Cosmogenic ¹⁰Be is produced in the atmosphere and removed from the atmosphere mainly by wet precipitation and dust fall onto the surface of the earth.  Based on the analysis of ¹⁰Be in Chinese loess, we believe that ¹⁰Be in loess is composed of two components: locally precipitated atmospheric ¹⁰Be, and windblown ¹⁰Be attached to the surface of silt grains. ¹⁰Be concentrations of loess and paleosol on the Loess Plateau ranges from 1.4 to 2.8x 10⁸ atoms/g and 2.7 to 4.5 x 10⁸ atoms/g respectively. To further investigate the sources of ¹⁰Be in loess, we measured ¹⁰Be in sands from western deserts and in dust from deposit regions. The results show that the ¹⁰Be concentrations of sand and dust are (1.11-5.14) x 10⁷ atoms/g and (1.25-2.78) x 10⁸ atoms/g respectively. Taking into account the fact that the deposition rate of loess was higher than that of paleosol, we come to the following conclusions:

1.     Loess and paleosol on the Loess Plateau both contain inherited ¹⁰Be attached to silt grains from dust;

2.     The windblown deposited loess material does not only directly come from gobi and sand deserts, but also probably to a large extent from the loess-desert transitional zones which are characterized by silt and dust holding areas.