Content uploaded by Mingrui Qiang
Author content
All content in this area was uploaded by Mingrui Qiang on May 30, 2022
Content may be subject to copyright.
Quaternary International xxx (xxxx) xxx
Please cite this article as: Mingrui Qiang, Quaternary International, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2022.05.012
1040-6182/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.
A 1600-year record of eolian activity from Jili Lake in northern Xinjiang
Mingrui Qiang
a
,
b
,
*
, Wenzhe Lang
c
,
b
, Zhenhao He
a
, Ming Jin
b
, Aifeng Zhou
b
, Jiawu Zhang
b
a
School of Geography, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510631, China
b
Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environmental Systems (MOE), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000, China
c
Gansu Management and Conservation Center of Qilian Mountains National Nature Reserve, Zhangye, Gansu, 734000, China
ARTICLE INFO
Keywords:
Lake sediments
Grain size
Dust outbreaks
Eolian activity
Siberian high
Northern Xinjiang
ABSTRACT
Eolian activity determines the magnitude of dust emission. However, geological records of eolian activity are
scarce due to strong wind erosion in the dust source areas. Northern Xinjiang is recognized as a major dust source
region in arid central Asia. Here we present a lacustrine record of eolian activity over the past 1600 years from
Jili Lake, in northern Xinjiang, which acts a natural trap for airborne materials. Based on the stratigraphic
variability of two sedimentary sequences and 20 radiocarbon dates, we infer that Jili Lake initially developed in
the southwestern part of the lake basin during the mid-Holocene and then expanded to close to its modern
surface area until 1600 years ago. Grain-size analyses of materials from different parts of the lake sedimentary
system, including lake surface sediments, lake catchment deposits, and airborne sand and dust collected from
near the lakeshore, demonstrate that the coarse silt and ne sand fraction (40–200
μ
m) of the lake sediments was
transported primarily by strong winds and can be regarded as an indicator of changes in eolian activity. We argue
that wind strength played an important role in lifting and transporting the coarse particles, although an arid
climate cannot be entirely excluded out as a factor favoring eolian activity. The most intensive eolian activity
occurred from ~910 to 1300 AD, roughly corresponding to the Medieval Warm Period (MWP), whereas eolian
activity was weak during the Little Ice Age (LIA, ~1300 to 1760 AD). However, this pattern is inconsistent with
other dust records from central Asia. Eolian dust activity reects the coupling of dust-generating windstorms and
dust source areas which were swept by cold air surges. The spatial differentiation of eolian dust activity in arid
central Asia may thus be causally linked to the intensity and extent of the Siberian High (SH), given that intense
cyclogenesis always occurs on the southwestern periphery of the SH in springtime. Changes in the SH can be
further ascribed to atmospheric circulation modulated by phase alternations of the North Atlantic Oscillation
(NAO) due to large-scale thermal contrasts. Our results suggest that the dynamics of Asian dust emission are
closely linked with the spatial variability of the SH. Nonetheless, more records of eolian activity are needed to
further elucidate the forcing mechanisms of dust entrainment in the source area of Asian dust.
1. Introduction
As an important atmospheric component, airborne mineral dust is
highly sensitive to climatic changes (e.g., Pye, 1995; Maher et al., 2010),
while at the same time the atmospheric dust loading signicantly in-
uences the global climate system, e.g., by balancing the atmospheric
radiation budget (Tegen et al., 1996; Dentener et al., 1996; Huang et al.,
2006) and regulating the atmospheric CO
2
concentration (Martin and
Fitzwater, 1988; McTainsh and Strong, 2007; Martínez-García et al.,
2009). Mineral dust is mostly entrained from arid and semi-arid regions
where eolian activity is always intense due to the strong wind regime
and less vegetated conditions (Lancaster, 1995). Away from the source
areas, the dust aloft is dispersed by wind and deposited downwind
across large regions. Given the processes involved in dust cycles (Shao
et al., 2011), dust records are an important proxy for climate changes on
various timescales, providing direct and unequivocal evidence for un-
derstanding changes in dust source strength and atmospheric circulation
patterns (e.g., Rea, 1994; Biscaye et al., 1997; Fuhrer et al., 1999; Sun
et al., 2012).
Dust emission is the initial step prior to dust transport and deposi-
tion. This process is strongly associated with sediment supply, aridity
(vegetation conditions) and prevailing wind regimes in dust source areas
(Pye, 1995; Shao et al., 2011). Thus, information about the source is
crucial for understanding dust variability recorded in various geological
* Corresponding author. School of Geography, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510631, China.
