DOCSLIB.ORG

Eolian Cannibalism: Reworked Loess and Fluvial Sediment As the Main Sources of the Chinese Loess Plateau

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Eolian Cannibalism: Reworked Loess and Fluvial Sediment As the Main Sources of the Chinese Loess Plateau Licht et al. Eolian cannibalism: Reworked loess and fluvial sediment as the main sources of the Chinese Loess Plateau A. Licht1,2,3,†, A. Pullen1,4, P. Kapp1, J. Abell1, and N. Giesler1 1Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA 2Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA 3Institut für Erd- und Umweltwissenschaften, Potsdam Universität, 14476 Potsdam, Germany 4Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA ABSTRACT propose that sediment reworking of Yellow 2009; Vandenberghe, 2013). In the modern inter- River sediment and older loess deposits by glacial climate, dust storms originate north and The loess and paleosol sequences of the wind on the Chinese Loess Plateau homoge- northwest of the Chinese Loess Plateau, in the Chinese Loess Plateau are composed of Qua- nized the eolian zircon populations toward Gobi Desert, commonly during the breakdown ternary dust, the origin of which has been a glacial provenance due to higher (2–20 of the Siberian High in Spring (Roe, 2009), and the subject of considerable debate. Some times) dust accumulation rates during gla- they track across the Badan Jaran, Tengger, and recent U-Pb geochronological studies of eo- cials. These findings suggest that the Chinese Mu Us Deserts (Wang et al., 2004). These des- lian zircons have proposed the existence of Loess Plateau has evolved as a more dynamic ert areas are thought to be the main source areas two major wind pathways: from the north landform than previous thought, where wind for the coarse fraction of the modern dust to the and northwest, through the Badan Jaran, deflation, fluvial input, lateral transport, and plateau, though the exact locus of dust genera- Tengger, and Mu Us Deserts during inter- accumulation of sediment are equally impor- tion in these regions—piedmont alluvial fans, glacials, and from the west, through the tant. These internal reworking effects would dried lake basins, or sand dune fields—is widely Qaidam Basin during glacials. Others have then significantly bias the paleoclimatic inter- debated (Pye, 1995; Sun, 2002; Amit et al., emphasized the importance of Yellow River pretations based on eolian dust properties of 2014). Additionally, recent provenance studies sediment supply in the Chinese Loess Plateau the Chinese Loess Plateau. of loess have also highlighted the importance sediment budget. However, tracking dust of reworking of local substratum rocks (mostly source regions through U-Pb dating in a sta- INTRODUCTION pre-Quaternary terrestrial sediment) and of flu- tistically robust manner is particularly com- vial detritus brought by the Yellow River, with plex given the similar age peaks in the age The Chinese Loess Plateau (Fig. 1) is mainly headwaters in northeastern Tibet (Fig. 1), in the probability distributions of potential source composed of eolian dust deposits that are pre- loess sedimentary budget (Stevens et al., 2013; regions in Central Asia. This paper pre sents dominantly brought by spring storms sweeping Che and Li, 2013; Bird et al., 2015; Nie et al., 2410 new U-Pb ages of detrital zircons from clastic material from the deserts of the Asian 2015; Kapp et al., 2015). wind-eroded strata, Quaternary eolian de- interior (Roe, 2009). Though the oldest loess The geographic origin of pre-Holocene gla- posits, and modern river sands in central deposits within the southernmost and western- cial loess is more controversial. Wind-eroded China in order to increase the robustness and most Chinese Loess Plateau have been dated to landforms in the Qaidam Basin (Kapp et al., the spatial resolution of zircon age distribu- 8 Ma (An et al., 2001), 22–25 Ma (Guo et al., 2011; Rohrmann et al., 2013), U-Pb geochro- tions in dust source regions. We then propose 2002; Qiang et al., 2011), and 41 Ma (Licht nology of eolian zircons (Pullen et al., 2011), a new mixture modeling technique to statisti- et al., 2014), most of the Chinese Loess Pla- and grain-size data and climate simulations cally address the contribution of these differ- teau is composed of Quaternary loess-paleosol (Vandenberghe et al., 2006) have suggested the ent sources to the Chinese Loess Plateau sedi- sequences. Loess layers were deposited during existence of a different dust-storm track during mentary budget. Our contribution estimates glacial periods under a colder and drier Asian glacial