Pollen analysis was conducted on the fluviolacustrine sediments from the east side of the Liupan Mountains, a relatively monsoon-sensitive region, and provided for the first time a continuous ...evolutionary history of vegetation and climate in East China during the Neogene. The pollen record spanning the last 20 Ma indicates that the vegetation and thus East-Asian summer monsoon evolution can be divided into three stages: 20.13–14.25 Ma, 14.25–11.35 Ma and 11.35–0.08 Ma, in spite of general dominance of steppe throughout the Neogene. During the period 20.13–14.25 Ma, the pollen assemblage was characterized by high abundance of
Artemisia and small amounts of temperate to subtropical deciduous broad-leafed trees such as
Juglans,
Carya,
Quercus and
Betula, suggesting that the East-Asian summer monsoon was generally strong. The interval from 14.25 to 11.35 Ma was marked by a significant decline in the East-Asian summer monsoon, as indicated by
Artemisia gradually replaced by
Humulus and halophytic Chenopodiaceae.
Nitraria and
Ephedra also reached high values in this period. Since 11.35 Ma ago, percentages of halophytes dominated by Chenopodiaceae and Tamaricaceae maintained a high mean value of about 40%, revealing a weak intensity of East-Asian summer monsoon. The general weakening of the monsoon circulation during the Neogene and the significant monsoon decline during the late Middle Miocene in particular might link with the global cooling trend probably through two mechanisms. Cooling and ice-sheet expansion over the polar region caused an increase in meridional temperature gradients leading to the southward retreat of the monsoon circulation. The global cooling may have also reduced the amount of water vapor held in the atmosphere, and led to both additional cooling and further weakening of the East-Asian summer monsoon. The cause for a short-lived resumption during the period 1.0–0.8 Ma is under investigation.
The eastern Tibetan Plateau (TP) is a climatically sensitive area affected by the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM). A new pollen record from a lacustrine sediment in Mao County shows that the study area ...was covered mainly by shrubs and herbs during the last deglaciation, indicating open and sparse forest grasslands. Hydrophilous herbs were mainly dominated by Cyperaceae, Poaceae, Myriophyllum, Polygonum and Typha, and they gradually increased from 18.7 to 16.8 ka, suggesting a transition to a more humid climate. This corresponds to climate cooling over the same period. From 16.8 to 14.6 ka, hydrophilous herbs continued to increase, coincident with a general ameliorating trend indicated by δ18O records from East Asia. Between 14.6 and 14.0 ka, the mean content of hydrophilous herbs reached peak in the sequence, corresponding to relatively high δ18O values during this period. From ~14.0 to 12.9 ka, the abundance of hydrophilous herbs decreased significantly. Over the same period, the Greenland ice core shows a decrease in δ18O and low-latitude cave stalagmites in China record an increase in δ18O. This implies that longitudinal temperature gradients increased and drove the southward retreat of the ISM, which in turn drove a continuous decrease in the abundance of hydrophilous herbs in the study area. From 12.9 to 11.6 ka, the mean content of hydrophilous herbs decreased to the lowest (8.3%) in the whole sequence, indicating a cold and dry climate in the study area. A positive shift in δ18O records during 11.6-10.6 ka was matched by a significant increase in the abundance of hydrophilous herbs in the study area, indicating a warm and humid climate trending. Hence, the ISM has had a significant impact on the climate of the eastern TP since the onset of deglaciation around ~16.8 ka.
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Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Identifying and understanding the respective influence of climate and tectonic processes becomes a frontier topic in tectonically active mountain ranges. In the eastern Tibetan Plateau, earthquake ...occurred frequently and usually led to formation of many dammed lakes. In this study, a last deglacial section of lacustrine sediments at Xinmocun in eastern Tibet is selected for conventional X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and Scanning XRF (SXRF) elemental analysis. The high correlation of major and trace element abundances between the Xinmocun lacustrine samples and the loess-soil samples from the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) supports the previous view of the eolian origin of the Xinmocun lacustrine sediments. Analysis of major element abundances, ratios, and trace element ratios indicates that the dust provenance of the Xinmocun lacustrine sediments is different from that of the CLP, and is similar to that of the loess at Ganzi and Hongyuan nearby the study area. The significant variations of most geochemical elements and their close coupling with grain-size variations cannot be reasonably explained by the changes in transport dynamics of eolian dust, and is possibly caused by the intermittent changes in available dust provenance. Frequent earthquakes triggered abundant landslides and provided large amounts of dust for the study area. Accordingly, in the >16 μm fraction of the Xinmocun grain-size record, many element abundances and their ratios, such as SiO2/Al2O3, TiO2/Al2O3, CaO/Al2O3, Sr/Al2O3, Rb/Sr, and Na2O/Al2O3, can be regarded as sensitive indicators of earthquake events in the tectonically active regions. SXRF measurements at the U-channel surface can provide some cost-effective indicators of seismic events, such as Si/Al, Ti/Al, Ca/Al, Sr/Al, Zr/Rb, and Rb/Sr. Significant variations in most element abundances and their ratios of the Xinmocun lacustrine sediments correlate closely with those of its grain-size record. They all show no increasing or decreasing trends with time. These suggest that tectonic activities characterized by seismic events possibly had a major role on the landscape erosion in the eastern Tibetan Plateau, while the climatic influence seems minor.
