The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, c. 26-16 ka) and the Holocene Optimum (HO, c. 9-5 ka) were characterized by cold-dry and warm-wet climates respectively in the recently geological Earth. How Chinese deserts and sand fie...The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, c. 26-16 ka) and the Holocene Optimum (HO, c. 9-5 ka) were characterized by cold-dry and warm-wet climates respectively in the recently geological Earth. How Chinese deserts and sand fields responded to these distinctive climatic changes is still not clear, however. To reconstruct environments of the deserts and sand fields during the LGM and HO is helpful to understand the forcing mechanisms of environment change in this arid region, and to test paleoclimatic modeling results. Through our long-term field and laboratory investigations, 400 optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages and more than 100 depositional records in the Chinese deserts and sand fields were obtained; on the basis of these data, we reconstruct spatial distributions of the deserts and sand fields during the LGM and HO. Our results show that the sand fields of Mu Us, Hunshandake, Horqin and Hulun Buir in northern and northeastern China had expanded 25%, 37%, 38% and 270%, respectively, during the LGM; the sand fields of Gonghe in the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau had expanded 20%, and the deserts of Badain Jaran, Tengger in central northern China had expanded 39% and 29% separately during the LGM; the deserts of Taklimakan, Gurbantünggüt and Kumtag in northwestern China had expanded 10%-20% respectively, compared to their modern areas. On the other hand, all of the sand fields were nearly completely covered by vegetation during the HO; the deserts in northwestern and central northern China were reduced by around 5%-20% in area during this time. Lakes in this arid region were probably expanded during the HO but this conclusion needs more investigation. Compared with the geological distributions of deserts and sand fields, human activity has clearly changed (expanded) the area of active sand dunes at the present time. Our observations show that environmental conditions of Chinese deserts and sand fields are controlled by regional climate together with human activity.展开更多
Two parallel loess-soil sequences from Xuancheng and Fanchang in southern Anhui Province are dated using geomagnetic and luminescence methods. The Brunhes/Matuyama (B/M) reversal boundary is recognized within the lowe...Two parallel loess-soil sequences from Xuancheng and Fanchang in southern Anhui Province are dated using geomagnetic and luminescence methods. The Brunhes/Matuyama (B/M) reversal boundary is recognized within the lower part of the so-called Vermiculated Red Soil (VRS) in the Xuancheng section while the entire Fanchang sequence is of Brunhes age. This indicates that the most recent VRS in southern China, a stratigraphic marker and an indication of extremely warm-humid conditions, was formed during the middle Pleistocene, chronologically correlative with the S4 and S5 soil units in northern China. Microscopic and sedimentologic investigations reveal that eolian deposition started in this region at about 0.85 MaBP, roughly synchronous with the well-known Mid-Pleistocene climate change of global significance. The strengthening of both summer and winter monsoon circulations and the consequent river hydrological changes at that time would have provided favorable conditions for sustained eolian deposition in the middle-lower reaches of the Yangtze River since 0.85 MaBP.展开更多
The mid-Pleistocene vermiculated red soils (VRS) from Xuancheng (Anhui Province) and Bose (Guangxi) are studied through soil micromor- phological, mineralogical and chemical approaches. The results indicate a polygene...The mid-Pleistocene vermiculated red soils (VRS) from Xuancheng (Anhui Province) and Bose (Guangxi) are studied through soil micromor- phological, mineralogical and chemical approaches. The results indicate a polygenetic nature of the VRS, having experienced multiple soil-forming stages. Three main stages have been recognized, attribut- able to distinct climate regimes. They include the formation of the homogeneous matrix of a red soil (stage 1), development of the white veins within the soil profile (stage 2), and formation of juxtaposed textural features (stage 3). The white veins, resulting from iron-depletion in the groundmass of the homo- geneous matrix of a red soil, required abundant rainfall without significant seasonal desiccations. The geographically widely spread VRS south of the Yangtze River in China implies a Mid-Pleistocene extreme East Asian summer monsoon. This climate extreme might be closely linked with the changes in the strength of NADW.展开更多