periods. These observations point to the indicate that eolian supply to the Chinese climate, whereas paleosol layers developed dur- loci of source areas located south of the Qilian Loess Plateau is dominated (60%–70%) by ing warmer and moister interglacial periods with Shan mountain ranges, in the Qaidam Basin reworking of Yellow River sediment. More- enhanced summer monsoons (An et al., 1990; and northern Tibetan Plateau (Fig. 1). This arid over, evidence of Qaidam Basin–sourced zir- Porter and An, 1995; Kang et al., 2011, 2013). region would have been deflated by surface cons (15%–20%) in both loess (glacial) and Loess deposits consist of a coarse (12–70 mm) westerly winds, in response to either enhanced paleosol (interglacial) layers corroborates the primary fraction, transported via saltation by penetration of Atlantic westerlies during glacial existence of an erosive wind pathway through dust storms in near-surface suspension clouds, periods (Vandenberghe et al., 2006), and/or to the Qaidam Basin during glacials and implies and a fine (1–3 mm) secondary fraction, the ori- the shift of the whole midlatitude atmospheric that a substantial portion of the interglacial gin of which is still controversial, either pedo- system by ~10° of latitude equatorward (Togg- dust is recycled from older glacial loess. We genic, supplied by upper-level airflow, and/or weiler and Russell, 2008; Kapp et al., 2011). In by adherence to the coarse fraction (Derbyshire deeper time, this westerly wind pathway would †licht@ uw .edu et al., 1998; Sun et al., 2006; Stevens and Lu, have been favored by a lower-elevation north- GSA Bulletin; May/June 2016; v. 128; no. 5/6; p. 944–956; doi: 10.1130/B31375.1; 9 figures; 2 tables; Data Repository item 2016026; published online 8 January 2016. 944 GeologicalFor permission Society to of copy, America contact [email protected] Bulletin, v. 128, no. 5/6 © 2016 Geological Society of America Reworked loess and fluvial sediment as the main sources of the Chinese Loess Plateau Alta i Figure 1. Schematic map of Central Asia, showing the modern, simplified dust-storm T Gobi 40° iansha 1 n Desert 30°E tracks and near-surface wind patterns (red arrows), through- 120° Taklimakan Desert C out the (A) Mu Us, (B) Tengger, Pamir gh and (C) Badan Jaran Deserts, n Ta Qilia B A Altu n S and the hypothetical “glacial” han iver Qaidam dust-storm track (blue arrows), Kunlun w R llo Basin Shan e Y through the Qaidam Basin and QinlingShan across northern and central 0°N 3 Tibet (Pullen et al., 2011). Chinese LoessPlateau Tibet Sand desert Modern dust-storm track Glacial dust-storm track 500 km ern Tibetan Plateau until the late Neogene–early et al., 2011; Lease et al., 2007, 2012; Weislogel Plateau, we sampled modern eolian sand dunes Quaternary (Sun et al., 2008; Nie et al., 2014). et al., 2010). However, the number (n) of U-Pb (one sample in the Mu Us Desert, four in the However, the relative contributions from the ages per published loess sample (commonly n < Tengger Desert, and two in the Badan Jaran Qaidam Basin compared with that of the more 150) is so far too low to accurately constrain Desert). We also sampled the tops of yardangs proximal desert regions and the Yellow River the relative contribution of each age group (see (three samples in the Mu Us Desert and four in to the north in the eolian sedimentary budget next section; e.g., Andersen, 2005; Pullen et al., the Badan Jaran Desert), streamlined landforms are poorly constrained, given the complexity of 2014). Some workers have been using the multi- sculpted by windblown sand and composed of the provenance problem with multiple potential dimensional scaling (MDS) statistical technique Pliocene–Quaternary to Cretaceous sedimen- source regions. of Vermeesch (2013), based on the less n-depen- tary bedrock. In the western, deflationary, and Single-grain U-Pb dating of detrital zircons dent Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) statistic, as a bedrock-floored Qaidam Basin, we sampled is an efficient and effective technique to dif- visualization tool to qualitatively estimate the Miocene–Pliocene strata that have been sculpted ferentiate the contribution of discrete sources similarity (or dissimilarity) between loess sam- into yardangs (three samples, which were previ- in sediment samples (Gehrels, 2000). U-Pb ples and potential sources (Stevens et al., 2013; ously assessed using cosmogenic nuclides by analy ses of detrital zircon grains produce age Che and Li, 2013; Bird et al., 2015). However, Rohrmann et al., 2013). To represent the aver- distributions that reflect the ages of zircons in this