Understanding the Interactions between Climate Change, Landscape Evolution, Surface Processes and Tectonics in the Earth System： What Can the Studies of Chinese Deserts Contribute
Due to large deserts on Earth surface a thorough understanding of climate change, landscape evolution and geomorphological processes having occurred in deserts is crucial for Earth System Science. The landscapes in deserts are, however, diverse and different over the globe with regard to their geomo...
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| Published in: | Acta geologica Sinica (Beijing) Vol. 90; no. 4; pp. 1444 - 1454 |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Richmond
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
01-08-2016
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc Geographisches Institut, Universit(a)t Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 348, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany%Geographisches Institut, Universit(a)t Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 348, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany Key Laboratory of Cenozoic Geology and Environment, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China |
| Edition: | English ed. |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | Due to large deserts on Earth surface a thorough understanding of climate change, landscape evolution and geomorphological processes having occurred in deserts is crucial for Earth System Science. The landscapes in deserts are, however, diverse and different over the globe with regard to their geomorphological nature, human activities and geological histories. In the last decades a great number of efforts have been put to the investigation of the initial timing of the occurrence of arid climate, e. g. in northwestern China. Silty sediments in the downwind directions have been used to deduce the histories of deserts. In general, there is a lack of knowledge about processes and landscapes in Chinese drylands between the initial Miocene silt sedimentation at desert margins and the late Quaternary multiple occurrences of wetter climate with assumed large lakes in many of the deserts in northern China. The geomorphological concept of three primary triggering factors, i.e., the sediment supply, sediment availability and transport capacity of wind, and additionally the underground geology need to be fully considered for a better understanding of the environmental histories of sand seas which should not be viewed as equivalent for deserts because sand seas cover between 〈 1% and ca. 45% of the desert areas in various continents dependent on a complex interaction between various processes of both exogenous and endogenous origins. |
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| Bibliography: | desert, sand sea, earth surface process, global change, Quaternary geology, geomorphology 11-2001/P Due to large deserts on Earth surface a thorough understanding of climate change, landscape evolution and geomorphological processes having occurred in deserts is crucial for Earth System Science. The landscapes in deserts are, however, diverse and different over the globe with regard to their geomorphological nature, human activities and geological histories. In the last decades a great number of efforts have been put to the investigation of the initial timing of the occurrence of arid climate, e. g. in northwestern China. Silty sediments in the downwind directions have been used to deduce the histories of deserts. In general, there is a lack of knowledge about processes and landscapes in Chinese drylands between the initial Miocene silt sedimentation at desert margins and the late Quaternary multiple occurrences of wetter climate with assumed large lakes in many of the deserts in northern China. The geomorphological concept of three primary triggering factors, i.e., the sediment supply, sediment availability and transport capacity of wind, and additionally the underground geology need to be fully considered for a better understanding of the environmental histories of sand seas which should not be viewed as equivalent for deserts because sand seas cover between 〈 1% and ca. 45% of the desert areas in various continents dependent on a complex interaction between various processes of both exogenous and endogenous origins. istex:5DA6777461018A7E5161AF2580CCC766F7A709A4 ark:/67375/WNG-S0P1VW6Z-5 ArticleID:ACGS12778 About the first author Xiaoping YANG's research interests include deserts and their geological and historical changes, especially geomorphology and paleoclimatology during the Late Quaternary. He has intensively worked in the Taklamakan Desert, the Badain Jaran Desert, the Kubuqi Desert and in the Hunshandake Sandy Land to better understand the landscape and palaeoclimatic changes in drylands and the interactions between man and the environment. His research has been published in internationally reputable journals and he has received a number of very prestigious research awards, e.g., Huang Jiqing Award from Huang Jiqing Foundation in China (2008), Farouk El‐Baz Award for Desert Research from the Geological Society of American (GSA, 2010) and the Humboldt Research Award from the Humboldt Stiftung/ Foundation, Germany (2016). He has been editing Quaternary Science Reviews and Quaternary Research for about a decade and has been a GSA Fellow since 2014. ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
| ISSN: | 1000-9515 1755-6724 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/1755-6724.12778 |