Climate in Eastern Asia is composed of monsoon climate in the east,arid and semi-arid climate in the north and west,and the cold and dry climate of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in the southwest.The underlying causes for th...Climate in Eastern Asia is composed of monsoon climate in the east,arid and semi-arid climate in the north and west,and the cold and dry climate of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in the southwest.The underlying causes for the evolution of East Asian climate during late Cenozoic have long been investigated and debated,particularly with regards to the role played by the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau uplift and the global cooling.In this paper,we reviewed major research developments in this area,and summarized the important results.Based on a synthesis of data,we propose that the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau uplift alone cannot fully explain the formation of monsoon and arid climates in Eastern Asia during the past 22–25 Ma.Other factors such as the global ice volume and high-latitude temperature changes have also played a vital role.Moreover,atmospheric CO2changes may have modulated the monsoon and dry climate changes by affecting the location of the inter-tropical convergence zone(ITCZ),which controls the monsoon precipitation zone and the track of the East Asian winter monsoon during late Cenozoic.The integration of high-resolution geological record and numerical paleoclimate modeling could make new contributions to understanding the climate evolution and variation in eastern Asia in future studies.It could facilitate the investigation of the regional differences in East Asian environmental changes and the asynchronous nature between the uplift of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and their climatic effects.These would be the keys to understanding underlying driving forces for the evolution of the East Asian climate.展开更多
Carbon isotopes of pedogenic carbonate are often used to study paleoenvironments, but the existence of detrital carbonate changes the carbon isotopic composition. To develop an experimental method to determine existen...Carbon isotopes of pedogenic carbonate are often used to study paleoenvironments, but the existence of detrital carbonate changes the carbon isotopic composition. To develop an experimental method to determine existence of detrital carbonate in carbonate nodules, and to avoid it during isotope analysis, 23 pedogenic carbonate nodules in Miocene loess from the Loess Plateau of China were studied through micromorphology and carbon isotope analysis. The difference in carbon isotopic composition between matrix carbonate (B) and pore carbonate (A) (δ 13C(B-A)) ranges from 0.27‰ to 0.44‰ in nodules containing detrital carbonate and -0.16‰ to 0.13‰ in nodules where detrital carbonate is absent. The latter is within measurement error, but the former is beyond it. Here we propose an isotopic approach to determine if nodules contain detrital carbonate: if δ 13C(B-A) is within the measurement error, the nodules do not contain detrital carbonate, and vice versa. We suggest that it is better to analyze pore carbonate instead of matrix carbonate when using carbon isotope of carbonate nodules to reconstruct paleoenvironments.展开更多
The geomorphic evolution of northwestern China during the Cenozoic has been a subject of much geological interest because of its link with the uplift of the Himalayan-Tibetan complex.Much information about these chang...The geomorphic evolution of northwestern China during the Cenozoic has been a subject of much geological interest because of its link with the uplift of the Himalayan-Tibetan complex.Much information about these changes is recoverable from the sedimentary sequences of the region.We report here on the thick eolian deposits mantling the Huajialing Mountains,a relatively flat mountain range in the western Loess Plateau.Correlation of magnetic susceptibility stratigraphy with the QA-I Miocene eolian sequence dates a 134.7 m section(NL-VII) for the interval from 18.7 to 11.8 Ma,as confirmed by micro-mammalian fossils.These eolian deposits demonstrate a much wider distribution of the Miocene eolian deposits,and also indicate that the topography contrasts in the western Loess Plateau,including the uplifts of the Huajialing Mountains and the bedrock highlands in the Qinan region,were formed by the early Miocene.The near-continuous Miocene eolian sequence from 18.7 to 11.8 Ma indicates that the substratum of Huajialing had not experienced any intense tectonic changes during this time interval,which suggests further,the relative tectonic stability of the nearby Tibetan Plateau.展开更多
Study on two loess sections, one located at Wu-wei near the Tengger Desert in northwestern China, another located near Ganzi at the southeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau in southwest China, reveals a coeval drying s...Study on two loess sections, one located at Wu-wei near the Tengger Desert in northwestern China, another located near Ganzi at the southeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau in southwest China, reveals a coeval drying step occurred at -250 kaBP. It is expressed by the increase in eolian grain-size at Wuwei, and by a drastic extension of C4 plants and a decrease of loess chemical weathering intensity at Ganzi. Examination of the available eolian data indicates that the event has also been clearly documented in the loess sections near the deserts in northern China, and in the eolian records from the North Pacific. On the contrary, the signal is rather weak for the central and southern Loess Plateau regions as well as for Central Asia, where the climates are influenced by the southeast Asian monsoon and the westerlies, respectively. Since the climate at Ganzi is under strong control of the southwest Asian monsoon, we interpret this drying step as a result of decreased influence of the southwest summer展开更多
