Luminescence Chronology of the Yellow River Terraces in the Heiyukou Area, China, and Its Implication for the Uplift Rate of the Ordos Plateau

Yan-Yan Yan; Jia-Fu Zhang; Gang Hu; Li-Ping Zhou

doi:10.2478/geochr-2020-0008

Figures & Tables

(a) DEM showing the course of the Yellow River, the Ordos Plateau and the location of study area (Heiyukou) and other localities mentioned in the text, (b) Oblique Google Earth image showing the localities of the fluvial sediment exposures (sections) numbered A to G, the localities are also defined as fluvial terraces shown in Fig. 2, and the lithology and stratigraphy of the exposures are shown in Fig. 3. The pictures of Exposures A and D are also shown in Fig. 4.

Synthetic cross section of the Yellow River terrace sequence (T1 to T7) of the Heiyuhou area (see text for details), the capital letters in brackets refer to the localities of the exposures in Fig. 1b and the section numbers in Fig. 3.

Detailed stratigraphy of the Yellow River terrace deposits in the Heyukou area, the localities of the sections are marked in Fig. 1b, and the associated terraces are displayed in Fig. 2. The positions of OSL samples and the OSL ages (ka) on fine-grained quartz and coarse-grained quartz (in bold italics) are given. Sections A and B are also illustrated by the pictures in Fig. 4.

Photographs looking north showing Exposures A (a and b) and D (c and d). The channel lag deposits (gravel) atop the strath surface are overlaid by floodplain silt underlaying loess/paleosol deposits. Arrows point to sampling positions, and numbers refer to the sample number (HK16-x).

Dose response curves for the fine quartz OSL signals from six samples from the T2–T7 terraces, and insets show their natural OSL shine-down curves. The solid circles represent the sensitivity-corrected natural signals (Lx/Tx). The curves were fitted using a double saturating exponential function of the form y=a(1-exp(-bx)) + c(1-exp(-dx).

Distributions of De values for the coarse-grained quartz fractions of the samples from Section D in the T4 terrace. Left column: plots of De value as a function of sensitivity-corrected natural OSL signals; Right column: radial plots of De values, the same data as shown in the left column are demonstrated as radial plots (Galbraith et al., 1999). The right-hand y-axis refers to De values, and the x-axis shows the precision of the individual De values. The shaded regions include all aliquots (solid circles) within 2σ errors, and open circles represent aliquots that fall outside the region.

Comparison of fine-grained and coarse-grained quartz SAR-OSL ages for the samples from the Yellow River terraces and modern analogue samples. The circles, diamonds, squares and triangles refer to channel sands, floodplain silts, overlying loess/palaeosol deposits and modern fluvial samples, respectively. The solid dots indicate the data in this study, and the open dots are the published data for the Hukou area (Zhang et al, 2010, 2011; Hu et al., 2010; Guo et al., 2012). For comparison, the residual De values in Hu et al. (2010) were converted to ages in ka using the dose rates of 1.71 ± 0.07 Gy/ka for coarse grains and 1.91 ± 0.07 Gy/ka for fine grains of the modern sample (HYK16-6) in this study. Error bars represent 1 standard deviation of the mean; where not visible, they are smaller than the size of the data points.

(a) Plot of terrace heights above modern river against terrace ages. The long-term incision rates derived from the T2, T4 and T5 terraces were calculated. Note that the T3, T6 and T7 terraces are not displayed because the OSL ages of the samples from these terrace are not valid(see text for details), and the calculated incision rate for the T5 terrace is maximum due to its minimum age. Stacked δ18O record of benthic foraminifera is from Lisiecki and Raymo (2005), and the marine oxygen isotope stages are displayed.

