Evolution of the Fen River drainage basin and its depositional environment during the Quaternary
PhD candidate: Bin Li
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Supervisors: Reidar Lovlie, John-Inge Svendsen and Stein-Erik Laruitzen
The main objective of this project is to reconstruct the geomorphological evolution and depositional history of the Fen River basin (Shanxi, North China) during the Quaternary in order to obtain a better understanding of the evolution of this river basin and the middle reaches of the Yellow River, and also to assess and confine ages of Palaeolithic sites in this area.
These objectives will be realized by constructing chronologies of sedimentary sections at selected localities. Chronostratigraphies of terraces along the Fen River are still sparse and mostly based on paleontological and geomorphological evidence yielding low-precision time-frames, and most pervious studies of the Fen River basin have been limited to local regions or to a single section only. New key localities have been selected for high-resolution chronostratigraphic investigations.
Local tectonic activity plays a significant role for the river basin formation. River-terraces formed by local tectonics or by river cutting are draped by aeolian loess deposited contemporaneous with the activities. The evolution of the river basin will therefore be inferred and constrained from the ages of these terraces. The chronostratigraphy of these terraces will be obtained using magnetostratigraphy complemented by OSL and ESR dating. In addition, stratigraphic correlation between loess/paleosol sequences using ubiquitous marker horizons comprised of lacustrine sediments and sand will be an important method. A model for the evolution of this river basin will be constructed, that may illuminate the tectonic history of this active basin.