Understanding the response of ecosystems to past climate is critical for evaluating the impacts of future climate changes.A large-scale abrupt shift of vegetation in response to the Holocene gradual climate changes ha...Understanding the response of ecosystems to past climate is critical for evaluating the impacts of future climate changes.A large-scale abrupt shift of vegetation in response to the Holocene gradual climate changes has been well documented for the Sahara-Sahel ecosystem. Whether such a non-linear response is of universal significance remains to be further addressed. Here,we examine the vegetation-climate relationships in central Asia based on a compilation of 38 high-quality pollen records. The results show that the Holocene vegetation experienced two major abrupt shifts, one in the early Holocene(Shift I, establishing shift) and another in the late Holocene(Shift II, collapsing shift), while the mid-Holocene vegetation remained rather stable. The timings of these shifts in different regions are asynchronous, which are not readily linkable with any known abrupt climate shifts,but are highly correlated with the local rainfalls. These new findings suggest that the observed vegetation shifts are attributable to the threshold effects of the orbital-induced gradual climate changes. During the early Holocene, the orbital-induced precipitation increase would have first reached the threshold for vegetation "establishment" for moister areas, but significantly later for drier areas. In contrast, the orbital-induced precipitation decrease during the late Holocene would have first reached the threshold, and led to the vegetation "collapse" for drier areas, but delayed for moister areas. The well-known 4.2 kyr BP drought event and human intervention would have also helped the vegetation collapses at some sites. These interpretations are strongly supported by our surface pollen-climate analyses and ecosystem simulations. These results also imply that future climate changes may cause abrupt changes in the dry ecosystem once the threshold is reached.展开更多
The increase in the global average temperature during the last century is considered an integrated result of anthropogenic and natural forcing, but different views remain about the anthropogenic impacts on the Asian m...The increase in the global average temperature during the last century is considered an integrated result of anthropogenic and natural forcing, but different views remain about the anthropogenic impacts on the Asian monsoon precipitation. Based on the ~2000-year records of stalagmite δ18O from the Dongge Cave (Guizhou Province) and Wanxiang Cave (Gansu Province), we address the possible anthropogenic impacts on the southwest and southeast Asian monsoon from 1900-2000 AD, using the method of Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA). The results show that the monsoon precipitation trends in the last 100 years at both sites can be obtained through SSA prediction using the data prior to 1900 AD. These suggest that human activity has not significantly affected the trends of monsoon precipitation despite of its impact on the global temperature.展开更多
A comprehensive database of paleoenvironmental settings for paleoanthropological sites provides a useful tool to explore the link between human evolution and paleoenvironmental changes. A preliminary GIS-based environ...A comprehensive database of paleoenvironmental settings for paleoanthropological sites provides a useful tool to explore the link between human evolution and paleoenvironmental changes. A preliminary GIS-based environmental database for paleoanthropological sites in China (EDPC) was constructed based on data collected from published literature. The database currently contains 1114 paleoanthropological sites. It will be available for online access following the establishment of relevant rules, and after improvement and further development through regular and sustained updates by internal and external users. Preliminary analyses using the GIS system yielded new evidence regarding human-environmental relationships.展开更多
We developed a soil morphological index to quantitatively measure the degree ofpaleosol development. For its development, this index combined paleopedogenic features with tensoil macro- and micro-morphological propert...We developed a soil morphological index to quantitatively measure the degree ofpaleosol development. For its development, this index combined paleopedogenic features with tensoil macro- and micro-morphological properties from morphological descriptions of Potou and JiuZhoutai loess sections in the Loess Plateau of China. These ten properties are: rubification (colorhue and chroma), total texture (texture type, stickiness and plasticity), melanization (color value),microstructure, fine material (【0.01 mm), primary carbonate, biotite, fe(hydr)oxides, secondarycarbonate (micromorphology) and illuvial clay. Future study may reject some of these propertiesand add others. The index works well with the loess-paleosol sequences. The soil morphologicalindex successfully identifies paleosols and weak-paleosols.展开更多
