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Variation of soil magnetism across the Russian steppe: its significance for use of soil magnetism as a palaeorainfall proxy.

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Variation of soil magnetism across the Russian steppe: its significance for use of soil magnetism as a palaeorainfall proxy. / Maher, Barbara A.; Alekseev, A.; Alekseeva, T.
In: Quaternary Science Reviews, Vol. 21, No. 14-15, 08.2002, p. 1571-1576.

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Maher BA, Alekseev A, Alekseeva T. Variation of soil magnetism across the Russian steppe: its significance for use of soil magnetism as a palaeorainfall proxy. Quaternary Science Reviews. 2002 Aug;21(14-15):1571-1576. doi: 10.1016/S0277-3791(02)00022-7

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Maher, Barbara A. ; Alekseev, A. ; Alekseeva, T. / Variation of soil magnetism across the Russian steppe: its significance for use of soil magnetism as a palaeorainfall proxy. In: Quaternary Science Reviews. 2002 ; Vol. 21, No. 14-15. pp. 1571-1576.

Bibtex

@article{c155d2d4c4854525b87562ab41e5fbab,
title = "Variation of soil magnetism across the Russian steppe: its significance for use of soil magnetism as a palaeorainfall proxy.",
abstract = "Modern soils across the Chinese Loess Plateau exhibit strong but disputed correlation between their pedogenic magnetic content and annual rainfall. A soil magnetism/rainfall transfer function could provide a quantitative proxy of Quaternary rainfall for this region. However, some argue that {\^a}��magnetic dilution{\^a}��, through spatially varying fluxes of weakly magnetic dust, controls the soil magnetic properties. Here, we test the soil magnetism/rainfall couple by examining 22 Russian steppe soils (free of present dust accumulation) across a climatic transect. From the semi-arid Caspian region to the more humid Caucasus, the soils display systematic increases in topsoil ferrimagnetic concentrations. With the exception of climate (and its co-variant, vegetation), soil-forming factors are essentially constant across this stable area. Hence, the soil magnetic variations dominantly reflect climate and from statistical analysis, principally rainfall. Further, the Russian steppe magnetic/rainfall relationship matches that observed for the Chinese Loess Plateau. These independent data thus substantiate the soil magnetism/rainfall climofunction and, by inference, eliminate {\^a}��dust dilution{\^a}�� as a significant magnetic factor.",
keywords = "soil magnetism, palaeoclimate proxy, Holocene, Quaternary, palaeorainfall, modern soils",
author = "Maher, {Barbara A.} and A. Alekseev and T. Alekseeva",
year = "2002",
month = aug,
doi = "10.1016/S0277-3791(02)00022-7",
language = "English",
volume = "21",
pages = "1571--1576",
journal = "Quaternary Science Reviews",
issn = "0277-3791",
publisher = "Elsevier Limited",
number = "14-15",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Variation of soil magnetism across the Russian steppe: its significance for use of soil magnetism as a palaeorainfall proxy.

AU - Maher, Barbara A.

AU - Alekseev, A.

AU - Alekseeva, T.

PY - 2002/8

Y1 - 2002/8

N2 - Modern soils across the Chinese Loess Plateau exhibit strong but disputed correlation between their pedogenic magnetic content and annual rainfall. A soil magnetism/rainfall transfer function could provide a quantitative proxy of Quaternary rainfall for this region. However, some argue that �magnetic dilution�, through spatially varying fluxes of weakly magnetic dust, controls the soil magnetic properties. Here, we test the soil magnetism/rainfall couple by examining 22 Russian steppe soils (free of present dust accumulation) across a climatic transect. From the semi-arid Caspian region to the more humid Caucasus, the soils display systematic increases in topsoil ferrimagnetic concentrations. With the exception of climate (and its co-variant, vegetation), soil-forming factors are essentially constant across this stable area. Hence, the soil magnetic variations dominantly reflect climate and from statistical analysis, principally rainfall. Further, the Russian steppe magnetic/rainfall relationship matches that observed for the Chinese Loess Plateau. These independent data thus substantiate the soil magnetism/rainfall climofunction and, by inference, eliminate �dust dilution� as a significant magnetic factor.

AB - Modern soils across the Chinese Loess Plateau exhibit strong but disputed correlation between their pedogenic magnetic content and annual rainfall. A soil magnetism/rainfall transfer function could provide a quantitative proxy of Quaternary rainfall for this region. However, some argue that �magnetic dilution�, through spatially varying fluxes of weakly magnetic dust, controls the soil magnetic properties. Here, we test the soil magnetism/rainfall couple by examining 22 Russian steppe soils (free of present dust accumulation) across a climatic transect. From the semi-arid Caspian region to the more humid Caucasus, the soils display systematic increases in topsoil ferrimagnetic concentrations. With the exception of climate (and its co-variant, vegetation), soil-forming factors are essentially constant across this stable area. Hence, the soil magnetic variations dominantly reflect climate and from statistical analysis, principally rainfall. Further, the Russian steppe magnetic/rainfall relationship matches that observed for the Chinese Loess Plateau. These independent data thus substantiate the soil magnetism/rainfall climofunction and, by inference, eliminate �dust dilution� as a significant magnetic factor.

KW - soil magnetism

KW - palaeoclimate proxy

KW - Holocene

KW - Quaternary

KW - palaeorainfall

KW - modern soils

U2 - 10.1016/S0277-3791(02)00022-7

DO - 10.1016/S0277-3791(02)00022-7

M3 - Journal article

VL - 21

SP - 1571

EP - 1576

JO - Quaternary Science Reviews

JF - Quaternary Science Reviews

SN - 0277-3791

IS - 14-15

ER -