approach does not provide quantitative esti- age influx of sediment from northeast Tibet, the source rocks for the sediment. The pres- mates of the relative contribution of the different we sampled modern fluvial deposits from the ence or absence of a particular age group in a dust source regions. Yellow River at the western edge of the Mu Us sample is used as a test to determine if a par- This paper presents new U-Pb ages of detrital Desert (one sample). We also determined new ticular source region contributes to the sample zircons from eolian and fluvial deposits as well U-Pb ages on zircons from paleosol layers in the (Gehrels et al., 2011). Recent developments in as from wind-eroded strata in central China, in Heimugou section (layers S0, S1, S9, S15 and laser-ablation techniques allow for U-Pb analy- order to better illuminate the zircon age dis- S22; after Porter, 2001) of the central Chinese ses of small (<40 µm) zircons in eolian dust tributions in potential dust source regions.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Wind Can Keep Mountains from Growing 28 March 2011
    Wind can keep mountains from growing 28 March 2011 basin, central Asia: implications for tectonics, paleoclimate, and the source of the Loess Plateau," is in the April/May issue of GSA Today. Kapp's co-authors are Jon D. Pelletier and Joellen Russell of the UA; Alexander Rohrmann, formerly of the UA and now at the University of Potsdam in Germany; Richard Heermance of California State University, Northridge; and Lin Ding of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing. The American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund and a UA Faculty Small Grant funded the research. The geoscientists figured out wind's rock-sculpting Researchers sit atop a wind-formed ridge called a abilities by studying gigantic wind-formed ridges of yardang located in the Qaidam Basin of Central Asia. The yardangs in that area can be as much as 40 meters rock called yardangs. (about 130 feet) tall and about a football field (100 meters) apart. Credit: Paul Kapp, University of Arizona. Kapp first learned about yardangs when reviewing a scientific paper about Central Asia's Qaidam Basin. To see the geology for himself, he booted up Google Earth -- and was wowed by what he saw. Wind is a much more powerful force in the evolution of mountains than previously thought, "I'd never seen anything like that before," he said. "I according to a new report from a University of didn't even know what a yardang was." Arizona-led research team. Huge fields of yardangs that can be seen from Bedrock in Central Asia that would have formed space look like corduroy.
    [Show full text]
  • High-Resolution Magnetostratigraphy of the Neogene Huaitoutala Section
    Earth and Planetary Science Letters 258 (2007) 293–306 www.elsevier.com/locate/epsl High-resolution magnetostratigraphy of the Neogene Huaitoutala section in the eastern Qaidam Basin on the NE Tibetan Plateau, Qinghai Province, China and its implication on tectonic uplift of the NE Tibetan Plateau ⁎ Xiaomin Fang a,b, , Weilin Zhang a, Qingquan Meng b, Junping Gao b, Xiaoming Wang c, John King d, Chunhui Song b, Shuang Dai b, Yunfa Miao b a Center for Basin Resource and Environment, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P. O. Box 2871, Beilin North Str. 18, Beijing 100085, China b Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems, Ministry of Education of China & College of Resources and Environment, Lanzhou University, Gansu 730000, China c Department of Vertebrate Paleontology, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, 900 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA d Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, URI Bay Campus Box 52, South Ferry Road, Narragansett, RI 02882-1197, USA Received 31 December 2006; received in revised form 23 March 2007; accepted 23 March 2007 Available online 31 March 2007 Editor: R.D. van der Hilst Abstract The closed inland Qaidam Basin in the NE Tibetan Plateau contains possibly the world's thickest (∼12,000 m) continuous sequence of Cenozoic fluviolacustrine sedimentary rocks. This sequence contains considerable information on the history of Tibetan uplift and associated climatic change. However, work within Qaidam Basin has been held back by a paucity of precise time constraints on this sequence. Here we report on a detailed paleomagnetic study of the well exposed 4570 m Huaitoutala section along the Keluke anticline in the northeastern Qaidam Basin, where three distinct faunas were recovered and identified from the middle Miocene through Pliocene.
