Journal
SEDIMENTARY GEOLOGY
Volume 281, Issue -, Pages 166-179Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2012.09.006
Keywords
End-member modelling; Geostatistics; Grain-size distribution; Tibetan Plateau; Aeolian sediments; Palaeoclimate
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Funding
- German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- DFG) within the SPP priority program [1372]
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Unmixing of grain-size distributions with multivariate statistical analysis gives indications of the main sediment transport processes and related environmental conditions in an area. We performed end-member mixing analysis (EMMA) of sedimentological data from 912 terrestrial sediment samples collected in the Donggi Cona catchment, north-eastern Tibetan Plateau. Up to the present, this is the largest sedimentological dataset on the Tibetan Plateau. EMMA resulted in the characterisation of three end-members that explain 88% of the variance within the dataset. The end-members all represent aeolian deposits. The first end-member EM 1 represents very fine dune sediments that were deflated from a former lake system. EM 2 represents medium sand deposits that were blown out from playa and alluvial fan sediments. EM 3 represents fine loess(-like) sediments mainly found at higher elevations. Different transformations, adding of a fourth end-member and adding of up to 200 loess samples do not change the composition of the end-members, demonstrating the robustness of the model. EMMA allows the synchronous interpretation of very large datasets, resulting in a general characterisation of sediment transport in a particular area. Performing EMMA on the dataset demonstrates the importance of aeolian transport in this part of the world. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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