, D-10099 Berlin, Germany

Abstract

Loess-paleosol sequences preserve detailed archives of climate change, reflecting the dynamics of aeolian dust sedimentation and the paleodust content of the atmosphere. The detailed investigation of particle size distributions (PSDs) of windblown sediments is an increasingly used approach to assess the paleorecord of aeolian dust dynamics. The central Asian loess belt offers the potential to reconstruct Pleistocene atmospheric circulation patterns along an adjacent west-east transect within interior Eurasia through granulometric studies. In this study we present the aeolian dust record of the loess sequence at Remisowka (SE Kazakhstan), which reflects a detailed signal of glacial-interglacial climate and atmospheric dynamics in central Asia. On the basis of radiocarbon and amino acid geochronologic data, long-term semicontinuous trends in the aeolian dust record of the Last Glacial Cycle are observed and interpreted to reveal their paleoclimate signal. In consideration of the modern synoptical atmospheric circulation patterns and aeolian dust transport in central Asia, it is likely that the observed trends reflect the long-term migration, seasonal duration, and permanency of the polar front during the late Pleistocene. Previously published models, which focused on the reciprocal glacial-interglacial influence of the zonal Westerlies and the Asiatic high on the aeolian dust transport in central Asia, were overly simplified and should be modified to include the major influence of the Asiatic polar front. As the polar front activity is intimately connected with the development and position of the interhemispherically active, high-level planetary frontal zone (HPFZ), the presented data give insight to long-term aeolian dust dynamics and climate variability of interior Eurasia, which are linked with interhemispheric climates. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.

Author keywords

Amino acid geochronologyAtmospheric circulationCentral AsiaGrain sizeLoessPolar front
  • ISSN: 15252027
  • Source Type: Journal
  • Original language: English
  • DOI: 10.1029/2007GC001938
  • Document Type: Article

  Machalett, B.; S3 Geochronology and Isotope Hydrology, Leibniz Institute for Applied Geosciences, Stilleweg 2, Germany;
© Copyright 2011 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Cited by 159 documents

Coco, E. , Schimdt, P. , Hu, B.
Characteristics of lithic artifact weathering at the Semizbugu surface site complex in semi-arid Central Kazakhstan
(2025) Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
Ozherelyev, D.V. , Mamirov, T.B.
Cultural dynamics of lithic industries from the Upper Palaeolithic site of Rakhat (Northern Tian-Shan) | Dynamique culturelle des industries lithiques du site Paléolithique supérieur de Rakhat (Tian-Shan septentrional)
(2025) Anthropologie (France)
Li, Y. , Song, Y. , Li, X.
Aeolian dust dynamics in southern Central Asia revealed by the multi-timescale loess records in southern Tajikistan
(2024) Geomorphology
View details of all 159 citations
{"topic":{"name":"Paleosol; China; Climate Change","id":2059,"uri":"Topic/2059","prominencePercentile":94.97705,"prominencePercentileString":"94.977","overallScholarlyOutput":0},"dig":"f58b72d233a7e65a660c88e17a71d1099f5fb908eef26f2c41d3511e9df1bb03"}

SciVal Topic Prominence

Topic:
Prominence percentile: