流经青藏高原东北缘的湟水高阶地上堆积的厚层风成黄土是认识高原第四纪环境演化和气候变化的理想载体。然而，由于多种因素的限制，多年来针对西宁黄土较系统的磁性年代学和第四纪相关研究成果一直比较匮乏。本项目拟选择该地区代表性黄土地层剖面开展高分辨磁极性地层学研究，在精确厘定西宁黄土磁性年代的基础上，开展精细的多参数环境磁学研究，并结合粒度和地球化学指标分析，提取出可靠的磁性气候学指标来构建第四纪以来青藏高原东北缘高分辨率长尺度气候环境变化序列，加强西宁黄土与兰州地区及陇东黄土在碎屑锆石年龄谱和磁组构特征所指示的物源、磁气候记录等方面的对比分析，深入探讨青藏高东北缘晚期可能的隆升过程、湟水和西宁黄土的形成发育等区域构造-地貌事件的耦合关系及其与全球变冷、西部干旱化过程的某种动力学联系。

Most high-level fluvial terraces occurring along the Huangshui River are directly overlain by thick eolian loess covers, which contain a wealth of paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental information related to late tectonic uplift of the Northern Tibetan Plateau. However, systematic magnetostratigraphic and paleoclimatic studies for the Xining loess are scarce due to uncertain reasons. Relying on high-sampling-resolution magnetostratigraphic and environmental magnetic study for the Xining loess-paleosol sequences, in conjunction with redness, grain size and geochemical analyses as well as Zircon U-Pb dating technique, the main purposes of this proposal are to (1) provide robust age constraints for the Xining loess and the uppermost terrace of the Huangshui River; (2) to explore reliable magnetoclimatologic proxies for faithfully resolving high-resolution fluctuations of the paleomonsoon since the Quaternary in the northern Tibetan Plateau; (3) and to discern possible linkages and driving mechanism(s) among tectonic uplift of the Northern Tibetan Plateau, the formation and evolutionary history of the Huangshui River, aridification in western China, and global cooling during the Quaternary. We also carry out detailed comparisons of accumulation rate, the characteristics of geochemistry and anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility, provenance, and paleomagnetic recording fidelity between the loess developed in the hinterland of the Chinese Loess Plateau, the Lanzhou and Xining areas.