    [Show full text]
  • Abiotic CO2 Uptake from the Atmosphere by Semiarid Desert Soil and Its Partitioning Into Soil Phases, Geophys
    PUBLICATIONS Geophysical Research Letters RESEARCH LETTER Abiotic CO2 uptake from the atmosphere 10.1002/2015GL064689 by semiarid desert soil and its Key Points: 13 partitioning into soil phases • We added CO2 to natural (unsterilized) desert soil 1 1 1 1 1 1 13 Jiabin Liu , Keyu Fa , Yuqing Zhang , Bin Wu , Shugao Qin , and Xin Jia • Soil absorbed CO2 at a mean rate of À1 À1 0.28g m d 1Yanchi Research Station, School of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China • The majority of fixed carbon was conserved in the soil solid phase Abstract Deserts may show strong downward CO2 fluxes and thus could be a significant carbon sink. Supporting Information: However, this hypothesis has been strongly challenged because of the failure to determine both the • Tables S1–S3 13 reliability of flux measurements and the exact location of fixed carbon. In this study, we added CO2 to natural (unsterilized) soil in the Mu Us Desert in northern China and quantified the partitioning of added Correspondence to: 13 13 Y. Zhang, CO2 into soil solid and vapor phases. Results show that natural desert soil absorbed CO2 at a mean rate À2 À1 13 13 [email protected] of 0.28 g m d .Oftheabsorbed CO2, 7.1% was released over a 48h period after CO2 feeding, 72.8% was stored in the soil solid phase, 0.0007% was found in the vapor phase, while 20.0% of the absorbed 13 Citation: CO2 was undetected. These results indicate that undisturbed desert soils can absorb CO2 from the Liu, J., K.
    [Show full text]
  • Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Land-Use and Land-Cover in the Mu Us Sandy Land, China, Using the Change Vector Analysis Technique
    Remote Sens. 2014, 6, 9316-9339; doi:10.3390/rs6109316 OPEN ACCESS remote sensing ISSN 2072-4292 www.mdpi.com/journal/remotesensing Article Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Land-Use and Land-Cover in the Mu Us Sandy Land, China, Using the Change Vector Analysis Technique Arnon Karnieli 1,*, Zhihao Qin 2, Bo Wu 3, Natalya Panov 1 and Feng Yan 3 1 The Remote Sensing Laboratory, Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boker Campus, Midreshet Ben-Gurion 84990, Israel; E-Mail: [email protected] 2 Institute of Agro-Resources and Regional Planning, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100081, China; E-Mail: [email protected] 3 Institute of Desertification Studies, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China; E-Mails: [email protected] (B.W.); [email protected] (F.Y.) * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: [email protected]; Tel.: +972-8-6596-855; Fax: +972-8-6596-805. External Editor: Prasad S. Thenkabail Received: 16 June 2014; in revised form: 5 September 2014 / Accepted: 9 September 2014 / Published: 29 September 2014 Abstract: The spatial extent of desertified vs. rehabilitated areas in the Mu Us Sandy Land, China, was explored. The area is characterized by complex landscape changes that were caused by different drivers, either natural or anthropogenic, interacting with each other, and resulting in multiple consequences. Two biophysical variables, NDVI, positively correlated with vegetation cover, and albedo, positively correlated with cover of exposed sands, were computed from a time series of merged NOAA-AVHRR and MODIS images (1981 to 2010).
