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Clay mineral variations in Holocene terrestrial sediments from the Indus Basin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Anwar Alizai ,
Stephen Hillier ,
Peter D. Clift ,
Liviu Giosan ,
Andrew Hurst ,
Sam VanLaningham  and
Mark Macklin
Anwar Alizai*
Affiliation:
School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Meston Building, Aberdeen, AB24 3UE, UK
Stephen Hillier
Affiliation:
The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen AB15 8QH, UK
Peter D. Clift
Affiliation:
School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Meston Building, Aberdeen, AB24 3UE, UK
Liviu Giosan
Affiliation:
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
Andrew Hurst
Affiliation:
School of Geosciences, University of Aberdeen, Meston Building, Aberdeen, AB24 3UE, UK
Sam VanLaningham
Affiliation:
School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks AK 99775-7220, USA
Mark Macklin
Affiliation:
Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, UK
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail address:anwar.alizai@gmail.com (A. Alizai).
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Abstract

We employed X-ray diffraction methods to quantify clay mineral assemblages in the Indus Delta and flood plains since ~ 14 ka, spanning a period of strong climatic change. Assemblages are dominated by smectite and illite, with minor chlorite and kaolinite. Delta sediments integrate clays from across the basin and show increasing smectite input between 13 and 7.5 ka, indicating stronger chemical weathering as the summer monsoon intensified. Changes in clay mineralogy postdate changes in climate by 5–3 ka, reflecting the time needed for new clay minerals to form and be transported to the delta. Samples from the flood plains in Punjab show evidence for increased chemical weathering towards the top of the sections (6–≪ 4 ka), counter to the trend in the delta, at a time of monsoon weakening. Clay mineral assemblages within sandy flood-plain sediment have higher smectite/(illite + chlorite) values than interbedded mudstones, suggestive of either stronger weathering or more sediment reworking since the Mid Holocene. We show that marine records are not always good proxies for weathering across the entire flood plain. Nonetheless, the delta record likely represents the most reliable record of basin-wide weathering response to climate change.

Keywords

XRDClay mineralogyMonsoonHimalayaIndus DeltaFloodplainFluvial processesLarge rivers
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 77 , Issue 3 , May 2012 , pp. 368 - 381
Copyright
University of Washington

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