Dating of the stepped quaternary fluvial terrace system of the Yellow River by Electron Spin Resonance (ESR)
Abstract
Since the 1980’s, the improvement of the electron spin resonance (ESR) geochronological method and its application to the dating of bleached quartz extracted from sediments currently permit to provide geochronological data on Pleistocene fluvial deposits. In the present study, we have applied this method on sediments carried out from the Yellow River terrace system in the sector of Zhongwei (Ningxia province, China). This alluvial system is composed of a set of nine stepped terraces (T1 to T9) from the actual floodplain up to 160 m of relative height. The purpose of the dating study is to determine whether these terraces are due only to tectonic crises or related to a continuous regional uplift, the succession of incisions being then triggered by quaternary climatic cycles.