The Chinese loess in Xifeng, II. A study of anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility of loess from Xifeng

Measurements of specimens from the loess profile of Xifeng, Gansu province, China, all show original magnetic fabric for sediments, i.e. nearly horizontal foliation and the commonly oblate magnitude ellipsoid. The degree of anisotropy always shows a strong correlation with the foliation F rather than with the lineation L. Specimens from wind‐blown loess, redeposited water‐lain loess and red clay show their own distribution areas respectively in a diagram of L versus F. Magnetic fabric provides evidence for the suggestion that the red clay, like the overlying wind‐blown loess, is aeolian in origin, the data points from the red clay all falling within the distribution area of the wind‐blown loess data points. The magnetic fabric measured from present‐day palaeosols may still represent the features of the parent loess although the orientation of fabric has been slightly weakened through pedogenesis, as shown in the present study.