Spatiotemporal Variations of Chinese Lakes and Their Driving Mechanisms Since the Last Glacial Maximum: a Review and Synthesis of Lacustrine Sediment Archives
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Review Progress of Projects Supported by NSFC January 2013 Vol.58 No.1: 1731 Geology doi: 10.1007/s11434-012-5510-7 SPECIAL TOPICS: Spatiotemporal variations of Chinese lakes and their driving mechanisms since the Last Glacial Maximum: A review and synthesis of lacustrine sediment archives SHEN Ji State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography & Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China Received May 24, 2012; accepted September 7, 2012; published online November 22, 2012 In this article, the author provides the first synthesis and classification of available environment-indicating proxies for lacustrine sediment. A review of spatio-temporal variations in lakes from the Tibetan Plateau, the dry areas of Northwestern China, the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and the plains of Eastern China since the LGM is then provided. The driving mechanism for variations in lake processes and characteristics is also discussed based on various temporal scales. The author then proposes that future in- vestigations be conducted to: (1) strengthen the study of theoretics and interpretation of environment-indicating proxies, (2) en- hance the study of high-resolution time series and spatial variability of lake environment evolution, (3) provide more attention on the influence of human activities on lake environments, and (4) boost construction of the Quaternary lake database of China. spatiotemporal variation, Chinese lakes, driving mechanism, LGM Citation: Shen J. Spatiotemporal variations of Chinese lakes and their driving mechanisms since the Last Glacial Maximum: A review and synthesis of lacustrine sediment archives. Chin Sci Bull, 2013, 58: 1731, doi: 10.1007/s11434-012-5510-7 Lakes are normally formed under various geological and people tend to settle around lakes owing to the resources geographical backgrounds. As a component of the terrestrial they provide. hydrosphere, lakes have close relationships with the atmos- phere, biosphere and lithosphere, and serve as the connec- 1 Synthesis and classification of proxies in lacus- tion between these systems. Once a lake is formed, it is in- fluenced by a series of tectonic, climatic and anthropogenic trine sediment describing environmental condi- factors. As a result, lacustrine evolutional processes usually tions involve geological, physical, chemical and biological pro- cesses and the interactions between them, and these pro- Lakes generally have an independent watershed that serves cesses are all documented by lacustrine sediment archives. as a source of water, sediment, biomass and chemicals, Because lakes are widely distributed worldwide and nor- while the lake serves as a sink for all of these materials. mally undergo a long history of evolution, lacustrine sedi- Accordingly, lacustrine sediment can record all information ment generally possesses a continuous record with high- regarding the source-sink interactions and mass balances resolutions that provides abundant information regarding including water balances (watershed rainfall and lake level regional environmental and climatic variations that can be stands), sediment balances (watershed erosion intensity and used in global change studies. Lacustrine sediment also lake sedimentation rate), biological balances (watershed contains information pertaining to human activities, since vegetation and lake biomass) and chemical balances (wa- tershed soluble materials and lake water ion concentrations) [1]. email: [email protected] © The Author(s) 2012. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com csb.scichina.com www.springer.com/scp 18 Shen J Chin Sci Bull January (2013) Vol.58 No.1 The formation of lakes generally has no zonality; there- Lacustrine sediment proxies can generally be classified fore, lakes are widely distributed around the world, being into three categories: (1) proxies indicating terrestrial (lake present in tropic zones, temperate zones and frigid zones, as catchment) information such as pollen, phytolith, charcoal, well as humid and arid regions and at altitudes ranging from grain size, susceptibility, etc.; (2) proxies indicating lake 5000 m above sea level (a.s.l.) (such as lakes on the Tibetan water environmental conditions including micro-fossils (di- Plateau) to −155 m a.s.l. (such as Lake Aiding) [2]. Never- atoms, ostracods, chironomids, cladocera, macroplant- theless, once a lake is formed, its physical, chemical and fossils, etc.), pigment, authigenic carbonate and stable car- biological processes differentiate according to the zone it is bon and oxygen isotopes of the authigenic carbonate, ele- located in, and they normally possess notable regional mental ratio and isotopes of biological