A magnetic investigation of a Late Quaternary loess/palaeosol record in Siberia

A Late Quaternary loess/palaeosol sequence at Kurtak in the Yenisey River valley, southern Siberia, has been studied magnetically. The 34  m section (340 samples) exhibits variations in magnetic susceptibility which can be correlated with oxygen isotope stages 1–7. A detailed sampling of stage 5 (a further 209 samples) permits the identification of substages 5a–e. The susceptibility variations themselves are in the opposite sense to that found in the classic sections of the Chinese Loess Plateau, but are in agreement with the 'wind-intensity' model which has been put forward to explain similar findings in loess sequences in Alaska. Published results for the susceptibility of magnetite imply volume fractions of ≈0.2 per cent in glacial stages 2 and 4, dropping to ≈0.05 per cent in stages 1, 3 and 5. These fluctuations match the aeolian flux variations observed in core V21–146 from the north Pacific. Even though the warmer intervals are characterized by lower susceptibilities, the observed frequency dependence of susceptibility indicates that new magnetic material is produced as a result of pedogenesis during interglacial and interstadial times.