Response of silicate weathering to monsoon changes on the Chinese Loess Plateau

Eolian deposits of loess on the Chinese Loess Plateau are investigated to decipher the influence of sequentially changed monsoon climate on silicate weathering process. Detailed hydrochloric acid dissolution experiments are applied to establish a sensitive proxy for silicate weathering. Combined elemental and mineralogical studies show that the minerals which are susceptible to incipient chemical weathering can be totally dissolved in hot hydrochloric acid (80 degrees C, 3mol/L) after 4h, while other stable minerals are nearly unaffected. Thus, the hydrochloric acid dissolvable fractions (ADF) of loess and paleosol are more sensitive than bulk samples in the weathering reaction. Since Mg is tend to be leached out from the ADF while Al is conserved during the incongruent weathering, Mg/Al ratio of the ADF (Mg/Al-ADF) could indicate the weathering intensities of the Mg-bearing minerals, mainly chlorite. The Mg/Al-ADF of the modem soils on the Chinese Loess Plateau is closely correlated to the local precipitation amounts, suggests that the intensity of summer monsoon is a key factor in the weathering of Mg-silicate. The silicate weathering intensity of the loess-paleosol deposits of past 130Kyrs shows strong procession cycle of similar to 23Kyrs coupled by glacial-interglacial variation. The similar to 23Krys cycles are coherent to the variations of the intensity of summer monsoon, while the similar to 100Kyrs glacial-interglacial variation may relates to the changes in winter monsoon. Phased intensification of East Asian summer monsoon, and thus enhanced silicate weathering and atmosphere CO2 drawdown, in response to the uplift of Tibetan Plateau, may be another mechanism relating the late Cenozoic tectonics to global cooling. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.