Neogene eolian successions are one of the most important terrestrial palaeoenvironmental archives in East Asia.However, they have received far less attention than Quaternary loess deposits, especially in the case of l...Neogene eolian successions are one of the most important terrestrial palaeoenvironmental archives in East Asia.However, they have received far less attention than Quaternary loess deposits, especially in the case of lipid biomarker analysis.In order to obtain a better insight into the early-middle Miocene palaeoenvironment, we conducted a study of n-alkane biomarkers from sediments of the QA-I section(Qinan) in the western Chinese Loess Plateau, and compared the results with those of previous n-alkane analyses of eolian and aquatic sediments of varying age. Our principal results are as follows:(1) All QA-I samples contain n-alkanes ranging from C_(14) to C_(35), among which the relative content of short-chain n-alkanes(C_(14)–C_(20)) from microorganisms is significantly greater than that of long-chain n-alkanes(C_(26)–C_(35)) from the waxes of terrestrial higher plants;the main peak is at C_(16)–C_(18). All samples have a relatively lower abundance of medium-chain n-alkanes(C_(21)–C_(25)) than that of long-and short-chain n-alkanes, similar to strongly weathered palaeosols in Quaternary loess and Late Miocene-Pliocene Hipparion Red-Earth; however, this distribution is significantly different from that in weakly-weathered loess of Quaternary loess and Late Miocene-Pliocene Hipparion Red-Earth, as well as from aquatic sediments.(2) Despite some odd-over-even carbon predominance of long-chain n-alkanes in the QA-I samples, the carbon preference index(CPI) values are significantly lower than those of most of the weakly-weathered sediments. Our results show that strong weathering and microbial processes have significantly altered the n-alkanes in the Miocene eolian deposits in Qinan, and led to a significant oxidation and degradation of long-chain n-alkanes and the predominance of short-chain n-alkanes from bacteria. Therefore, the contribution of microorganism to total organic carbon(TOC) and its resulting in carbon isotopic composition should be carefully assessed in future studies.展开更多
基金supported by the Global Changes Program of Ministry of Science and Technology of China(2010CB950203)the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(XDA05120704)+1 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(40930103 and 41021002)China National Science and Technology Basic Work Program(2006FY110800 and 2012FY111700)
文摘The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, c. 26-16 ka) and the Holocene Optimum (HO, c. 9-5 ka) were characterized by cold-dry and warm-wet climates respectively in the recently geological Earth. How Chinese deserts and sand fields responded to these distinctive climatic changes is still not clear, however. To reconstruct environments of the deserts and sand fields during the LGM and HO is helpful to understand the forcing mechanisms of environment change in this arid region, and to test paleoclimatic modeling results. Through our long-term field and laboratory investigations, 400 optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages and more than 100 depositional records in the Chinese deserts and sand fields were obtained; on the basis of these data, we reconstruct spatial distributions of the deserts and sand fields during the LGM and HO. Our results show that the sand fields of Mu Us, Hunshandake, Horqin and Hulun Buir in northern and northeastern China had expanded 25%, 37%, 38% and 270%, respectively, during the LGM; the sand fields of Gonghe in the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau had expanded 20%, and the deserts of Badain Jaran, Tengger in central northern China had expanded 39% and 29% separately during the LGM; the deserts of Taklimakan, Gurbantünggüt and Kumtag in northwestern China had expanded 10%-20% respectively, compared to their modern areas. On the other hand, all of the sand fields were nearly completely covered by vegetation during the HO; the deserts in northwestern and central northern China were reduced by around 5%-20% in area during this time. Lakes in this arid region were probably expanded during the HO but this conclusion needs more investigation. Compared with the geological distributions of deserts and sand fields, human activity has clearly changed (expanded) the area of active sand dunes at the present time. Our observations show that environmental conditions of Chinese deserts and sand fields are controlled by regional climate together with human activity.
