EGU22-12871, updated on 09 Jan 2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12871
EGU General Assembly 2022
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Application Of Geochemical Weathering Indices To Loess -Paleosol Sequences From Central Asia (Tajikistan)

Andrea Aquino1,2, Marco Lezzerini2, Giancarlo Scardia3, Charlotte Prud'Homme4, Aditi Krishna Dave1, Alexandra Engström Johansson5, Laurent Marquer5,6, Nosir Safaraliev7, and Kathryn Fitzsimmons1,5
Andrea Aquino et al.
  • 1Universität Tübingen, Geo- und Umweltforschungszentrum (GUZ), Department of Geosciences, Tübingen, Germany (andrea.aquino@uni-tuebingen.de)
  • 2University of Pisa, Department of Earth Sciences, Pisa, Italy
  • 3São Paulo State University, Instituto de Geociências e Ciências Exatas, S. Paulo, Brasil
  • 4University of Lausanne, Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics, Lausanne, Switzerland
  • 5Reasearch Group for Terrestrial Palaeoclimates, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany
  • 6University of Innsbruck, Institute of Botany, Innsbruck, Austria
  • 7Tajik National University, Rudaki Ave Dushanbe, Tajikistan

Loess deposits are well known as repositories of information about climatic and environmental variations occurring over the Quaternary. Over the years, numerous weathering indices relating to the geochemical characteristics of loess sediments have been developed to provide insights into environmental changes through time. In this study, we characterize the major element chemistry of the uppermost 20 m of the Karamaidan loess deposit in Tajikistan, which spans the last full glacial cycle. We compare major element ratios (Al/Ti, Fe/Ti, and Al/Fe), together with ternary A-CN-K diagram and enrichment/depletion of the elements relative to the upper continental crust, down the Karamaidan sequence, and compare our results to other regional and supraregional loess deposits and their change through time. We investigate different weathering indices (A and B indices, PWI, bases vs. Al ratio, CIW, PIA, and YANG indices, WI-1, WI-2, and CPA and FENG) in order to identify those most applicable to our study. We compare our results magnetic susceptibility down the stratigraphic profile to derive a direct index for alteration of the deposit.

How to cite: Aquino, A., Lezzerini, M., Scardia, G., Prud'Homme, C., Dave, A. K., Engström Johansson, A., Marquer, L., Safaraliev, N., and Fitzsimmons, K.: Application Of Geochemical Weathering Indices To Loess -Paleosol Sequences From Central Asia (Tajikistan), EGU General Assembly 2022, Vienna, Austria, 23–27 May 2022, EGU22-12871, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-12871, 2022.