Reconstructed Atmospheric CO₂ from Chinese Loess Plateau Paleosols, 7.5-4.0 Ma

A high-resolution terrestrial CO₂ record spanning 7.5 to 4.0 million years ago, generated by Hanzhao Zhai in 2026. The dataset was created by applying a machine learning-based paleosol-CO₂ inversion method to deposits from the Jiaxian and Shilou sections on the Chinese Loess Plateau. It integrates multiple proxy measurements including carbonate and organic carbon isotopes, elemental concentrations, grain size, magnetic susceptibility, and formation temperature.

Use Cases

• Modeling Late Miocene atmospheric CO₂ concentrations based on reconstructed paleosol data.
• Analyzing relationships between magnetic susceptibility (Xlf) and paleoclimate conditions.
• Calibrating machine learning models for geochemical inversion using features like amorphous element concentrations (aAl, aFe, aSi).
• Studying the temporal correlation between carbonate isotope (d13Cc, d18Oc) records and atmospheric CO₂ estimates.
• Investigating soil formation temperature (Temperature) as a proxy for past climatic conditions.

Strengths

• High-resolution record spanning 3.5 million years (7.5-4.0 Ma).
• Integrates multiple data sources: inorganic isotopes, organic isotopes, elemental concentrations, grain size, and magnetic susceptibility.
• Generated using an optimized Gradient Boosting machine learning model for inversion.
• Includes uncertainty estimates (standard deviations) for key measurements like isotopes and temperature.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Some data (e.g., d13Co for Jiaxian section) are interpolated from other records, not directly measured.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

figshare

Collection Method

Machine learning-based multi-proxy paleosol-CO₂ inversion applied to Chinese Loess Plateau deposits.

Time Range

7.5 to 4.0 million years ago

Freshness

Last updated 2026-06-01 01:46:55; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Chinese Loess Plateau (Jiaxian and Shilou sections)