    [Show full text]
  • DEPARTMENT of the INTERIOR U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Notes
    DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Notes on Sedimentary Basins in China Report of the American Sedimentary Basins Delegation to the People's Republic of China A. W. Bally 1 , I-Ming Chou2, R. Clayton3, H. P. Eugster4, S. Kidwell5, L. D. Meckel6, R. T. Ryder7, A. B. Watts8, A. A. Wilson9 1. Rice University, Houston 2. U. S. Geological Survey, Reston 3. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena 4. Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore 5. University of Chicago 6. L. D. Meckel Company, Houston 7. U. S. Geological Survey, Reston 8. Lament Doherty Geological Observatory, Columbia University, New York 9. National Academy of Sciences, Washington Open-File Report 86-327 This report is preliminary and has not been reviewed for conformity with U. S. Geological Survey editiorial standards. 1986 NOTICE The views expressed in this report are those of the members of the Sedimentary Basins Delegation and are in no way the official views of the Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic of China or its sponsoring organizations the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Social Science Research Council. The visit consisting of a bilateral workshop and field trip was part of the exchange program between the two countries and was supported by the National Academy of Sciences in the United States and the China Association for Science and Technology in China, with the Chinese Petroleum Society bearing special responsibilities as host. U.S. funding was provided by the National Science Foundation. The Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic of China was founded in 1966 by the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Social Science Research Council.
    [Show full text]
  • Characteristic Analysis of Sandstorms in Taklamakan Desert
    ITM Web of Conferences 12, 04022 (2017) DOI: 10.1051/ itmconf/20171204022 ITA 2017 Characteristic Analysis of Sandstorms in Taklamakan Desert Teng-Ling LUO1,2,a, Wei-Ming ZHANG1,b, Qun-Bo HUANG1,2,c, Yi YU1,2, De XING1,2,d, and Xiang XING1,2,d 1Academy of Ocean Science and Engineering, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, China 2College of Computer, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, China [email protected] Abstract: Firstly, the annual variation of sandstorm and strong sandstorm weather process in China from 2000 to 2012 is analyzed according to the"Sand-Dust Weather Yearbook" (2012). Secondly, based on the ERA-Interim Reanalysis from ECMWF and MISR data from the Terra satellite, we investigate the correlation between different dust weather process and land meteorological elements. Finally, the temporal and spatial distribution features of the aerosol optical depth (AOD) in the Taklamakan Desert is studied. And we compare the Taklamakan Desert AOD with nationwide AOD. The results show that: (1) the frequency of sandstorm and strong sandstorm has shown a downward trend and the occurrence of sandstorm decreases more in recent years. (2) In the Taklamakan Desert, the number of sandstorm is positively correlated with the surface temperature, meanwhile, negatively related to the surface relative humidity. (3) In all seasons, the average of AOD in Taklamakan Desert is higher than that of the whole country, and there are obvious differences among the four seasons. 1 Introduction climate model to predict the abnormal climate and sandstorm 8. Sandstorm is a weather phenomenon that strong wind Since the occurrence of sandstorm is directly affected blows dust on the ground, making the air turbid and by the surface meteorological elements, it is essential to causing the level of visibility less than 1km 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Yardangs in the Qaidam Basin, Northwestern China: Distribution
    Aeolian Research 20 (2016) 89–99 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Aeolian Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/aeolia Yardangs in the Qaidam Basin, northwestern China: Distribution and morphology ⇑ Jiyan Li a, , Zhibao Dong b, Guangqiang Qian b, Zhengcai Zhang b, Wanyin Luo b, Junfeng Lu b, Meng Wang b a Taiyuan Normal University, Jinzhong, Shanxi 030619, China b Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 320, West Donggang Road, Lanzhou, Gansu 730000, China article info abstract Article history: The northwestern Qaidam Basin exposes one of the largest and highest elevation yardang fields on Earth. Received 17 April 2015 The aim of the present study was to describe the distribution and morphology of these yardangs, and ana- Revised 31 October 2015 lyze the factors responsible for the distribution pattern of these aeolian landforms. The yardang fields are Accepted 2 November 2015 bounded by piedmont alluvial–diluvial fans from the mountain ranges surrounding the basin, except in Available online 6 January 2016 the south, where they are bounded by dune fields, dry salt flats, lakes, and rivers. This distribution pattern can be attributed to regional tectogenesis and its corresponding environmental impacts. The morphology Keywords: of the yardangs varies considerably in response to the diverse factors that control their formation and Yardangs evolution. Long-ridge yardangs are mainly located in the northernmost part of the yardang field, and Aeolian erosion landforms Dune fields the long ridges are gradually dissected into smaller ridges in the downwind direction. Further downwind, Aeolian geomorphology the convergence of northerly and northwesterly winds and the effects of temporary runoff cause the Qaidam Basin ridges to gradually transition into mesa yardangs.
