Author(s)

Tenichi Cho^1*, Hideaki Mantani¹, Tohru Ohta^1,2, Gang Li³

¹Graduate School of Creative Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.
²Faculty of Education and Integrated Arts and Sciences, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.
³State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratgraphy, Center for Excellence in Life and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Science, Nanjing, China.

Cretaceous is characterized by high atmospheric CO2 concentration and a resultantly high temperature. Thus, the Earth system, which operated during the greenhouse condition, can be deduced by the investigation of the paleoclimate during the Cretaceous. However, information of paleoclimate from continental inland-basins is scarce compared to that from continental margin marine-basins. In this research, the changes of weathering condition through the whole Cretaceous Period were reconstructed by analyzing the whole-rock chemical composition and clay mineral composition of mudstone samples collected in the Sichuan Basin, SW China. The reconstructed paleoweathering intensity positively correlates with paleotemperature estimate, indicating that Cenomanian-Turonian stages were climatic optimum in the Sichuan Basin as well. Furthermore, the result suggests a Cenomanian-Turonian extremely high amplitude humidity fluctuation.

Cretaceous, Continental Weathering, Fluvial Deposits, Desert Deposits, XRF, XRD, W Index

Cho, T. , Mantani, H. , Ohta, T. and Li, G. (2019) Evaluation of Cretaceous Hinterland Weathering and Climate in the Sichuan Basin, SW China. Open Journal of Geology, 9, 696-699. doi: 10.4236/ojg.2019.910078.