Formation and paleoenvironment of rhizoliths of Shiyang River Basin, Tengeri Desert, NW China

Sun, Qingfeng; Xue, Weilan; Zamanian, Kazem; Colin, Christophe; Duchamp‐Alphonse, Stéphanie; Pei, Wentao

doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2018.06.046

Cited by 19 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…, ; Barta ; Sun et al . ). Moreover, CRTs are a material that can be efficiently used to reconstruct changes in the palaeoclimate and palaeovegetation of desert hinterlands (Li et al .…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

“…CRTs are widely distributed in calcareous soils with seasonally variable moisture regimes or in aeolian deposits (Wright et al 1997;Wang et al 2004;Cramer & Hawkins 2009;Zamanian et al 2016). CRTs form faster than other forms of secondary carbonate that are more distant from roots (Gocke et al 2011b) and have been widely used in palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, especially reconstructions of palaeomoisture and palaeovegetation changes (Wang et al 2004;Gocke et al 2010Gocke et al , 2011aBarta 2014;Sun et al 2018). Moreover, CRTs are a material that can be efficiently used to reconstruct changes in the palaeoclimate and palaeovegetation of desert hinterlands (Li et al 2015a(Li et al , b, 2017Gao et al 2018).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The formation mechanisms, macro-and micromorphology and classification of CRTs have been considered in previous studies (Klappa 1980;Mount & Cohen 1984;Jaillard et al 1991;Gao et al 2017;Sun et al 2018). Klappa (1980) and Gao et al (2017) classified the subclasses of CRTs based on their morphologies.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Variations in chemical element compositions in different types of Holocene calcareous root tubes in the Tengger Desert, NW China, and their palaeoenvironmental significance

Zhu

Gao

et al. 2019

Boreas

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Calcareous root tubes (CRTs) contain abundant information about palaeoenvironmental conditions and have been used for palaeoenvironmental studies in the desert hinterlands of arid regions. However, as subclasses of CRTs, calcareous sheaths and rhizocretions are formed by different processes, and it remains unclear whether these differences produce variations in the chemical element composition. Furthermore, it remains uncertain whether variations in chemical element concentrations amongst different subclasses of the CRTs can affect palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. In this study, we collected 54 CRT samples from the Tengger Desert of northwestern China. All samples were dated by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) 14C dating, and the chemical element composition and concentration differences of the two CRT subclasses were determined using X‐ray fluorescence spectrometry. The CRT samples were dated to the Holocene. The calcareous sheath and rhizocretion samples contained varying concentrations of the same chemical elements. The rhizocretions had high concentrations of mobile elements (Ca, Mg and Sr) and P, whereas the calcareous sheaths had high concentrations of stable elements, including Al, Si, Ti, Zr, Rb and Ba. These differences were due to the different formation processes of the two subclasses of CRTs. Moreover, the Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios in the calcareous sheaths were higher than those in the rhizocretions from the same period, but these ratio differences had little effect on palaeo‐effective moisture reconstructions at the millennial scale during the Holocene. The reconstructions were not influenced by the various CRT subclasses. The Holocene millennial‐scale moisture changes in the Tengger Desert revealed by the Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca ratios showed that there was an arid period during the Early Holocene, a humid period during the Middle Holocene and a humid to arid period during the Late Holocene.

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“…, ; Barta ; Sun et al . ). Moreover, CRTs are a material that can be efficiently used to reconstruct changes in the palaeoclimate and palaeovegetation of desert hinterlands (Li et al .…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Variations in chemical element compositions in different types of Holocene calcareous root tubes in the Tengger Desert, NW China, and their palaeoenvironmental significance