    [Show full text]
  • From the Western Qaidam Basin, China: Implications for Glacial-Period Dust Export from Central Asia
    230Th/234U and 36C1 dating of evaporite deposits from the western Qaidam Basin, China: Implications for glacial-period dust export from Central Asia FRED M. PHILLIPS J- Geoscience Department, New Mexico Tech, Socorro, New Mexico 87801 MAREK G. ZREDA TEH LUNG KU SHANGDE LUO j-^ DepartmentDepartment ofof GeologicalGeological Sciences,Sciences, UniversityUniversity ofof SouthernSouthern California,California, LosLos Angeles,Angeles, CaliforniaCalifornia !90089 QI HUANG Salt Lakesces Institute, Académica Sínica, Xining, Qinghai, People's Republic of China DAVID ELMORE* PETER W. KUBIK* J> Nuclear Structure Research Laboratory, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627 PANKAJ SHARMA* 1 ABSTRACT this change of regime was enhanced transport and Nees, 1986). Arid climates reduce vege- of dust. The association of thick loess depos- tational cover, thereby allowing increased The western Qaidam Basin contains numer- its in the mid-latitudes with maxima in global wind erosion and dust input to the atmo- ous hydrologically closed lakes and playas. We ice volume has been recognized for many sphere. Therefore, as long as an adequate have measured uranium, thorium, and chlo- years (von Richthofen, 1882). The scale of supply of dust size particles remains in the rine radioisotopes in sediments from drill cores the dust transport that accompanied the gla- source region, increasingly arid climates will at two of these, Gasikule Lake and Dalangtan cial maxima, however, has only recently result in increased dust flux to the oceans." dry playa, in order to date cycles of high and been documented. Polar ice, from both the Although this mechanism for enhanced low lake level. The sediment chronologies from Greenland (Hammer and others, 1985) and dust mobilization is plausible, two consider- the two sub-basins are generally concordant, the Antarctic (De Angelis and others, 1987; ations warrant further consideration.
    [Show full text]
  • Hydrological and Climatic Changes in Deserts of China Since the Late Pleistocene
    Quaternary Research 73 (2010) 1–9 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Quaternary Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/yqres Hydrological and climatic changes in deserts of China since the late Pleistocene Xiaoping Yang a,⁎, Louis A. Scuderi b a Key Laboratory of Cenozoic Geology and Environment, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 9825, Beijing 100029, China b Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, MSC032040 Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA article info abstract Article history: Large areas in western China were wetlands or less arid between 40 and 30 ka, corresponding to the Received 6 April 2009 “Greatest Lake Period” on the adjacent Tibetan Plateau. During the last glacial maximum, some of these Available online 17 November 2009 western Chinese deserts again experienced wetter conditions; however, at the same time the sandy lands in the eastern Chinese desert belt experienced an activation of aeolian dunes. While interpretations of the mid- Keywords: Holocene environment in the deserts of China are controversial, it is quite likely that it was more humid not Dune only in the eastern areas influenced by monsoon climate systems but also in the western deserts where Desert Lacustrine record moisture is currently associated with westerlies. Evaluation of lacustrine records in the lakes recharged by Late Quaternary dryland rivers and the complex interactions of these systems, as well as other paleoenvironmental proxies Holocene such as the Artemisia/Chenopodiaceae ratio, should be interpreted with greater caution. Facing the China highlighted uncertainties in our understanding of climate changes in Chinese deserts, it is hoped that this special issue will improve our knowledge considerably.
