Magnetic variations in surface soils in the NE Tibetan Plateau indicating the climatic boundary between the Westerly and East Asian summer monsoon regimes in NW China

• Magnetic properties of surface soils in the NE Tibetan Plateau were studied.
• Pedogenesis controls the magnetic variations of surface soils.
• The decrease of pedogenic intensity towards the west indicates the limit of the EASM.

Two atmospheric circulation systems, i.e., the mid-latitude Westerlies and the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM), dominate climate change in the NE Tibetan Plateau. However, controversy remains with regard to the climatic boundary between these westerly and monsoon regimes. In this paper, detailed rock magnetic and geochemical Rb/Sr analyses for a larger number of surface soils from a wide area in the NE Tibetan Plateau are presented. They show that surface soils in this region evince relatively significant regional variations in magnetic properties and geochemical characteristics. The magnetic parameters χfd, χARM and geochemical Rb/Sr ratios exhibit higher values in EASM-controlled (humid) areas, and lower values in Westerlies-influenced (arid) areas. These characteristics indicate that such variations in χfd, χARM and Rb/Sr ratios can be regarded as effective indicators of the degree of pedogenesis and weathering in the NE Tibetan Plateau. Our results also demonstrate that the climatic boundary between the westerly and monsoon regimes approximately overlaps with the boundary of highland meadow and temperate steppe desert/desert in NW China.