Sediment Transport into the Saline Western Songnen Basin of NE China from the Late Early Pleistocene to the Early Holocene

Xinrong Zhang, Changli Ai, Fanpeng Kong (), Jian Zhao, Yan Gong, Yandong Pei and Jinbao He
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Xinrong Zhang: College of Earth Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun 130061, China
Changli Ai: College of Earth Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun 130061, China
Fanpeng Kong: Mudanjiang Natural Resources Comprehensive Survey Center, China Geological Survey, Changchun 130102, China
Jian Zhao: Mudanjiang Natural Resources Comprehensive Survey Center, China Geological Survey, Changchun 130102, China
Yan Gong: College of Earth Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun 130061, China
Yandong Pei: Mudanjiang Natural Resources Comprehensive Survey Center, China Geological Survey, Changchun 130102, China
Jinbao He: Mudanjiang Natural Resources Comprehensive Survey Center, China Geological Survey, Changchun 130102, China

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 11, 1-19

Abstract: Salinization in the western Songnen Plain has limited regional ecology and land use for decades, with its primary cause closely tied to sediment transport. To elucidate sediment evolution and its role in soil salinization, a borehole from saline-alkali land in Taonan County, west of the Songnen Plain, was investigated within an AMS 14 C, OSL, and ESR dating framework. Grain size analysis, end-member modeling, and major-element geochemistry revealed four transport components—fluvial, aeolian, glacio-fluvial, and lacustrine. Five provenance stages from the late Early Pleistocene to the Early Holocene were found: (1) distal weathered volcanic rock transport with minor fluvial–alluvial input; (2) proximal alluvial–proluvial transport; (3) ice meltwater and wind-driven transport; (4) predominantly wind transport; and (5) renewed fluvial–proluvial transport. These shifts correspond to regional paleoclimate fluctuations driven by global ice volume cycles, which control sediment supply, hydrology, and consequently salt accumulation in warm humid periods and upward salt migration in cold dry periods. The findings of this study demonstrate that Pleistocene glacial–interglacial climate cycles are the dominant driver of sediment transport and salinization dynamics on the western Songnen Plain.

Keywords: sediment transport; salinization; grain size; end-member analysis; the late Early Pleistocene; the Early Holocene; western Songnen Basin (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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