SEDIMENTARY CHARACTERISTICS AND PROVENANCE ANALYSIS OF LOESS IN THE ZHIFU ISLAND, SHANDONG, CHINA

Loess of the Zhifu Island has become an ideal natural record for palaeo-geographic information. The typical characteristics of loess in the Zhifu Island were got through analysis of 13 samples from two profiles,using grain-size analysis, mineral analysis under microscope and X-ray diffraction (XRD) of clay minerals analysis. The loess in the Zhifu Island is mainly composed of silty sand and other components of gravel grain, medium sand and silty sand. The composition of the particles occupies a certain proportion in the grain size. In the composition of detrital minerals, loess in the Zhifu Island has typical minerals from the local bedrock. The characteristics of the two loess profiles have some differences. All these show that loess in the Zhifu Island is of multi-sources and short-distance transportation. Vertical distributions of clay minerals reflect climatic cycles in the loess deposition time in the Zhifu Island, which has provided multiple sources of loess in the Zhifu Island.