Provenance of loess deposits and stepwise expansion of the desert environment in NE China since ~1.2 Ma: Evidence from Nd-Sr isotopic composition and grain-size record

The Quaternary wind-blown Chinese loess-paleosol sequence, which developed as a product of the intensification of Northern Hemisphere glacial-interglacial cycles, is a major source of information on aridification of the Asian interior. In northeastern (NE) China, extensive loess deposits occur that have great potential for reconstructing the long-term paleoclimatic evolution of the region. Despite existing geochemical data indicate that the...