Results of optical dating of terrace samples from the Yellow River in the Heyoukou area_

Field No.	Lab No.	Depth (m)	Sediments	Grain size (μm)	U (ppm)	Th (ppm)	K (%)	Rb (ppm)	Dose rate (Gy/ka)	Number of aliquots	Overdispersion (%)	D_e (Gy)	Age (ka)
HYK16-6	L3343	0.2	Modern fluvial sand	125–150	1.15 ± 0.06	7.02 ± 0.22	2.05 ± 0.06	81.2 ± 5.0	1.71 ± 0.07	21	91 ± 23	1.9 ± 0.5	1.1 ± 0.3
HYK16-6	L3343	0.2	Modern fluvial sand	4–11					1.91 ± 0.07	5		99.5 ± 9.6	52.1 ± 5.4

T_2-E, Section A#

HYK16-1	L3338	4.78	Loess	90–125	2.29 ± 0.09	9.55 ± 0.28	1.75 ± 0.06	83.2 ± 5.0	2.81 ± 0.06	25	36 ± 5	251.8 ± 19.6	89.8 ± 7.2
HYK16-1	L3338	4.78	Loess	4–11					3.33 ± 0.07	6		219.8 ± 4.0	66.0 ± 1.8

HYK16-2	L3339	5.45	Paleosol	90–125	2.43 ± 0.10	9.98 ± 0.29	1.86 ± 0.06	83.6 ± 5.0	2.68 ± 0.06	24	53 ± 8	193.5 ± 22.6	72.3 ± 8.6
HYK16-2	L3339	5.45	Paleosol	4–11					3.17 ± 0.06	6		198.7 ± 9.7	62.7 ± 3.3

HYK16-3	L3340	6.3	Floodplain silt	125–150	1.66 ± 0.08	8.07 ± 0.24	1.75 ± 0.06	75.80 ± 4.93	2.68 ± 0.05	24	48 ± 7	147.6 ± 18.0	55.2 ± 6.8
HYK16-3	L3340	6.3	Floodplain silt	4–11					2.98 ± 0.06	6		198.1 ± 6.3	66.4 ± 2.5

HYK16-4	L3341	6.8	Floodplain silt	90–125	1.91 ± 0.08	9.94 ± 0.29	1.69 ± 0.06	77.7 ± 5.1	2.82 ± 0.06	22	43 ± 8	171.8 ± 18.4	61.0 ± 6.7
HYK16-4	L3341	6.8	Floodplain silt	4–11					3.16 ± 0.06	6		198.1 ± 13.5	62.6 ± 4.5

HYK16-5	L3342	8.57	Sand	150–200	0.96 ± 0.05	5.30 ± 0.18	2.04 ± 0.06	73.9 ± 4.8	2.70 ± 0.07	26	42 ± 6	124.8 ± 9.4	46.2 ± 3.7
HYK16-5	L3342	8.57	Sand	4–11					2.91 ± 0.10	6		208.6 ± 6.1	71.7 ± 3.1

T₂-W terrace, Section B

HYK16-23	L3360	4.5	Paleosol	4–11	2.12 ± 0.09	10.5 ± 0.30	2.06 ± 0.06	77.6 ± 4.89	3.30 ± 0.07	7		235.2 ± 3.0	71.2 ± 1.8

HYK16-22	L3359	7.5	Floodplain silt	90–125	1.85 ± 0.08	9.3 ± 0.27	1.77 ± 0.06	86.0 ± 5.16	2.68 ± 0.06	23	23 ± 4	170.7 ± 9.1	63.6 ± 3.6
HYK16-22	L3359	7.5	Floodplain silt	4–11					3.16 ± 0.07	3		232.6 ± 11.4	73.6 ± 3.9

T₃ terrace, Section C

HYK16-21	L3358	18.4	Floodplain silt	90–125	2.26 ± 0.09	11.3 ± 0.32	1.66 ± 0.06	79.1 ± 4.9	2.74 ± 0.06	22	25 ± 4	193.2 ± 11.4	70.6 ± 4.4
HYK16-21	L3358	18.4	Floodplain silt	4–11					3.30 ± 0.07	3		224.3 ± 3.9	68.0 ± 1.9

T₄ terrace, Section D

HYK16-7	L3344	0.8	Paleosol	4–11	2.13 ± 0.09	9.67 ± 0.28	1.96 ± 0.06	90.4 ± 5.2	3.23 ± 0.07	7		344.1 ± 5.5	106.4 ± 2.9

