Elemental composition and its environmental significance for the varicolored hills in the northern foothills of the Qilian Mountains of Sunan Yugur Autonomous County, China

The varicolored hills in the northern foothills of the Qilian Mountains of northern China, in the Hexi Corridor of Gansu Province's Sunan Yugur Autonomous County, have given this region a unique geomorphology. In this paper, we describe the elemental composition, lithological characteristics, and source type of the sediments that formed the varicolored hills. We found that the major oxides that make up their sediments are SiO₂, Al₂O₃ and Na₂O. These sediments had higher Fe₂O₃, MgO, CaO, and Na₂O contents and lower SiO₂, Al₂O₃, K₂O, and TiO₂ contents than in the major Fangyan rock group of the Jianglang Mountains Danxia landform and the red paleosols that have accumulated in the Yaojia Formation of the Songliao Basin. The varicolored hills have developed their strong coloration as a result of oxidation or reduction of Fe. Our data suggest that the sediments developed from terrestrial detrital deposits.