E-mail address: mrqiang@scnu.edu.cn (M. Qiang).
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Quaternary International
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quaint
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2022.05.012
Received 20 April 2022; Received in revised form 13 May 2022; Accepted 18 May 2022
Quaternary International xxx (xxxx) xxx
2
archives and its forcing mechanisms, and it also plays an important role
in establishing causal linkages between source areas and distal dust
depositional regions (Biscaye et al., 1997; Ferrat et al., 2012; Qiang
et al., 2014). However, our understanding of the evolution of dust
emission is incomplete, mainly due to the scarcity of well-preserved
geological archives under conditions of intense wind erosion in the
source areas.
Northern Xinjiang mainly comprises the Gurbantunggut Desert and
therefore it is one of the most important dust source areas in central Asia
(Prospero et al., 2002). Due to the variety of landscapes and prevailing
winds in the Junggar Basin of northern Xinjiang, loess deposits are
generally distributed on the piedmonts of the Tianshan Mountains (Sun,
2002; Fitzsimmons et al., 2019; Song et al., 2021). Loess/paleosol se-
quences are regarded as one of the most important archives for recon-
structing dust activity (e.g., Liu, 1985). However, the deposits may have
been episodically eroded by wind or disturbed by post-depositional
processes (Stevens et al., 2006; Li et al., 2016). Erosional hiatuses un-
doubtedly exist in loess sequences, especially in areas proximal to dust
sources (Stevens et al., 2018; Qiang et al., 2021). On the other hand,
loess deposits comprise a mixture of dusts from different source areas
and thus they are unlikely to represent the intensity of dust deation at
any individual site. Therefore, loess sequences are not an appropriate
archive for recovering the history of eolian activity in the interior of
northern Xinjiang, especially on short timescales. In contrast, lakes in
the dust source areas can effectively capture airborne mineral particles
swept across the water surface (e.g., De Deckker et al., 1991). Thus,
lacustrine sequences are regarded as excellent geological archives for
recording eolian activity and dust emission (An et al., 2011; An Z. S.
et al., 2012; Qiang et al., 2007, 2014), because of their continuity of
material accumulation, undisturbed sedimentation, and potential for
relatively accurate and high-resolution dating. Although there are
several lakes in the interior of northern Xinjiang, few attempts have been
made to exploit them as archives of eolian activity (An et al., 2011; Ma
et al., 2013).
Jili Lake is in the northwestern Junggar Basin in northern Xinjiang
(Fig. 1a). Eolian activity is currently intense in the catchment and thus
the lake can be regarded as a natural trap for airborne sand and dust. In
this study, we used sedimentary sequences from two different sites in Jili
Lake to investigate its eolian record. Based on grain-size variations of
different deposits of the lake sedimentary system, we dene an
improved indicator of eolian activity and use it to produce a record of
eolian activity during the past 1600 years. Our results provide an op-
portunity to investigate the spatio-temporal differentiation of dust ac-
tivity in central Asia and its potential causes.
Fig. 1. Physical setting of the study area. (a) The
location Jili Lake. Dashed contours show the aver-
aged winter sea-level pressure (SLP) during
1900–2001 (modied from Panagiotopoulos et al.,
2005). The locations of the study sites of dust activity
are also shown. (b) Close-up view of the environ-
ments surrounding Jili Lake (Google Earth ™). (c)
Rose diagram of wind directions from April to June
during 1981–2010, observed at the Fuhai Meteoro-
logical Station. (d) Seasonal changes in precipitation
and temperatures during 1960–2018. (e) Seasonal
changes in the number of strong wind days (wind
speed >10 m s
−1
) and the seasonal frequency of dust
storms averaged over 1954–2001.
M. Qiang et al.
Quaternary International xxx (xxxx) xxx
3
2. Study area
Jili Lake (46◦55′N, 87◦26′E; 481 m a.s.l.) is fed by the Wulungu River
and feeds Wulungu Lake via the Kuyiga River (Fig. 1b). The Wunlungu
River originates to the south of the eastern Altai Mountains; it has a
length of 821 km and a catchment area of 35,440 km
2
, and ows
through diverse landscapes ranging from forest steppe and desert
(Gobi), to desert steppe in Northern Xinjiang, which is mainly the result
of the effects of topography on the moisture balance in the Altai region
(Wang and Dou, 1998; Hazazi, 2014). Jili Lake has a surface area of
~174 km
2
, a relatively at lake oor, and a maximum water depth of
16.6 m. The lake water has a salinity of 1.0 g L
−1
and a pH of ~7.3,
measured in February of 2018. The lake is ice-covered from late October
to late March of the following year (Wang and Dou, 1998).