基金This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundaution of China(Grant Nos.49894170-06 and 40231001).
文摘Two parallel loess-soil sequences from Xuancheng and Fanchang in southern Anhui Province are dated using geomagnetic and luminescence methods. The Brunhes/Matuyama (B/M) reversal boundary is recognized within the lower part of the so-called Vermiculated Red Soil (VRS) in the Xuancheng section while the entire Fanchang sequence is of Brunhes age. This indicates that the most recent VRS in southern China, a stratigraphic marker and an indication of extremely warm-humid conditions, was formed during the middle Pleistocene, chronologically correlative with the S4 and S5 soil units in northern China. Microscopic and sedimentologic investigations reveal that eolian deposition started in this region at about 0.85 MaBP, roughly synchronous with the well-known Mid-Pleistocene climate change of global significance. The strengthening of both summer and winter monsoon circulations and the consequent river hydrological changes at that time would have provided favorable conditions for sustained eolian deposition in the middle-lower reaches of the Yangtze River since 0.85 MaBP.
基金Dr.Hao Qingzhen,Qiao Yansong and Wei Jianjing participated in the filed investigations and sample collection.The authors thank Profs.Yuan Baoyin,Huang Weiwen,Hou Yamei and Wang Wei for help during the field investigations at Bose.Yin Qiuzhen thanks Dr.Peng Shuzhen for help in XRD analyses.This work was supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences(Grant Nos.KZCX2-SW-133 and KZCX3-SW-139)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.40231001,40121303).
文摘The mid-Pleistocene vermiculated red soils (VRS) from Xuancheng (Anhui Province) and Bose (Guangxi) are studied through soil micromor- phological, mineralogical and chemical approaches. The results indicate a polygenetic nature of the VRS, having experienced multiple soil-forming stages. Three main stages have been recognized, attribut- able to distinct climate regimes. They include the formation of the homogeneous matrix of a red soil (stage 1), development of the white veins within the soil profile (stage 2), and formation of juxtaposed textural features (stage 3). The white veins, resulting from iron-depletion in the groundmass of the homo- geneous matrix of a red soil, required abundant rainfall without significant seasonal desiccations. The geographically widely spread VRS south of the Yangtze River in China implies a Mid-Pleistocene extreme East Asian summer monsoon. This climate extreme might be closely linked with the changes in the strength of NADW.
基金supported by the Global Change Research Program of Ministry of Science and Technology of China(Grant No.2010CB950200)National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.40930103)
文摘Climate in Eastern Asia is composed of monsoon climate in the east,arid and semi-arid climate in the north and west,and the cold and dry climate of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in the southwest.The underlying causes for the evolution of East Asian climate during late Cenozoic have long been investigated and debated,particularly with regards to the role played by the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau uplift and the global cooling.In this paper,we reviewed major research developments in this area,and summarized the important results.Based on a synthesis of data,we propose that the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau uplift alone cannot fully explain the formation of monsoon and arid climates in Eastern Asia during the past 22–25 Ma.Other factors such as the global ice volume and high-latitude temperature changes have also played a vital role.Moreover,atmospheric CO2changes may have modulated the monsoon and dry climate changes by affecting the location of the inter-tropical convergence zone(ITCZ),which controls the monsoon precipitation zone and the track of the East Asian winter monsoon during late Cenozoic.The integration of high-resolution geological record and numerical paleoclimate modeling could make new contributions to understanding the climate evolution and variation in eastern Asia in future studies.It could facilitate the investigation of the regional differences in East Asian environmental changes and the asynchronous nature between the uplift of Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and their climatic effects.These would be the keys to understanding underlying driving forces for the evolution of the East Asian climate.
