Deep‐Circulating Groundwater From the Tibetan Plateau Constructed the Loess Plateau
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: China's Loess Plateau (LP) is a quintessential example of a desert transitional environment characterized by a distinctive soil profile comprising of a red clay layer overlain by loess. The source of the sedimentary materials that formed the plateau, as well as the mechanism for the red clay/loess transition, are yet unexplained. This study attributes this transition to changes in groundwater temperature. Isotopic analyses, including δ18O‐δ2H, 3H in water bodies, and Pb isotopes in soil, reveal that the LP is predominantly recharged by deep‐circulating groundwater from the Tibetan Plateau. During soil formation, groundwater traversing the lithosphere reached supercritical temperatures, extracting and transporting mineral elements that precipitated to form features characteristic of the red clay layer, such as dolomite and iron‐manganese deposits. This process persisted until approximately 2.6 Ma, when groundwater temperatures dropped below supercritical levels, initiating the accumulation of loess.
Source: Geophysical Research Letters
DOI: 10.1029/2024gl110647
Institutions: Hohai University, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Language: English
Subfield: Geochemistry and Petrology
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,190
OpenAlex ID: W4408310387