<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>There are still controversies for the lakes evolution time during late Pleistocene in arid/semiarid north China. Badain Jaran Desert (BJD) features the coexisting of modern lakes in the lowland of megadunes. Also, lots of lacustrine relics could be found distributed widely in the desert, some of them just beside the modern lakes. These lacustrine relics indicated the paleo lakes evolution and the paleo environmental changes in the desert. In this study, one 3.9 m depth lacustrine deposits section was studied in the southeastern BJD which is close to a modern lake Zongzegedan (ZZGD). The deposit ages of the section were obtained by using optical dating with both of quartz and K-feldspar grains. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of quartz grains shows that this paleolake was appeared during 65–34 ka, which is in the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 period, without the saturation of the OSL signals. On the other hand, the high temperature infrared stimulated luminescence (pIR IRSL) dating results from K-feldspar grains show that the paleolake was existed from late MIS 5 to late MIS 4 (86–60 ka) period with also good luminescence characteristics. The further study suggested that the OSL signals from quartz grains in this section show thermal instability, which may lead to the age underestimation. So the reliable age of the existed paleolake should be obtained by using pIRIR signals from K-feldspar, indicated that the relative humid environment in the desert happened at late MIS 5. The paleolake has same position with modern lake in the desert may contain geomorphological indications.</p>
</abstract>

There are still controversies for the lakes evolution time during late Pleistocene in arid/semiarid north China. Badain Jaran Desert (BJD) features the coexisting of modern lakes in the lowland of megadunes. Also, lots of lacustrine relics could be found distributed widely in the desert, some of them just beside the modern lakes. These lacustrine relics indicated the paleo lakes evolution and the paleo environmental changes in the desert. In this study, one 3.9 m depth lacustrine deposits section was studied in the southeastern BJD which is close to a modern lake Zongzegedan (ZZGD). The deposit ages of the section were obtained by using optical dating with both of quartz and K-feldspar grains. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of quartz grains shows that this paleolake was appeared during 65–34 ka, which is in the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 period, without the saturation of the OSL signals. On the other hand, the high temperature infrared stimulated luminescence (pIR IRSL) dating results from K-feldspar grains show that the paleolake was existed from late MIS 5 to late MIS 4 (86–60 ka) period with also good luminescence characteristics. The further study suggested that the OSL signals from quartz grains in this section show thermal instability, which may lead to the age underestimation. So the reliable age of the existed paleolake should be obtained by using pIRIR signals from K-feldspar, indicated that the relative humid environment in the desert happened at late MIS 5. The paleolake has same position with modern lake in the desert may contain geomorphological indications.

Luminescence Dating of Late Pleistocene Lacustrine Deposits in Badain Jaran Desert, North China

Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification

CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

Geochronometria

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

There are still controversies for the lakes evolution time during late Pleistocene in arid/semiarid north China. Badain Jaran Desert (BJD) features the...

Luminescence Dating of Late Pleistocene Lacustrine Deposits in Badain Jaran Desert, North China

Published Online: Dec 31, 2021

Page range: 294 - 303

Received: Jan 14, 2019

Accepted: Mar 11, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/geochr-2020-0032

Keywords
Lacustrine deposits, Badain Jaran Desert, OSL Dating, pIR IRSL dating, Late Pleistocene

© 2019 Hui Zhao et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Supplementary Material Details

Luminescence Dating of Late Pleistocene Lacustrine Deposits in Badain Jaran Desert, North China

Published Online: Dec 31, 2021

Page range: 294 - 303

Received: Jan 14, 2019

Accepted: Mar 11, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/geochr-2020-0032

KeywordsLacustrine deposits, Badain Jaran Desert, OSL Dating, pIR IRSL dating, Late Pleistocene

© 2019 Hui Zhao et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Supplementary Material Details

Keywords
Lacustrine deposits, Badain Jaran Desert, OSL Dating, pIR IRSL dating, Late Pleistocene