HYK16-8	L3345	2.26	Floodplain silt	90–125	1.79 ± 0.08	8.99 ± 0.27	1.67 ± 0.06	72.3 ± 4.7	2.63 ± 0.22	22	27 ± 5	254.2 ± 15.1	96.5 ± 9.9
HYK16-8	L3345	2.26	Floodplain silt	4–11					3.09 ± 0.07	3		357.6 ± 1.3	115.6 ± 2.5

HYK16-9	L3346	2.86	Floodplain silt	90–125	2.31 ± 0.09	9.95 ± 0.29	1.74 ± 0.06	88.2 ± 5.1	2.86 ± 0.06	22	26 ± 4	224.3 ± 12.9	78.5 ± 4.8
HYK16-9	L3346	2.86	Floodplain silt	4–11					3.39 ± 0.07	3		345.6 ± 13.0	101.8 ± 4.4

HYK16-10	L3347	3.41	Floodplain silt	90–125	1.89 ± 0.08	8.59 ± 0.26	1.67 ± 0.06	71.3 ± 4.6	2.61 ± 0.06	24	25 ± 1	238.7 ± 14.4	91.5 ± 5.8
HYK16-10	L3347	3.41	Floodplain silt	4–11					3.07 ± 0.07	3		421.5 ± 22.3	137.5 ± 7.8

HYK16-11	L3348	5.5	Sand	90–125	1.70 ± 0.08	8.21 ± 0.25	1.85 ± 0.06	70.7 ± 4.6	2.82 ± 0.06	23	38 ± 6	224.7 ± 19.6	79.6 ± 7.1
HYK16-11	L3348	5.5	Sand	4–11					3.28 ± 0.07	3		353.9 ± 11.0	107.7 ± 3.9

T₅ terrace, Section E

HYK16-17	L3354	2.3	Paleosol	4–11	2.37 ± 0.09	13.4 ± 0.38	2.32 ± 0.07	111.0 ± 6.1	3.87 ± 0.08	7		544.6 ± 6.1	140.8 ± 3.5

HYK16-16	L3353	9	Sand	200–250	0.95 ± 0.05	3.42 ± 0.13	2.26 ± 0.07	63.5 ± 4.4	2.47 ± 0.06	20	32 ± 6	200.9 ± 14.8	81.5 ± 6.3
HYK16-16	L3353	9	Sand	4–11					2.80 ± 0.06	3		235.8 ± 4.5	84.2 ± 2.5

T₆ terrace, Section F

HYK16-18	L3355	32.7	Loess	90–125	2.36 ± 0.09	12.3 ± 0.34	1.85 ± 0.06	85.4 ± 5.1	2.97 ± 0.06	22	24 ± 4	255.0 ± 14.1	85.8 ± 5.0
HYK16-18	L3355	32.7	Loess	4–11					3.57 ± 0.07	3		411.7 ± 2.2	115.2 ± 2.3

HYK16-19	L3356	39.6	Floodplain silt	4–11	2.06 ± 0.09	11.8 ± 0.33	2.09 ± 0.06	98.3 ± 5.5	3.66 ± 0.07	7		496.5 ± 4.9	135.6 ± 3.0

T₇ terrace, Section G

HYK16-12	L3349	2.2	Loess	4–11	2.34 ± 0.09	10.4 ± 0.30	1.92 ± 0.06	93.1 ± 5.2	3.63 ± 0.07	7		540.4 ± 9.0	149.1 ± 3.9

HYK16-13	L3350	22.2	Red clay	4–11	2.32 ± 0.09	10.5 ± 0.30	1.89 ± 0.06	92.9 ± 5.2	3.12 ± 0.07	7		418.1 ± 15.1	134.2 ± 5.7

HYK16-14	L3351	39	Sand	4–11	1.54 ± 0.07	7.14 ± 0.23	1.89 ± 0.06	112.0 ± 6.2	2.91 ± 0.06	3		498.7 ± 6.5	171.4 ± 4.2

Luminescence Chronology of the Yellow River Terraces in the Heiyukou Area, China, and Its Implication for the Uplift Rate of the Ordos Plateau

Figures & Tables

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Results of optical dating of terrace samples from the Yellow River in the Heyoukou area_

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