Blowing in the late Cenozoic wind—detrital zircon river contributions to an interior Alaska loess deposit

The extensive Interior Alaska loess deposits record glacial advance and retreat over the past 3 Myrs. Refining our understanding of still-debated origins this will help us refine climate patterns since late Cenozoic. We present here first detrital-zircon ages from Gold Hill loess, a well-studied deposit in Fairbanks, Alaska, as well new local fluvial sediments. describe statistical approach to quantify contributions sediment loads rivers account for grain-age distributions within Fairbanks loess. find that zircons Ma base come mainly sediments carried by Tanana Delta rivers, Yukon River contributed more time river system developed. This indicates loess-depositing winds came east/southeast, pattern persists today. Although we cannot exclude other sources, suggests mix can almost all zircon grains interior Alaska.