Thermoluminescence chronology of sand profiles in the Mu Us Desert, China

Thermoluminescence (TL) is used to calculate the ages of two sand-loess pro files in the marginal zone of the Mu Us Desert, China. Alternating units of dune sand and loess with palaeosols in the two profiles imply episodes of dune formation separated by periods of loess accumulation and pedogenesis. Our results indicate that there are three layers of dune sand intercalated in sediments of the last full glacial cycle, suggesting the occurrence of t hree arid episodes during this time. The first arid episode within this per iod occurred between <75 and similar to 55 ka, broadly corresponding to mar ine oxygen isotope Stage 4. The second arid episode, with a TL age around 4 8 ka, can be correlated with part of Stage 3. The latest arid episode occur red between <27 and similar to 10 ka, broadly coincident with Stage 2. Thes e periods of dune activity in northern China are compared with records of a eolian influx from deep-sea cores and the Vostok ice core, and with contine ntal dune activity in other regions. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rig hts reserved.