Lack of correlation between paleoprecipitation and magnetic susceptibilityof Chinese loess/paleosol sequences

We have conducted a detailed mineral magnetic study of loess unit 8 (L8) an d paleosol unit 8 (S8) from three localities (Jingbian, Yichuan, and Dunaji apo) along a N-S transect in the Chinese loess plateau. As expected, the lo w-field magnetic susceptibility (chi) has higher values in S8 and lower val ues in L8. Similarly, superparamagnetic: particle concentrations increase i n S8 with increasingly humid climates along the N-S transect, which suggest s that pedogenic magnetic enhancement is related to climate. However, in S8 at Duanjiapo, chi is so low that there is no correlation between chi and t he degree of pedogenesis in this loess-paleosol cycle. It therefore appears that chi is not consistently the most suitable indicator of paleoclimate i n Chinese loess-paleosol sequences. Our results indicate that there are com plexities in the mineral magnetic response to pedogenesis, which could inva lidate interpretation of the chi record of Chinese loess-paleosol sequences in terms of paleoprecipitation.