Review of Quaternary Strata and Paleoenvironmenton Salawusu River Valley in North China
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    Abstract:

    The Salawusu River Valley is located in the transitional zone between the Mu Us Desert and the Loess Plateau, and in the northern marginal area of the East Asian Monsoon. de Chardin and Licent (1924) discovered a paleolithic industry and many fossil specimens in the Salawusu River Valley (or Sjara osso gol) in which they found the first fossil evidence (“the Ordos tooth”) of paleolithic man in Asia. From then on, the research developments of the Salawusu River Valley get much attention and affirmation from the paleoanthropologists and geologists. In this paper, writers put emphasis on both of the Dishaogouwan section and Milanggouwan section, and reviewed the study history on Quaternary stratigraphy and paleoclimate. The strata in the river valley are made up of interlaced fluvio lacustrine facies and aeolian facies, consist of Salawusu fauna and many geological vestiges. Previous studies indicate the strata contain sedimentary sequences from the last glacial period to the postglacial period, including the Salawusu Formation (150~70 ka BP) which is the typical Late Pleistocene strata sequence in North China, the Chengchuan Formation (70~11 ka BP), the Dagouwan Formation and the Dishaogouwan Formation (11 ka BP). The sedimentary cycles respectively correspond to the paleoenvironment variations in the glacial interglacial terms, which is explained by the changes of the East Asian Summer Monsoon and Winter Monsoon. Climate proxies help us to confirm these ideas. At the same time, there are still some excited problems and suggestions: (1) the correct and credible chronostratigraphy should be established quickly, especially on the Salawusu Formation; (2) detail study on sedimentary facies may help us to get the high resolution paleoclimate records which need more accurate data by different ways; (3) whether there existed a paleolake in the southeast margin of the Mu Us Desert during the period between 40 ~30 ka is still an interesting question; (4) some divergent views, such as the different translations of the “Ordos Man” and the issue of the time scale of Salawusu fauna and cultural layer, need to be unified as soon as possible. Further research of Quaternary strata and paleoenvironment has great significances.Combining the records of the Salawusu River Valley with some recent discovery on adjacent regions is indispensable.

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.2012. Review of Quaternary Strata and Paleoenvironmenton Salawusu River Valley in North China[J]. Geological Review,58(6):1121-1132.

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