The substrate in the catchment of Jili Lake is composed mainly of
sandstone, conglomerate, and glutenite, of Pliocene age, with a high
quartz content (Mao, 1981). Most of the basin surface is covered by
Quaternary eolian/uvial sand and gravel deposits which have under-
gone intensive eolian erosion (Yan and Xia, 1962). Dune elds are
irregularly distributed on the southern shore of the lake. The vegetation
around the lake is sparse and is characterized primarily by desert steppe,
with, e.g., Chenopodiaceae (Mao, 1981; Liu et al., 2008).
According to data from Fuhai Meteorological Station, ~30 km
northeast of Jili Lake, the mean temperature in January and July was
−18.6 ◦C and 23.4 ◦C from 1981 to 2010. The mean annual precipitation
was ~131.2 mm, which is mainly concentrated in the summer season
from May to September (Fig. 1d). The mean annual evaporation was
1736.3 mm during the same period. The annual number of gale days
(wind speed >10 m s
−1
) is 22.3, dominated by winds from the northwest
and concentrated during April to June (Fig. 1c, e). The seasonality of
dust storms roughly corresponds with the gale days (Fig. 1e), and thus
the dust storms are mainly in April and May, comprising ~60% of the
annual dust storm days during the monitored period.
3. Materials and methods
3.1. Sampling
In February 2018 we obtained a 355-cm-long core (JL18-01-A) and a
440-cm-long core (JL18-02-A) from the central and southwestern parts
of the lake, from water depths of 16.6 m and 16.25 m, respectively, using
a modied Livingstone piston corer (Fig. 2a). At each site, parallel cores
were obtained by adopting a stratigraphic-overlap strategy in order to
ensure there were no gaps within the recovered sequences. The core
sediments were sampled at contiguous 1-cm intervals for proxy analysis.
In October 2018, eld surveys and sampling were conducted in the
catchment of Jili Lake, and 24 samples of surface deposits from the
catchment and 38 samples of lake surface sediments were collected
along three transects in the lake: west–east (prole AA′), north–south
(prole BB′), and northwest–southeast (prole CC′) (Fig. 2b). Eolian
dust was trapped on a 3.5-m-high roof at the western edge of Jili Lake
(Fig. 2a), using a cylindrical glass vessel with a diameter of 15 cm and a
height of 30 cm, containing two layers of glass marbles (d =1.5 cm)
(Qiang et al., 2010). An airborne dust sample was collected from
October 2018 to mid-April 2019.
3.2. Grain-size analysis
Samples of core sediments, modern airborne sand and dust, surface
deposits from the lake catchment, and lake surface sediments were
pretreated with 10–20 ml of 20% H
2
O
2
to remove organic matter, and
then with 10% HCl to remove carbonates, followed by dispersion with
0.05 N (NaPO
3
)
6
solution with an ultrasonic vibrator. The grain-size
compositions were analyzed using a laser particle analyzer (Malvern
Mastersizer 2000), with the measurement range of 0.02–2000
μ
m.
3.3. Weight loss-on-ignition (LOI)
The organic matter and carbonate contents of the core sediments
were measured by the weight loss-on-ignition (LOI) method at 1-cm
intervals. Approximately 0.5 g of freeze-dried sediment was oven-
dried at 105 ◦C, weighed and then combusted at 550 ◦C for 4 h to esti-
mate the organic matter content (OM) (Heiri et al., 2001). The weighed
subsamples were then combusted at 950 ◦C for 4 h and the resulting
weight loss was multiplied by 1.36 to convert the weight loss of CO
2
to
that of CO
3
, enabling the carbonate content to be estimated (Santisteban
et al., 2004). The analyses of grain size and LOI were carried out in the
Key Laboratory of the Western China’s Environmental systems (Ministry
of Education), Lanzhou University.
3.4. Radiocarbon dating
In arid and semi-arid environments, terrestrial plant remains are rare
in lake sediments and therefore bulk organic matter is almost always
used for radiocarbon dating. Nineteen samples of bulk organic matter
from the core sediments were measured for accelerator mass spec-
trometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating, which was conducted by Beta An-
alytic Inc. (Miami, FL, USA) (Table 1). In order to assess the “reservoir
Fig. 2. Sampling sites for the surface sediments from the lake catchment (a) and the lake (b). The types of lake surface sediments with different grain-size distri-
butions are indicated; the sites form three sampling transects across the lake (see text). The black dashed lines are bathymetric contours.