Zhu

Gao

et al. 2019

Boreas

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“…These organo‐sedimentary structures are common in sandy and silty calcareous soils and sediments (Becze‐Deák et al, 1997) and can be highly abundant in loess (Gocke et al, 2011) and desert sands (Sun et al, 2020). In addition to terrestrial settings, rhizoliths were also observed in former lacustrine environments (e.g., Sun et al, 2019a) and marine settings (Jones and Ng, 1988).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The presence of carbonate rhizoliths in loess settings can therefore bias paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Corresponding data have to be interpreted with caution, as only limited knowledge about their formation mechanisms is available (e.g., Gocke et al, 2011, 2014a, b; Klappa, 1980; Li et al, 2015b; Sun et al, 2019a; Brazier et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple stages of plant root calcification deciphered by chemical and micromorphological analyses

et al. 2020

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Rhizoliths, that is, roots fossilized by secondary carbonates, have been known for ages and are increasingly used for paleoenvironmental reconstructions. However, knowledge about their formation mechanisms remains limited. This study reports the mineralogical and chemical characterization of rhizoliths at different stages of mineralization and fossilization in the Late Pleistocene loess–paleosol sequence of Nussloch (SW Germany). Scanning electron microscopy coupled with elemental mapping and 13C solid‐state nuclear magnetic resonance were used to concomitantly characterize the mineral and organic matter of the rhizoliths. These joint analyses showed for the first time that large rhizoliths are not necessarily remains of single large roots but consist of numerous microrhizoliths as remains of fine roots, formed mainly by calcium carbonates with only low amounts of Mg and Si. They further revealed that the precipitation of secondary carbonates occurs not only around, but also within the plant root and that fossilization leads to the selective preservation of recalcitrant root biopolymers—lignin and suberin. The precipitation of secondary carbonates was observed to occur first around fine roots, the epidermis acting as a first barrier, and then within the root, within the cortex cells, and even sometimes around the phloem and within the xylem. This study suggests that the calcification of plant roots starts during the lifetime of the plant and continues after its death. This has to be systematically investigated to understand the stratigraphic context before using (micro)rhizoliths for paleoenvironmental reconstructions in terrestrial sediments.

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Where did the water come from? Wetlands and shallow lakes in semi‐arid dunefields from South America during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition

Tripaldi,

Ozán,

Heider

et al. 2024

J Quaternary Science

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Stabilized and active dunes and sand sheet deposits abound in a small lake‐dotted semi‐arid region of the Western Pampean Dunefield, Argentina. Here, a multi‐scale and multi‐proxy study of three sites, across a hydrologic gradient from lakes to a dryland with groundwater levels at more than 25 m depth, analyzes calcareous and ferruginous rhizoliths, calcareous crusts, hypocoatings, pedogenic carbonate and amorphous Mn‐oxide precipitates within blowout dunes. These palustrine‐related features indicate significantly wetter conditions that allowed the development of shallow lakes and expanding wetlands during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition, limited by associated optically stimulated luminescence ages between ca. 14.7 and 11.6 ka. These wetter conditions, also identified in other nearby proxy records, may be associated with a strengthened South American Monsoon System, potentially during the Younger Dryas Chronozone, though other geological, ecological and climatic forcings cannot be ruled out with available data. Such a scenario lacks a modern analogue, since current hydrologic excess, evidenced in the formation of lakes and new rivers, is not observed in the localities which record paleolakes. This study underlines the variable conditions for pronounced hydrologic excess in semi‐arid eolian environments in western Argentina with complex ecological, anthropogenic and climatic linkages.

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Formation and paleoenvironment of rhizoliths of Shiyang River Basin, Tengeri Desert, NW China

Cited by 19 publications

References 52 publications

Variations in chemical element compositions in different types of Holocene calcareous root tubes in the Tengger Desert, NW China, and their palaeoenvironmental significance

Variations in chemical element compositions in different types of Holocene calcareous root tubes in the Tengger Desert, NW China, and their palaeoenvironmental significance

Multiple stages of plant root calcification deciphered by chemical and micromorphological analyses

Where did the water come from? Wetlands and shallow lakes in semi‐arid dunefields from South America during the Pleistocene–Holocene transition

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