| Magnetic susceptibility is a measurement index which indicates how difficult or easy a substance can be magnetized. It has been widely used as a main indicator of paleoenvironment, and played an important role in resolving a series of great environmental problems. However, inadequate research made the interpretation of magnetic susceptibility data still controversial.In order to know more about the meanings of magnetic susceptibility, five different sedimentary types were chosen to research, which including loess, laterite, river sediments, lake sediments and aeolian sediments. Magnetic susceptibility analysis were done and were compared with other experimental analyses, such as grain size spore pollen and magnetic content etc. It was trying to find out the magnetic susceptibility's indicating meanings in different sediments and hoped to provide right interpretation of magnetic susceptibility.Based on above analyses, some conclusions could be drawn as the following: In loess, the magnetic susceptibility has a good relationship with the grain size and spore pollen. Since the grain size and spore pollen have close relationship with climate, magnetic susceptibility could be used as a perfect index for reflecting the paleoclimate; In laterite, the magnetic susceptibility has no clear correlation with the spore pollen, but it depends on the sedimental sources; In river sediments, the magnetic susceptibility has some relation with grain size. The grain size mainly depends on depositional dynamic environments, so the magnetic susceptibility can reflect depositional dynamic environments, but has no direct relation with climate changes; In Lake sediments, the magnetic susceptibility has relationship with sediment's grain size, spore pollen, as well as the content of magnetic minerals, so sediment's susceptibility can reflect paleoclimate changes, but it also depends on the lake's dynamic environments; In Aeolian sediments, the magnetic susceptibility has a good relationship with the grain size. As the grain size directly depends on the wind power, the magnetic susceptibility can reflect the changes of wind power, and can be used as an index for paleoenvironmental changes. In addition, by studying the susceptibility of strata that contain stone tools or something used by ancient people, it was found that the susceptibility was much higher than that of the natural strata, so the magnetic susceptibility could be used to describe the degrees of human activities.The research showed that magnetic susceptibility could be influenced by various factors, so it should be necessary to use it to combine with other experiment analysis. Especially, the magnetic susceptibility's response to different sedimentary types should be paid attention to. |
