The Huang Shui River, a main tributary of the Yellow River, crosses a series of tectonically subsided and uplifted areas that show different patterns of terrace formation. The distribution of fluvial terrace of the Huang Shui River is studied through topographic and sedimentologic terrace mapping. Three terraces in the Haiyan Basin, four terraces in the Huangyuan Basin, 19 terraces in the Xi＇ning Basin （the four high terraces may belong to another river）, nine terraces in the Ping＇an Basin, five terraces in the Ledu Basin and 12 terraces in the Minhe Basin are recognized. Sedimentology research shows that the geomorphologic and sedimentological pattern of the Huang Shui River, which is located at the margin of Tibet, are different from that of the rivers at other regions. The formation process of the terrace is more complicated at the Huang Shui catchment： both accumulation terrace and erosion terrace were formed in each basin and accumulation terraces were developed in some basins when erosion terraces were formed in other basins, indicating fluvial aggradation may occur in some basins simultaneously with river incision in other basins. A conceptual model of the formation process of these two kinds of fluvial terraces at Huang Shui catchment is brought forward in this paper. First, the equilibrium state of the river is broken because of climatic change and/or tectonic movement, and the river incises in all basins in the whole catchment until reaching a new equilibrium state. Then, the downstream basin subsides quickly and the equilibrium state is broken again, and the river incises at upstream basins while the river accumulates at the subsidence basin quickly until approaching a new equilibrium state again. Finally, the river incises in the whole catchment because of climatic change and/or tectonic movement and the accumulation terrace is formed at the subsidence basin while the erosion terrace is formed at other basins. The existence of the accumulation terrace implied the tectonic subsidence in the s
WANG XianyanLU HuayuJef VANDENBERGHECHEN ZhongyanLI Langpin
Grain-size distributions of the reticulate red clay in Xuancheng, Anhui Province, and Jiujiang, Taihe and Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province, are analyzed. The results are as follows: (1) Generally fine and uniform, grain-size charac- teristics of the reticulate red clay in Xuancheng and Jiujiang are much similar, with no >2 mm gravels, 0.30% and 1.14% of >63 μm fraction on average, respectively, and 34.65% and 37.20% of 10―50 μm fraction, which is apparently accumu- lated. The patterns of the grain-size distribution curves of the uppermost yellow-brown earth of the profiles in the two ar- eas much resemble those of the loess in northern China and the Xiashu loess in southeastern China, while the patterns of the other layers also apparently show some attributes inher- ited from the above. The grain-size distribution patterns of the quartz separated from the whole profiles in the areas are almost identical, which could also be compared with those of the loess and the Xiashu loess. All the features above reveal aeolian characteristics of the reticulated red clay in these two areas. (2) The reticulate red clay in Taihe and Ganzhou is much coarser than that in Xuancheng and Jiujiang, with high content of >63 μm fraction and relatively low content of 10―50 μm fraction. The variations in grain-size distribu- tions of the profiles are also observed. The grain-size distri- bution patterns of both the original samples and the quartz of the red clay could hardly be compared with those of the loess and the Xiashu loess. All the features above reveal their alluvial or diluvial origins. (3) The multiple origins of the reticulate red clay in the areas reflect the diversity and com- plexity of the Quaternary environment in southern China. The existence of the reticulate red clay with aeolian charac- teristics brings forth objective evidence for the occurrence of large-scale dust deposition in southern China during the Quaternary glacial periods. Further investigation and study on the regional distribution of this kind of the red
