Earth Surface Process

Environmental changes recorded by multiproxy of lake sediments in the high-altitude and arid area: A case of Lake Aksayqin

  • Chaosheng XIANG ,
  • Yong WANG ,
  • Junbo WANG ,
  • Qingfeng MA ,
  • Shihang WANG
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  • 1. School of Spatial Informatics and Geomatics Engineering, Anhui University of Science & Technology, Huainan 232001, Anhui, China
    2. Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Regional Response in the Yangtze-Huaihe River Basin, School of Geography and Tourism, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu 241002, Anhui, China
    3. Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes (TEL), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China

Received date: 2021-06-29

  Revised date: 2021-11-01

  Online published: 2022-04-02

Abstract

Lake Aksayqin, a typical large high-altitude lake located in the arid area of the northwestern Tibetan Plateau in China, is ideal for studying the changes in the Westerlies and Indian Summer Monsoon and the interplay between them. To reconstruct the paleoclimate changes of the lake, a 5.31 m long lake sediment core (AKLC15-1) was obtained at a water depth of 16.40 m. The grain size characteristics of the lake core were analyzed to investigate the hydrodynamics and lake-level changes. Based on the changes of multiple indicators, such as grain size results, total inorganic carbon, total organic carbon, total nitrogen, and magnetic susceptibility, we primarily discuss the changes in the lake environment, such as hydrodynamic transport conditions, lake surface changes, and cold and warm changes in the lake area under different sedimentary depths. The results show that the Lake Aksayqin area experiences a high rate of evaporation; the lake water is mainly supplied by glacier meltwater; and the organic matter content in lake sediments is low and mainly comes from endogenous aquatic organisms. The sediments of Lake Aksayqin are mainly composed of silt (70.48%), clay (27.64%), and sand (1.88%). The environmental change can be roughly divided into four stages. The first stage (531-480 cm) has a relatively warm climate, weakening evaporation in the basin, low aquatic productivity of the lake, and a deep-water environment with weak hydrodynamic transport conditions. In the second stage (480-380 cm), the climate is cold and dry, the evaporation in the basin is extremely strong, and the aquatic productivity of the lake is relatively high, which is a shallow water environment with strong hydrodynamic transport conditions. In the third stage (380-160 cm), the climate gradually warms. The amount of water entering the lake increases, the lake surface expands, and the hydrodynamic transport conditions of the lake gradually weaken. The fourth stage (160-0 cm) has a cold and dry climate with enhanced evaporation of the basin. The productivity of the lake is low; it has a deep-water environment with weak hydrodynamic transport conditions. This study will provide basic scientific data and theoretical support for reconstructing climatic changes and the relationship between the Westerlies and Indian Summer Monsoon in the northwestern Tibetan Plateau.

Cite this article

Chaosheng XIANG , Yong WANG , Junbo WANG , Qingfeng MA , Shihang WANG . Environmental changes recorded by multiproxy of lake sediments in the high-altitude and arid area: A case of Lake Aksayqin[J]. Arid Land Geography, 2022 , 45(2) : 435 -444 . DOI: 10.12118/j.issn.1000–6060.2021.295

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