The relationships between strong earthquakes, landslides, and vegetation destruction and the process of post-seismic recovery in tectonically active alpine valley areas have not been adequately ...documented. Here we show detailed pollen study results from a swamp located near the epicenter of the 1933 M 7.5 Diexi earthquake in eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) to reveal the impact of earthquake on vegetation, and the post-seismic recovery process. Based on 210Pb-137Cs age model, the seismic event layer is well constrained. The earthquake event corresponds stratigraphically to a zone with the lowest pollen concentrations, the lowest pollen diversity, and a high frequency of non-arboreal pollen. Elaeagnaceae scrubs rapidly developed in post-seismic landscape recovery processes, which is important for reducing soil erosion and landslide activities. Natural ecological recovery is slow due to increasing human activities and historical climatic fluctuations.
The Late Cenozoic East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) enhancement has been attributed to several factors, such as uplift of the Tibetan Plateau, retreat of the Paratethys Sea, and global cooling related ...to polar ice volume increment. However, the fundamental forcing factors remain enigmatic due to the absence of long and continuous climate records and sensitive indicators. Here we reanalyzed the published grain-size record of Sikouzi fine sediments in the western Chinese Loess Plateau through end-member (EM) modeling. The results indicate that EM 2 with grain-size peaks between 10-100 μm decreased in content from 20.1 to 17 Ma and stepwise increased from 17 to 0.07 Ma during the following six stages (17-15 Ma, 15-12 Ma, 12-8 Ma, 8-6 Ma, 6-4 Ma and 4-0 Ma). Such varying trends can be successively correlated in seven stages with the integrated benthic δ18O record, implying that global warming weakened the EAWM from 20.1 to 17 Ma and global cooling has stepwise strengthened the EAWM since 17 Ma. Therefore, we conclude that global temperature change played a major role on the evolution of EAWM during the Neogene period. By contrast, Late Cenozoic palaeogeographic reorganization caused by uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and retreat of the Paratethys Sea contributed less to the evolutionary evolution of EAWM. Spectral analysis of the EM 2 data first provided direct evidence of orbitally influenced deposition in the study area and thus the EAWM variations during the Neogene period. The 100-kyr period became weak since ~10 Ma, possibly due to the decrease in sensitivity of a more stable, continental-scale ice sheet in Antarctica to local insolation forcing, deserving further investigation.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
•Abrupt increases in sand percentages in 1933 were triggered by the Diexi earthquake.•Decrease of broadleaved trees was caused by the earthquake.•Hippophae contributes significantly to the ecological ...stability.
Vegetation plays an important role in ecosystem stability in tectonically active regions such as the eastern Tibetan Plateau (ETP). To determine the response of mountain ecosystem to climate change and tectonic activity on the ETP, detailed analyses of chronology, pollen, grain size and magnetic susceptibility (SUS) were conducted on a lacustrine sequence from the upper reaches of the Min River. The results show that the lacustrine sediments are mainly transported by wind as those seismogenic dust at Diexi and Lixian. The fine–grained sediments (<20 μm) are background dust that was transported over a long distance, while the coarse-grained sediments (>20 μm) were transported from local to regional dust sources. Intriguingly, the sand fraction (>63 μm) suddenly increased by 10.4%, in response to the Diexi Ms 7.5 earthquake in 1933. The earthquake probably induced many large landslides and provided more sources of coarse particles close to the study area. Also, around 1933, coniferous pollen increased rapidly while herbaceous and aquatic plants decreased significantly, probably due to a marked change in the local hydrological conditions caused by the strong earthquake. The percentage of shrub pollen dominated by Hippophae, remained at a relatively high level, showing these plants to have great significance for ecological stability in tectonically active regions.
Moisture evolution in Central Asia including Northwest China shows less similarity with its surroundings and attracts a growing number of studies. In this study, a well-dated thick lacustrine ...sequence is chosen in Northwest China and detailed geochemical analysis is conducted during the Middle Miocene Climate Transition (MMCT, 14-11 Ma). The multi-proxy records (Na2O/Al2O3, CIA, Rb/Sr) revealed that chemical weathering was the strongest during 11.85-11 Ma, the coldest period in 14-11 Ma as evidenced by the global deep-sea oxygen isotope records. Accordingly, we conclude that global climate cooled during MMCT and reached the coldest during 11.85-11 Ma. Thus, the westerly circulation became the strongest during this period, which brought more water vapor to Northwest China and the chemical weathering was significantly improved. On the other hand, the significant decrease in temperature led to the marked weakening of evapotranspiration, and thus the effective humidity was relatively increased. Both aspects contribute greatly to the significant enhancement of chemical weathering in eastern Central Asia. This weathering history of the sediments in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau is of great scientific significance to understanding tectonism and climate change in Asia during MMCT.
