Climate-driven changes to dune activity during the Last Glacial Maximum and deglaciation in the Mu Us dune field, north-central China

Xu, Zhiwei; Lu, Huayu; Yi, Su; Vandenberghe, Jef; Mason, Joseph A.; Zhou, Yali; Wang, Xianyan

doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2015.07.002

Cited by 70 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 64 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…15 ka in samples LP12 and LP19. This is consistent with the previous finding that the Mu Us dune field was expanding into the CLP during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and Heinrich event 1 (H1; Xu et al, 2015). The ages of the loess overlying the sands were between 15 and 10 ka, indicating that dust began to accumulate at the desert margin following stabilization of the dunes.…”

Section: Deglacial and Postglacial Dust Accumulation At The Desert Masupporting

confidence: 91%

Seesaw pattern in dust accumulation on the Chinese Loess Plateau forced by late glacial shifts in the East Asian monsoon

Stevens

et al. 2018

Geology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Recent chronological studies have revealed significant site-specific variations in loess sedimentation, which challenge the use of loess deposits as continuous, easily analyzable paleoclimate and dust records. However, the regional comparability of loess sedimentation at subglacial-interglacial time scales has not yet been systematically tested. This study focused on the spatial and temporal variability of loess sedimentation on the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) during the last 20 thousand years and found a clear seesaw pattern across the CLP, indicated by rapid dust accumulation at the desert margin and reduced accumulation/less preservation on the main part of the CLP after ca. 15 ka. This spatial inhomogeneity of loess sedimentation at millennial time scales is controlled by various dust transportation, trapping, and postdepositional processes in different geographic settings, which are ultimately attributed to a combined effect of a weakened winter monsoon and enhanced summer monsoon after the termination of Heinrich event 1.

show abstract

Section: Deglacial and Postglacial Dust Accumulation At The Desert Masupporting

confidence: 91%

Seesaw pattern in dust accumulation on the Chinese Loess Plateau forced by late glacial shifts in the East Asian monsoon

Stevens

et al. 2018

Geology

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…By measuring the luminescence signal that accumulates over time following deposition of the sand grains, OSL dating determines the depositional age of the dune sand or sandy soil. The procedures are described in the original publications (data file S1), or for newly reported ages, follow Xu et al (18,33,53). In developing this new dataset, we used applicable high-quality dune chronological data from the INQUA (International Union for Quaternary Research) Dunes Atlas chronologic dataset (32).…”

Section: Site-specific Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…3A). After widespread dune activity during the last glaciation (18,33), paleosol development reflecting stabilization is first recorded after about 11 ka ago, and thereafter, the proportion of vegetation-stabilized patches increased gradually. The greatest dominance of stabilized dunes occurred around 6 ka ago in the Middle Holocene ( Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical transitions in Chinese dunes during the past 12,000 years

Mason

et al. 2020

Sci. Adv.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Dune systems can have alternative stable states that coexist under certain environmental conditions: a vegetated, stabilized state and a bare active state. This behavior implies the possibility of abrupt transitions from one state to another in response to gradual environmental change. Here, we synthesize stratigraphic records covering 12,000 years of dynamics of this system at 144 localities across three dune fields in northern China. We find side-by-side coexistence of active and stabilized states, and occasional sharp shifts in time between those contrasting states. Those shifts occur asynchronously despite the fact that the entire landscape has been subject to the same gradual changes in monsoon rainfall and other conditions. At larger scale, the spatial heterogeneity in dune dynamics averages out to produce relatively smooth change. However, our results do show different paths of recovery and collapse of vegetation at system-wide scales, implying that hysteretic behavior occurs in spatially extended systems.

show abstract

“…However, there were significant variations in the proportions of the different lithologies over time. Before the LD, the evidence indicates that the study sites were situated in an arid desert environment with significant mobilization and transport of eolian sand (Gao et al, ; Xu, Lu, et al, ). In this study, we focus on the paleoenvironmental changes since the LD.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Mu Us Desert in northern China is a climatically sensitive region that is well located for recording paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental information (Ding et al, ). The eolian and fluvio‐lacustrine deposits of the Mu Us Desert have been extensively studied with the major focus on eolian activity (Jia et al, ; Lu et al, ; Mason et al, ; Miao et al, ; Sun et al, ; Xu, Lu, et al, ) and climatic or environmental changes (Li et al, ; Liu et al, ; Liu, Lu, Lü, et al, ; Lu et al, ; Sun et al, ). Although the distribution range of exposed peatlands in the modern Mu Us Desert is relatively small, it is possible that there is a significant area of buried paleo‐peat deposits that have accumulated since the last deglaciation (LD).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of Peatlands in the Mu Us Desert, Northern China, Since the Last Deglaciation

Liu

et al. 2018

JGR Earth Surface

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Climatic reconstruction from peat deposits is an important aspect of Quaternary research. Previous studies of the peatlands in the Mu Us Desert in northern China have focused on the processes of paleoclimatic evolution, but the history of peatland development remains unclear due to the absence of comparative studies. Here we present a synthesis of the available records documenting peatland development within the Mu Us Desert since the last deglaciation. We combine paleoclimatic records from profiles from two new sites with previously published results from 12 sites. Our aim is to reconstruct the temporal and spatial record of peatland development and to determine its driving forces. The results show that the peatlands developed in two phases: from ~15 ka until the early Holocene and from 6.5–3 ka when there was a significant expansion of their spatial extent. These phases correspond to two distinct types of paludification process, and both were closely related to changes in the East Asian monsoon. A final stage after 2 ka resulted from the significant weakening of the monsoon, during which peat accumulation ceased.

show abstract

Climate-driven changes to dune activity during the Last Glacial Maximum and deglaciation in the Mu Us dune field, north-central China

Cited by 70 publications

References 64 publications

Seesaw pattern in dust accumulation on the Chinese Loess Plateau forced by late glacial shifts in the East Asian monsoon

Seesaw pattern in dust accumulation on the Chinese Loess Plateau forced by late glacial shifts in the East Asian monsoon

Critical transitions in Chinese dunes during the past 12,000 years

Evolution of Peatlands in the Mu Us Desert, Northern China, Since the Last Deglaciation

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About