shells, etc.; and (3) characteristics. Therefore, to understand the relationship proxies indicating multi-source information pertaining to between zonality and lake evolution, it is essential to select the lake-catchment system including total organic carbon suitable environment-indicating proxies; however, the in- (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), organic carbon isotopes, etc. [1]. terpretation of such proxies is often specific and not Nevertheless, the classification of the proxies is not absolute, straightforward. To clarify the interpretation of physical, because proxy-indicating catchment information can also chemical and biological proxies, case studies for specific incorporate information pertaining to inner-lake alterations lakes must be conducted to investigate the modern process- such as diagenesis. Accordingly, interpretation of proxies is es of their watershed-lake system. Only with suitable prox- often complicated. ies and case-specific interpretation can the regional envi- ronmental evolutions be correctly characterized. For exam- ple, lakes on the Tibetan Plateau are generally characterized 2 Spatiotemporal variations of Chinese lakes by closed or semi-closed lake basins with saline or brackish since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) waters; accordingly, the water balance is usually controlled by the precipitation/evaporation ratios, which also influence From west to east, Chinese topography is characterized by the evolution of hydrophyte communities. Therefore, for the so-called “three-step ladders”, which were formed by these lakes, suitable proxies are chemical and biological tectogenesis. The first-step ladder is the notably uplifted factors that can indicate changes in the salinity of the water Tibetan Plateau, which is circled by higher mountains con- they contain. Conversely, lakes in Eastern China generally taining deep canyons on the outer mountainside. The inner have outward flows, and their lake-catchment systems are plateau topography consists of mountains, valleys and ba- usually characterized by high biomass productivity. There- sins, with lakes along fracture zones. These lakes consist of fore, suitable proxies for these lakes are biochemical factors saline or brine with closed or semi-closed basins and fresh- that can indicate the biomass productivity of the lake- water lakes with intermountain basins produced by glacier catchment system and cycling of the nutrient elements. erosion or river-headward erosion. The Tibetan Plateau is Lakes in the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau are normally charac- very lake-concentrated, with a total lake surface area that terized by lake-catchment systems with great biodiversity accounts for 49.5% of that of China. Most lakes now have and obvious vertical (altitudinal) biozonality; thus, the suit- deep water and long histories. The Hengduan Mountains are able proxies should be biochemical factors that can indicate the transitional zone of the first- and second-step ladders, evolutions of watershed vegetation and lake hydroenviron- and are characterized by high mountains and deep canyons ment. with diverse elevations. Lakes of this area are often situated Lacustrine sediment is generally derived from alloch- in steep and deep depression basins, and some are dammed thonous and authigenic sources. The former is from materi- lakes caused by landslides and/or debris flows. The sec- als produced by catchment erosion, while the latter is from ond-step ladder is characterized by plateaus and basins lake water precipitation due to various biochemical pro- caused by differential elevations of land masses, which al- cesses. The catchment erosion rate is related to the geology lows for tectonically-derived depression lakes. When com- of the watershed and lake water deposit is related to the pared with the first-step ladder, the second-step ladder is inner-lake biological and hydrochemical factors. Both of characterized by tectonic movements with lower intensities these sources have a close relationship with climatic chang- and amplitudes. As a result the lakes on the second-step es. Hence, besides abrupt tectonic movements and human ladder usually have continuously sinking lake basins, such activities, climate is the only key factor that influences la- as Lake Dianchi, Erhai, Lugu on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plat- custrine sediment formations. Therefore, studying a certain eau and Lake Daihai and Huangqihai on the Mongolia Plat- layer of the sedimentary core can provide information re- eau. The third-step ladder consists of the extensive plains in garding the climatic and environmental conditions for a Eastern China and is characterized by an overall sinking certain period. Moreover, investigating the entire section of topography. Lakes on this ladder are often formed by river the sedimentary core can enable deduction of climatic