基金supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2010CB950200)the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX2-YW-117)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (40730104)
文摘Carbon isotopes of pedogenic carbonate are often used to study paleoenvironments, but the existence of detrital carbonate changes the carbon isotopic composition. To develop an experimental method to determine existence of detrital carbonate in carbonate nodules, and to avoid it during isotope analysis, 23 pedogenic carbonate nodules in Miocene loess from the Loess Plateau of China were studied through micromorphology and carbon isotope analysis. The difference in carbon isotopic composition between matrix carbonate (B) and pore carbonate (A) (δ 13C(B-A)) ranges from 0.27‰ to 0.44‰ in nodules containing detrital carbonate and -0.16‰ to 0.13‰ in nodules where detrital carbonate is absent. The latter is within measurement error, but the former is beyond it. Here we propose an isotopic approach to determine if nodules contain detrital carbonate: if δ 13C(B-A) is within the measurement error, the nodules do not contain detrital carbonate, and vice versa. We suggest that it is better to analyze pore carbonate instead of matrix carbonate when using carbon isotope of carbonate nodules to reconstruct paleoenvironments.
基金supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 40730104)Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant Nos. KZCX2-YW-Q1-15 and KZCX2-YW-117)
文摘The geomorphic evolution of northwestern China during the Cenozoic has been a subject of much geological interest because of its link with the uplift of the Himalayan-Tibetan complex.Much information about these changes is recoverable from the sedimentary sequences of the region.We report here on the thick eolian deposits mantling the Huajialing Mountains,a relatively flat mountain range in the western Loess Plateau.Correlation of magnetic susceptibility stratigraphy with the QA-I Miocene eolian sequence dates a 134.7 m section(NL-VII) for the interval from 18.7 to 11.8 Ma,as confirmed by micro-mammalian fossils.These eolian deposits demonstrate a much wider distribution of the Miocene eolian deposits,and also indicate that the topography contrasts in the western Loess Plateau,including the uplifts of the Huajialing Mountains and the bedrock highlands in the Qinan region,were formed by the early Miocene.The near-continuous Miocene eolian sequence from 18.7 to 11.8 Ma indicates that the substratum of Huajialing had not experienced any intense tectonic changes during this time interval,which suggests further,the relative tectonic stability of the nearby Tibetan Plateau.
基金This work was supportedby the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 49894176, 40125001 and 49928101)the National Project for the Basic Research on Tibetan Plateau (Grant No. G1998040809).
文摘Study on two loess sections, one located at Wu-wei near the Tengger Desert in northwestern China, another located near Ganzi at the southeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau in southwest China, reveals a coeval drying step occurred at -250 kaBP. It is expressed by the increase in eolian grain-size at Wuwei, and by a drastic extension of C4 plants and a decrease of loess chemical weathering intensity at Ganzi. Examination of the available eolian data indicates that the event has also been clearly documented in the loess sections near the deserts in northern China, and in the eolian records from the North Pacific. On the contrary, the signal is rather weak for the central and southern Loess Plateau regions as well as for Central Asia, where the climates are influenced by the southeast Asian monsoon and the westerlies, respectively. Since the climate at Ganzi is under strong control of the southwest Asian monsoon, we interpret this drying step as a result of decreased influence of the southwest summer
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41330105, 41690113 and 41430531)the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFA0600501)the Chinese Academy of Sciences Strategic Priority Research Program (Grant No. XDB03030000)
文摘Understanding the response of ecosystems to past climate is critical for evaluating the impacts of future climate changes.A large-scale abrupt shift of vegetation in response to the Holocene gradual climate changes has been well documented for the Sahara-Sahel ecosystem. Whether such a non-linear response is of universal significance remains to be further addressed. Here,we examine the vegetation-climate relationships in central Asia based on a compilation of 38 high-quality pollen records. The results show that the Holocene vegetation experienced two major abrupt shifts, one in the early Holocene(Shift I, establishing shift) and another in the late Holocene(Shift II, collapsing shift), while the mid-Holocene vegetation remained rather stable. The timings of these shifts in different regions are asynchronous, which are not readily linkable with any known abrupt climate shifts,but are highly correlated with the local rainfalls. These new findings suggest that the observed vegetation shifts are attributable to the threshold effects of the orbital-induced gradual climate changes. During the early Holocene, the orbital-induced precipitation increase would have first reached the threshold for vegetation "establishment" for moister areas, but significantly later for drier areas. In contrast, the orbital-induced precipitation decrease during the late Holocene would have first reached the threshold, and led to the vegetation "collapse" for drier areas, but delayed for moister areas. The well-known 4.2 kyr BP drought event and human intervention would have also helped the vegetation collapses at some sites. These interpretations are strongly supported by our surface pollen-climate analyses and ecosystem simulations. These results also imply that future climate changes may cause abrupt changes in the dry ecosystem once the threshold is reached.
