Zhang Daqian, Duan Zhenggang, Chen Jiangjun, Wang Jingrong, Muga Gubu, Yang Yunqi, Wang Yiming, Liu Zhendong, Algeo Thomas J, Hong Hanlie, Zhou Lian, Yin Ke
School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, China.
China Tunnel Construction Group Co., Ltd. Guangdong, Guangzhou, 510400, Guangdong, China.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jan 27;15(1):3457. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-87020-9.
Soil magnetic records in Quaternary red earth (QRE) deposits contain a valuable record of paleoclimate information, providing insights into controls on Earth's climate system in the past and potentially helping to predict its response to perturbations in the future. Here, analysis of the environmental magnetism and mineralogy of the Xuancheng QRE (Anhui Province, South China) shows that magnetic variation was strongly linked to production of authigenic ferrimagnetic minerals such as maghemite. Fine-grained maghemite formed during the weathering-related transformation of iron-bearing illite to vermiculite, generating aggregates of vermiculite or mixed-layer illite-vermiculite. Enclosure of authigenic ferrimagnetic minerals by illite and vermiculite-group minerals inhibits their chemical weathering, but this protective effect can be lost due to intensified weathering, allowing the authigenic ferrimagnetic minerals to transform into more stable antiferromagnetic minerals. Upsection within the Xuancheng QRE, the content of authigenic ferrimagnetic minerals gradually increases, as revealed by SIRM and SIRM/χ, indicating a decrease in weathering intensity as the regional climate evolved from warm and wet in the middle Pleistocene to relatively cooler and drier today. Thus, this study improves our understanding of the relationship between soil magnetic properties and paleoclimate evolution in QRE deposits.
第四纪红土(QRE)沉积物中的土壤磁性记录包含了宝贵的古气候信息记录,有助于深入了解过去地球气候系统的控制因素,并有可能帮助预测其未来对扰动的响应。在此,对宣城QRE(中国南方安徽省)的环境磁性和矿物学分析表明,磁性变化与自生亚铁磁性矿物(如磁赤铁矿)的生成密切相关。细粒磁赤铁矿在含铁伊利石风化相关转变为蛭石的过程中形成,产生蛭石或伊利石 - 蛭石混合层的聚集体。伊利石和蛭石族矿物对自生亚铁磁性矿物的包裹抑制了它们的化学风化,但由于风化加剧,这种保护作用可能会丧失,使自生亚铁磁性矿物转变为更稳定的反铁磁性矿物。在宣城QRE的上部,自生亚铁磁性矿物的含量逐渐增加,这由等温剩磁(SIRM)和SIRM/χ揭示,表明随着区域气候从中更新世的温暖湿润演变为如今相对较冷和干燥,风化强度降低。因此,本研究增进了我们对QRE沉积物中土壤磁性性质与古气候演化之间关系的理解。