CollectHomepage AdvertisementContact usMessage

Arid Land Geography ›› 2023, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (10): 1663-1679.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2022.596

• Ecology and Environment • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Holocene environmental evolution recorded by sedimentation on the southern edge of the Gurbantunggut Desert

MA Yunqiang1,2(),LIU Rui1,2,LI Zhizhong1,2,3(),JIN Jianhui1,2,3,ZOU Xiaojun1,2,TAN Dianjia1,2,TAO Tonglian1,2   

  1. 1. College of Geographical Sciences, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350117, Fujian, China
    2. State Key Laboratory of Subtropical Mountain Ecology, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350117, Fujian, China
    3. Institute of Geography, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou 350117, Fujian, China
  • Received:2022-11-12 Revised:2022-12-07 Online:2023-10-25 Published:2023-11-10

Abstract:

The southern margin of the Gurbantunggut Desert is located in the intersection area of wind-water forces with a unique sedimentary environment and sensitive response to climatic change. This makes the area ideal to study the Holocene environmental evolution of the northwest desert of China.Three aeolian-alluvial interactive stratigraphic profiles in the desert-oasis transitional zone of the southern margin of the Gurbantunggut Desert were selected. Based on field observation of the lithological characteristics and sedimentary sequences, the age scale was established using optically stimulated luminescence dating. Herein, combined with the comparative analysis of particle size parameters, magnetic parameters, and surface micromorphology characteristics of quartz particles, the sedimentary environmental evolution process since the Holocene in the study area was comprehensively discriminated. The result showed that the stratigraphic sequences in the study area mainly reflect the prevalence and recession of river and wind-sand processes, exhibiting obvious characteristics of contemporaneous heterogeneity. Moreover, alluvial deposits were dominant in the northern piedmont of the Tianshan Mountains from 11.8 ka to 10.2 ka, and braided rivers penetrated the desert with local fluvial deposits. From 10.2 ka to 6.0 ka, the study area entered into the Holocene optimum, and the desert retreated northward with widespread lakes and wetlands. Furthermore, the study area has experienced weak alluvial deposits and frequent wind-sand activities from 6 ka to the present, and the desert environment alternated with the river environment. In the past millennium, the sedimentary environment of the study area has exhibited the characteristics of increased wind-sand activity and river alluvial atrophy, along with the Gurbantunggut Desert showing an overall trend of southward invasion and expansion. The change of strength and position of westerly circulation mainly controlled the emergence of the Holocene humid environment in the study area. Additionally, the coupling between the Northern Hemisphere summer insolation and the Tianshan Glacier and the climatic fluctuation caused by the Northern Atlantic ice-rafted debris event were crucial factors affecting the sedimentary environment of the study area in the Holocene.

Key words: Holocene, sedimentary environment change, climatic evolution, aeolian-alluvial alternative deposition, Gurbantunggut Desert