基金supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant Nos.KZCX2-YW-Q1-15 and KZCX2-YW-117)National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.40730104)
文摘The increase in the global average temperature during the last century is considered an integrated result of anthropogenic and natural forcing, but different views remain about the anthropogenic impacts on the Asian monsoon precipitation. Based on the ~2000-year records of stalagmite δ18O from the Dongge Cave (Guizhou Province) and Wanxiang Cave (Gansu Province), we address the possible anthropogenic impacts on the southwest and southeast Asian monsoon from 1900-2000 AD, using the method of Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA). The results show that the monsoon precipitation trends in the last 100 years at both sites can be obtained through SSA prediction using the data prior to 1900 AD. These suggest that human activity has not significantly affected the trends of monsoon precipitation despite of its impact on the global temperature.
基金supported by the Specific Basic Research Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2007FY110200)
文摘A comprehensive database of paleoenvironmental settings for paleoanthropological sites provides a useful tool to explore the link between human evolution and paleoenvironmental changes. A preliminary GIS-based environmental database for paleoanthropological sites in China (EDPC) was constructed based on data collected from published literature. The database currently contains 1114 paleoanthropological sites. It will be available for online access following the establishment of relevant rules, and after improvement and further development through regular and sustained updates by internal and external users. Preliminary analyses using the GIS system yielded new evidence regarding human-environmental relationships.
文摘We developed a soil morphological index to quantitatively measure the degree ofpaleosol development. For its development, this index combined paleopedogenic features with tensoil macro- and micro-morphological properties from morphological descriptions of Potou and JiuZhoutai loess sections in the Loess Plateau of China. These ten properties are: rubification (colorhue and chroma), total texture (texture type, stickiness and plasticity), melanization (color value),microstructure, fine material (【0.01 mm), primary carbonate, biotite, fe(hydr)oxides, secondarycarbonate (micromorphology) and illuvial clay. Future study may reject some of these propertiesand add others. The index works well with the loess-paleosol sequences. The soil morphologicalindex successfully identifies paleosols and weak-paleosols.
基金financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41430531, 41202249 & 41125011)the China Geological Survey (Grant No. 1212011121261)
文摘Neogene eolian successions are one of the most important terrestrial palaeoenvironmental archives in East Asia.However, they have received far less attention than Quaternary loess deposits, especially in the case of lipid biomarker analysis.In order to obtain a better insight into the early-middle Miocene palaeoenvironment, we conducted a study of n-alkane biomarkers from sediments of the QA-I section(Qinan) in the western Chinese Loess Plateau, and compared the results with those of previous n-alkane analyses of eolian and aquatic sediments of varying age. Our principal results are as follows:(1) All QA-I samples contain n-alkanes ranging from C_(14) to C_(35), among which the relative content of short-chain n-alkanes(C_(14)–C_(20)) from microorganisms is significantly greater than that of long-chain n-alkanes(C_(26)–C_(35)) from the waxes of terrestrial higher plants;the main peak is at C_(16)–C_(18). All samples have a relatively lower abundance of medium-chain n-alkanes(C_(21)–C_(25)) than that of long-and short-chain n-alkanes, similar to strongly weathered palaeosols in Quaternary loess and Late Miocene-Pliocene Hipparion Red-Earth; however, this distribution is significantly different from that in weakly-weathered loess of Quaternary loess and Late Miocene-Pliocene Hipparion Red-Earth, as well as from aquatic sediments.(2) Despite some odd-over-even carbon predominance of long-chain n-alkanes in the QA-I samples, the carbon preference index(CPI) values are significantly lower than those of most of the weakly-weathered sediments. Our results show that strong weathering and microbial processes have significantly altered the n-alkanes in the Miocene eolian deposits in Qinan, and led to a significant oxidation and degradation of long-chain n-alkanes and the predominance of short-chain n-alkanes from bacteria. Therefore, the contribution of microorganism to total organic carbon(TOC) and its resulting in carbon isotopic composition should be carefully assessed in future studies.