M. Qiang et al.
Quaternary International xxx (xxxx) xxx
4
effect” of the lake water on the radiocarbon dates, one sample of dis-
solved inorganic carbon (DIC) of lake water was also measured.
4. Results
4.1. Sediment stratigraphy
Cores JL18-01-A and JL18-02-A consist mainly of uvial and lacus-
trine sediments (Fig. 3). In core JL18-01-A, the transition from uvial
deposits to lake sediments occurs at the depth of 174 cm. The uvial
deposits are brownish-red clayey silt, occasionally interrupted by sand-
rich layers (Fig. S1 in the supplementary materials). The clay (<4
μ
m)
and silt (4–63
μ
m) fractions comprise 31.6% and 53.5% on average,
respectively, and the sand (>63
μ
m) fraction is overall higher compared
to the upper lake sediments, with an average percentage of 14.9%. The
uvial deposits are also characterized by lower OM and carbonate
contents, with average weight percentages of 5.5% and 4.5%, respec-
tively. In contrast, the lacustrine sediments are mainly gray clayey silt,
characterized by a higher silt fraction (69.4%) and a lower sand and clay
fraction (5.6% and 24.9% on average, respectively), and higher OM
(10.7%) and carbonate (10.4%) contents, compared to the uvial sedi-
ments (Fig. S1).
The lithology of core JL18-02-A consists of uvial and lacustrine
sediments in the lower and upper parts of the sequence, like core JL18-
01-A (Fig. S2), with similar sedimentary features and clastic compo-
nents. However, in the middle of the core (262−125 cm) there is a layer
of lacustrine sediments, dominated by off-white clayey silt, with a
slightly higher content of clay-sized particles (37.5% on average;
Fig. S2).
4.2. Chronology
The AMS
14
C ages of core JL18-01-A and JL18-02-A are presented in
Table 1 and Fig. 3. Five ages from the uvial sediments of both cores
vary from 14,820 ±50 to 12,250 ±40
14
C yr BP. The off-white lacus-
trine sediments in core JL18-02-A have ages varying between 4460 ±30
Table 1
AMS
14
C dating results of cores JL18-01-A and JL18-02-A and dissolved inorganic carbon in the water of Jili Lake.
Lab No. Sample No. Depth (cm) Material δ
13
C (‰)
14
C Age (
14
C yr BP)
14
C specic activity (pMC) Calendar age (cal yr BP, 2
σ
)
503009 JL18-01-A-1-001 1.5 BOM −26.9 −102.65 ±0.38 −
503010 JL18-01-A-1-041 59.9 BOM −25.6 980 ±30 932–803
503011 JL18-01-A-1-074 108.1 BOM −22.8 1310 ±30 1288–1186
503012 JL18-01-A-1-113 165.1 BOM −25.7 1710 ±30 1690–1564
562431 JL18-01-A-1-116 169.4 BOM −25.1 2680 ±30 2838–2753
509846 JL18-01-A-1-119 173.8 BOM −25.6 3530 ±30 3866–3726
509853 JL18-01-A-1-138 201.6 BOM −23.7 12800 ±40 15311–15168
503013 JL18-01-A-1-174 254.2 BOM −22.4 12570 ±50 15067–14786
503014 JL18-01-A-2-076 355.0 BOM −23.0 14820 ±50 18105–17931
503015 JL18-02-A-1-001 1.2 BOM −27.7 −101.63 ±0.38 −
503016 JL18-02-A-1-048 59.4 BOM −24.2 1050 ±30 973–930
562433 JL18-02-A-1-069 85.4 BOM −25.1 1660 ±30 1602–1532
515954 JL18-02-A-1-096 118.9 BOM −25.3 2350 ±30 2420–2334
515955 JL18-02-A-1-109 135.0 BOM −24.2 3320 ±30 3586–3483
509847 JL18-02-A-1-141 174.6 BOM −25.7 4260 ±30 4853–4830
509848 JL18-02-A-1-190 235.2 BOM −25.3 4460 ±30 5272–4979
503017 JL18-02-A-1-204 252.6 BOM −26.8 4350 ±30 4960–4860
509849 JL18-02-A-2-068 350.7 BOM −23.6 12250 ±40 14213–14075
503018 JL18-02-A-2-135 440.0 BOM −24.1 13580 ±40 16450–16255
509850 JL18-07
a
−DIC − − 93.5 ±0.30 −
a
Water sample collected at a water depth of 20 cm, central lake; BOM =Bulk organic matter; DIC =Dissolved inorganic carbon.
