Erg deposition and development of the ancestral Taklimakan Desert (western China) between 12.2 and 7.0 Ma

Heermance, Richard V.; Pearson, Jozi; Moe, Annelisa; Liu, Langtao; Xu, Jing; Chen, Jie; Richter, Fabiana; Garzione, Carmala N.; Junsheng, Nie; Bogue, Scott W.

doi:10.1130/g45085.1

Cited by 34 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…The transport of silty dust from the distant Taklimakan Desert to the CLP requires strong winds, similar to the level of the winter monsoon across the Hexi Corridor, suggesting that strong dust storm activity frequently occurred in the belt from the Taklimakan Desert to the CLP during the Quaternary period, similar to modern conditions (Shao et al, ). Carbonate‐bearing aeolian material on the CLP was deposited since 22–25 Ma (Guo et al, ; Qiang et al, ); thus, our results may provide indirect evidence of the Late Oligocene‐early Miocene formation of the Taklimakan Desert (Zheng et al, ), a time period that has been a subject of debate (Heermance et al, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Distant Taklimakan Desert as an Important Source of Aeolian Deposits on the Chinese Loess Plateau as Evidenced by Carbonate Minerals

Meng

Liu

Zhao

et al. 2019

Geophysical Research Letters

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It is generally agreed that the aeolian loess on the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) is derived from adjacent upwind arid areas, mainly including the Qaidam Desert, Alxa arid area, and Ordos Desert. However, the mineralogical and geochemical compositions of aeolian materials show several inconsistencies between these adjacent source areas and the CLP. Here, we compare the distribution of carbonate minerals in bulk samples and the <63‐μm fraction from upwind deserts to six loess sections from the CLP. The results show that the detrital dolomite and total carbonate, which are abundant in the loess of the CLP, are concentrated in the Taklimakan Desert rather than adjacent source areas. This finding suggests that the distant Taklimakan Desert is an important source of aeolian deposits on the CLP, reconciling the mineralogical and geochemical inconsistencies between CLP and adjacent areas.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Distant Taklimakan Desert as an Important Source of Aeolian Deposits on the Chinese Loess Plateau as Evidenced by Carbonate Minerals

Meng

Liu

Zhao

et al. 2019

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…In previous studies, the timing of aridi cation in the Tarim basin is estimated based on the rst appearance of the sand dune or loess deposit in the Cenozoic sequence (Sun et al 2009;Zheng et al, 2015;Heermance et al, 2018). In the Aertashi section, the deposition of the sand dune sediments started from the bottom of the Wuqia Gr.…”

Section: Relationship Between the Uplift Of The Pamir And The Aridi Cmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, it is essential to reveal the history of the desert. However, when and how the desert was formed is still controversial (Sun et al, 2009;Zheng et al, 2015;Heermance et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Jiang and Li, 2014;Chapman et al, 2017). On the other hand, the timing of the deserti cation is estimated based on the appearance of the aeolian deposits in the Cenozoic terrestrial sequences of the Tarim basin (Zheng et al, 2006(Zheng et al, , 2010(Zheng et al, , 2015Sun JM et al, 2009;Tada et al, 2010;Sun DH et al, 2011;Sun and Windley, 2015;Heermance et al, 2018). Because the estimated ages of both aridi cation events of the Tarim basin and tectonic events of the Pamir have errors of several million years, the order of events was yet to be shown.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The relationship between tectonism and desertification inferred from the provenance and lithofacies changes of the Cenozoic terrestrial sequence of the southwestern Tarim basin

Sakuma¹,

Tada²,

Yoshida³

et al. 2020

Preprint

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The Tarim basin is one of the most arid areas in the world and its major part is occupied by the Taklimakan desert. Although unraveling the history of aridification of Taklimakan desert is important to understand the global climate change during the Cenozoic, the timing and the mechanism of its formation are still controversial. One of the hypotheses is that the uplift of the Pamir locating to the west of the Tarim basin blocked the intrusion of the moist air and induced the aridification in the Tarim basin. In this study, we explored the linkage between the uplift of the Pamir and the desertification in the Tarim basin during the period from the late Eocene to the middle Miocene. Provenance changes of the fluvial deposits along the Aertashi section, which is located in the southwestern edge of the Tarim basin and offers the longest record with the reliable age model, was examined using Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) signal intensity and crystallinity index (CI) of quartz in the sand fraction of fluvial sandstone and the thin section observation to identify the timings of tectonic events in the Pamir from which clastic materials were supplied by rivers. Our results suggest that major provenance changes in the drainage of the river delivering the clasts to the Aertashi section occurred at ca. 26 Ma, 20 Ma, and 15 Ma. These timings are mostly consistent with the timings observed in the previous provenance studies in the Aertashi section and probably reflect tectonic events in the Pamir. On the other hand, the Tarim basin was under the relatively arid condition after ca. 34 Ma based on the first occurrence of sand dune deposit. Hence, our result does not support the hypothesis that the onset of the aridification in the Tarim basin was caused by the uplift of the Pamir and consequent shut down of the moisture supply from the Paratethys Sea although the afterward intensification of tectonic events in the Pamir might be related to the phased uplift.

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“…Although it has been extensively studied over the past decades, the timing and mechanisms of Taklimakan Desert formation still remain elusive. The proposed timing, mostly based on the initial occurrence of eolian deposits, ranges from the Pleistocene to Miocene and late Oli-gocene (Zhu et al, 1980;Fang et al, 2002a;Sun et al, 2009;Zheng et al, 2015;Heermance et al, 2018). Proposed possible mechanisms for Asian inland aridification, and by inference, desertification, include tectonic uplift (Fang et al, 2002a), land-sea distributions (Bosboom et al, 2014), and Cenozoic global cooling (Miao et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Onset of permanent Taklimakan Desert linked to the mid-Pleistocene transition

Liu

Sun

et al. 2020

Geology

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The initial occurrence of desert landscape or eolian sand dunes is thought to have occurred long before the Pleistocene, and desertification was subsequently enhanced under cold, dusty glacial conditions. However, when and how the desert landscape persisted during both glacial and interglacial periods, defined as “permanent” desert here, remain elusive. Here, we present carbonate carbon isotope and grain-size records from the Tarim Basin, western China, revealing a detailed desertification history for the Taklimakan Desert. Our records demonstrate that after desiccation of episodic lakes at ca. 4.9 Ma, alternations of eolian sand dunes and fluvial and playa-like conditions persisted for a long period until 0.7 Ma in the Tarim Basin. The onset of permanent desert landscape around 0.7–0.5 Ma occurred concurrently with the climatic reorganization across the mid-Pleistocene transition. The occurrence of mountain glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau and atmospheric circulation changes may have controlled the formation and extreme aridification of the permanent desert in inland Asia since the mid-Pleistocene transition.

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Erg deposition and development of the ancestral Taklimakan Desert (western China) between 12.2 and 7.0 Ma

Cited by 34 publications

References 35 publications

Distant Taklimakan Desert as an Important Source of Aeolian Deposits on the Chinese Loess Plateau as Evidenced by Carbonate Minerals

Distant Taklimakan Desert as an Important Source of Aeolian Deposits on the Chinese Loess Plateau as Evidenced by Carbonate Minerals

The relationship between tectonism and desertification inferred from the provenance and lithofacies changes of the Cenozoic terrestrial sequence of the southwestern Tarim basin

Onset of permanent Taklimakan Desert linked to the mid-Pleistocene transition

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