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Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
General history of disasters in China suggests that China has frequently experienced two major natural disasters in its long history, one is from catastrophic earthquake events, and the other is from ...extreme climatic events, due to its unique active tectonic environment and climatic complexity. Although these two major natural disasters have caused great damage to human society, it remains unclear whether and how they affect Chinese dynasty alternation on decadal (emperor) timescales. Based on detailed comparisons between abrupt climatic changes, catastrophic seismic activities, and the history of Chinese dynasty alternation from 1000–2000 AD, we conclude that on decadal timescales, extreme drought (and/or flood) events could indeed significantly reduce agricultural production, cause severe food shortages and famine, and result in increases in population exile, rising food prices and inflation, and insufficient supplies for military defense, which could exceed social resilience and eventually lead to financial risks and social upheavals of the dynasties. In addition, catastrophic seismic events in the densely populated, agricultural areas of China, including the 1303 surface wave magnitude (
M
s
) 8.0 Hongtong earthquake, the 1556
M
s
8.25 Huaxian earthquake and the 1920
M
s
8.5 Haiyuan earthquake, caused more than 200,000 casualties and millions of victims to live in exile which was almost equivalent to the order of magnitude of those extreme climatic events-induced refugees. The secondary geological hazards related to the earthquakes (e.g., extensive landslides and soil erosion), which could last for decades, caused more casualties and reduced food production. Furthermore, great plague spread caused by the casualties could significantly increase psychological panic among the survivors, resulting in social instability. Therefore, catastrophic seismic events could also accelerate the collapse of the dynasties (e.g., the Ming dynasty) without immediate mitigation measures. This study indicates that catastrophic seismic activities, as well as extreme climatic events, could have great effects on the social structures and thus on the Chinese dynasty alternation on decadal timescales, which highlights the far-reaching implications of geological hazard research.
Soft-sediment deformation structures (SSDSs) are widely developed in the lacustrine sediments of paleo-dammed lakes in tectonically active regions and contain a wealth of information on regional ...fault activity. In this study, multiple SSDSs (load structures, small-scale slump structures, droplets, diapir and pillow structures, silty-clay pillars and large-scale slump structures) were identified in the strata of the Late Pleistocene lacustrine sediments in the Tashkorgan River drainage in northeastern Pamir. The deformation mechanisms of the SSDSs were related to the liquefaction, fluidization and thixotropic behaviors. The regional tectonic settings and SSDS features point toward a trigger mechanism with seismic activities and indicate that the seismogenic faults were possibly related to the southern part of the Kongur Shan extensional system. Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating data showed that the SSDSs in the Tashkorgan lacustrine sediments formed 30,221-29,932 cal BP and 25,825-25,317 cal BP. The results of this study improve our understanding of fault activity and geodynamic processes in northeastern Pamir during the Late Pleistocene.
Quantifying the magnitude of an earthquake is very important for long-term and medium-term earthquake prediction, post-earthquake emergency rescue and seismic hazard assessment. Paleo-seismology is ...the investigation of past earthquakes in the geological record, in particular their location, timing and size. Uncertainties remain in the paleo-earthquake magnitudes determined by traditional surface rupture parameters, especially because most seismic events do not result in surface ruptures or are of less than 0.3 m (
M
= ~ 6–6.8). To address the problem of magnitude evaluation of earthquakes that did not reveal major dislocations, this paper deals with the methods used to determine the seismic shaking intensity based on the types and forms of soft-sediment deformation structures, including maximum liquefaction distance, thickness of disturbed layer, empirical formulae, and thickness of rapidly deposited sand layer. Then we discuss and analyze these methods in terms of their theoretical basis, advantages and disadvantages, accuracy, applicability and problems. We chose two case studies: first, a typical seismics-related deposit (liquefied layer and disrupted layer) represented by a seismite in the late-Pleistocene Lake Lisan section near Masada in the Dead Sea Basin; and second, the liquefied diapir triggered by an earthquake in the late-Quaternary lacustrine sediments at Luobozhai in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River, East Tibet. The five methods listed above are employed to determine earthquake magnitudes associated with the seismics-related deposit and liquefied diapir, yielding magnitudes of 5.5–6.5 and 6.0–7.0, respectively. The combination of the five methods, provided a new and relatively convenient method for determining seismic shaking, especially in lacustrine sediments. This study can serve as a valid reference for comparing methods of calculating the magnitude of a paleo-earthquake based on surface rupture parameters, and provides a better understanding of the long-term seismic activity and risk in tectonically active regions.
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