Skeptical Science Post: The Dirt on Climate

I posted an article on Skeptical Science:

http://www.skepticalscience.com/DirtOnClimate.html

My grandmother was always fascinated by knowing that a region in Northern China (the Chinese Loess Plateau) had similar geology and formation history as a region near her home. Both the Chinese Loess Plateau and the loess bluffs that gave Council Bluffs in western Iowa (USA) its name, were formed from windblown dust deposited during times of northern hemisphere glaciations. The Chinese Loess Plateau is exceptional in that Hao et al. (writing in Nature, 18 Oct. 2012) link dust size to weather systems whose strengths correlate to glacial and interglacial conditions. Therefore, they were able to use layers of loess to estimate the extent of previous interglacials.

Perhaps the most rewarding part of examining this research is the opportunity it presented to contact the authors. My summary on Skeptical Science was greatly enhanced by the contribution of photos from Qingzhen Hao of the region he studied.

jg