    [Show full text]
  • Metallogeny of Northern, Central and Eastern Asia
    METALLOGENY OF NORTHERN, CENTRAL AND EASTERN ASIA Explanatory Note to the Metallogenic map of Northern–Central–Eastern Asia and Adjacent Areas at scale 1:2,500,000 VSEGEI Printing House St. Petersburg • 2017 Abstract Explanatory Notes for the “1:2.5 M Metallogenic Map of Northern, Central, and Eastern Asia” show results of long-term joint research of national geological institutions of Russia, China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and the Republic of Korea. The latest published geological materials and results of discussions for Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and North Korea were used as well. Described metallogenic objects: 7,081 mineral deposits, 1,200 ore knots, 650 ore regions and ore zones, 231 metallogenic areas and metallogenic zones, 88 metallogenic provinces. The total area of the map is 30 M km2. Tab. 10, fig. 15, list of ref. 94 items. Editors-in-Chief: O.V. Petrov, A.F. Morozov, E.A. Kiselev, S.P. Shokalsky (Russia), Dong Shuwen (China), O. Chuluun, O. Tomurtogoo (Mongolia), B.S. Uzhkenov, M.A. Sayduakasov (Kazakhstan), Hwang Jae Ha, Kim Bok Chul (Korea) Authors G.A. Shatkov, O.V. Petrov, E.M. Pinsky, N.S. Solovyev, V.P. Feoktistov, V.V. Shatov, L.D. Rucheykova, V.A. Gushchina, A.N. Gureev (Russia); Chen Tingyu, Geng Shufang, Dong Shuwen, Chen Binwei, Huang Dianhao, Song Tianrui, Sheng Jifu, Zhu Guanxiang, Sun Guiying, Yan Keming, Min Longrui, Jin Ruogu, Liu Ping, Fan Benxian, Ju Yuanjing, Wang Zhenyang, Han Kunying, Wang Liya (China); Dezhidmaa G., Tomurtogoo O. (Mongolia); Bok Chul Kim, Hwang Jae Ha (Republic of Korea); B.S. Uzhkenov, A.L.
    [Show full text]
  • Gustiness: the Driver of Glacial Dustiness?
    Quaternary Science Reviews xxx (2010) 1e11 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Quaternary Science Reviews journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quascirev Gustiness: The driver of glacial dustiness? David McGee a,b,*, Wallace S. Broecker a,b, Gisela Winckler a,b a LamonteDoherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, P.O. Box 1000, Palisades, NY 10964, United States b Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, United States article info abstract Article history: During glacial periods of the Late Quaternary, mineral dust emissions from Earth’s dominant source areas Received 16 January 2010 were a factor of 2e4 higher than interglacial levels. The causes of these fluctuations are poorly under- Received in revised form stood, limiting interpretation of dust flux records and assessment of dust’s role in past climate changes. 30 May 2010 Here we consider several possible drivers of glacialeinterglacial dust flux changes in an effort to assess Accepted 4 June 2010 their relative importance. We demonstrate that a wide range of data supports wind gustiness as a primary driver of global dust levels, with steepened meridional temperature gradients during glacial periods causing increases in dust emissions through increases in the intensity and frequency of high- speed wind events in dust source areas. We also find that lake level records near dust source areas do not consistently support the hypothesis that aridity controls glacialeinterglacial dust emission changes on a global scale, and we identify evidence negating atmospheric pCO2 and sea level as dominant controls. Glaciogenic sediment supply, vegetation and aridity changes appear to be locally important factors but do not appear to explain the global nature of glacialeinterglacial dust flux changes.
    [Show full text]
  • Nationwide Desert Highway Assessment: a Case Study in China
    Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2011, 8, 2734-2746; doi:10.3390/ijerph8072734 OPEN ACCESS International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ISSN 1660-4601 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph Article Nationwide Desert Highway Assessment: A Case Study in China Xuesong Mao *, Fuchun Wang and Binggang Wang Key Laboratory for Special Area Highway Engineering of Ministry of Education, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710064, China; E-Mails: [email protected] (F.W.); [email protected] (B.W.) * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: [email protected]; Tel.: +86-29-82334869; Fax: +86-29-82334869. Received: 20 May 2011; in revised form: 13 June 2011 / Accepted: 26 June 2011 / Published: 30 June 2011 Abstract: The natural environment affects the construction of desert highways. Conversely, highway construction affects the natural environment and puts the ecological environment at a disadvantage. To satisfy the variety and hierarchy of desert highway construction and discover the spatio-temporal distribution of the natural environment and its effect on highway construction engineering, an assessment of the natural regional divisions of desert highways in China is carried out for the first time. Based on the general principles and method for the natural region division, the principles, method and index system for desert highway assessment is put forward by combining the desert highway construction features and the azonal differentiation law. The index system combines the dominant indicator and four auxiliary indicators. The dominant indicator is defined by the desert’s comprehensive state index and the auxiliary indicators include the sand dune height, the blown sand strength, the vegetation coverage ratio and the annual average temperature difference.
    [Show full text]