THE RED MANTLE OF WEATHERING AND BROWNISH-RED LOAM OF MIAODAO ISLANDSIN SHANDONG PROVINCE AND IMPLICATION IN PALEOCLIMATE

The formation, age and paleoclimatic changes of the red mantle of weat hering and brownish-red loam of the Miaodao Islands are dealt with for the first time. The red mantle of weathering products formed through Fe-Al enrichment and desilication process under wet and hot climatic c onditions. The brownish-red loam is a kind of eolian loess formed unde r semiarid and warm climatic conditions. They correlate, respectively, with the red clay of Pliocene and Wucheng Loess occurring in the inla nd of North China. They indicate that an abrupt change of climatic con ditions took place during the turn of Pliocene and Pleistocene. This c hange may relate to the global climatic change.