Fig. 3. Lithostratigraphic units and AMS
14
C ages of cores JL18-01-A and JL18-02-A from Jili Lake, and the age models for the upper parts of the cores. Dashed line
indicates the occurrence of a typical lacustrine environment, like that of the modern lake.
M. Qiang et al.
Quaternary International xxx (xxxx) xxx
5
and 3320 ±30
14
C yr BP. No interval of off-white sediments was evident
in core JL18-01-A; the ages of the lowermost part of the gray lake sed-
iments are 3530 ±30
14
C yr BP and 2680 ±30
14
C yr BP, based on the 5-
cm sampling interval used for the depth interval of 173.8–169.4 cm
(Table 1), and an age as young as 1710 ±30
14
C yr BP was obtained
from the depth of 165.1 cm. In core JL18-02-A, an age of 2350 ±30
14
C
yr BP was obtained from the lowermost layer of gray lake sediments,
which is older than the age of 1710 ±30
14
C yr BP obtained from core
JL18-01-A. The ages of the gray lake sediments in the two cores are in
stratigraphic order. Furthermore, the samples from the uppermost layers
of core sediments yielded pMC values of 102.65 ±0.38 and 101.63 ±
0.38, respectively, which agree with the pMC value of the modern at-
mosphere (105.4 ±1.0 in 2007) (Fellner and Rechberger, 2009).
The origin of the organic matter in lake sediments is complex and
thus their radiocarbon ages are often biased by the effects of old carbon.
However, at Jili Lake the radiocarbon ages of the uppermost sediments
are modern, which could be related to the specic physical and hydro-
logical conditions in the study area. First, there are no extensive car-
bonatite outcrops in the Jili Lake basin (Yan and Xia, 1962), and thus the
amount of “old” lithogenic carbon supplied to the lake by wind or runoff
may be insignicant. Furthermore, even if pre-aged carbonate does
enter the lake water, it is unlikely to be an important contributor to the
old carbon effect because of the high alkalinity (pH ~7.3) of the lake
water, which generally limits the dissolution of detrital carbonates.
Second, Jili Lake is hydrologically open and mainly supplied by melt-
water (Zhang et al., 2021), and the rapid hydrological cycle would result
in a short residence time of the lake water. Additionally, both OM and
carbonate comprise less than 10%, respectively, in most of the lake
sediment samples (Figs. S1 and S2), implying that the biological pro-
ductivity of the lake is relatively low and that carbonate precipitation
could be inhibited by the calcium-limited lake water (Liu et al., 2014).
The latter point is consistent with the scarcity of outcropping carbo-
natite in the catchment. Finally, the DIC sample of modern lake water
yielded a pMC value of 93.5 ±0.30 (Table 1). This value is smaller than
that of the uppermost lake sediments, implying that the DIC is older than
the OM in the modern lake sediments. Although the specic mechanisms
responsible for this difference need to be further investigated, these
observations suggest that the OM used for radiocarbon dating is mainly
derived from the lake catchment. Additionally, the stable carbon isotope
composition (δ
13
C) of the OM is within the range of C
3
plants, which also
implies that it is of allochthonous origin (Table 1). Thus, it is likely that
the AMS
14
C dates from Jili lake are not signicantly biased by old
carbon effects.
We then calibrated the radiocarbon ages of the gray lake sediments
in the upper parts of cores JL18-01-A and JL18-02-A to calendar ages
(Fig. 3; Table 1), using IntCal20 (Northern Hemisphere; Reimer et al.,
2020), and established age-depth models using Bacon, run in the R
package (Fig. 3; Christen and P´
erez, 2010; Blaauw and Christen, 2011).
According to the model, time series spanning the past ~1620 years and
~2370 years were established for cores JL18-01-A and JL18-02-A,
respectively, with corresponding temporal resolutions of ~9.8 and
~20 yr for the 1-cm interval used for subsampling.
Although the “old carbon” effect on the lake sediments may vary
over time (e.g., An et al., 2012; Zhang et al., 2016), it is impossible to
assess this without absolute dating for reference. Nonetheless, in the
light of the independent chronologies of the sedimentary sequences, the
changes in median grain size (M
d
), water content, and carbonate content
of the core sediments from the two different sites in the lake show
similar variations over the past 1600 years, and both proles clearly
show two different stages of variations of these proxies, with the
boundary at around 1200 AD (Fig. 4). This observation supports the
reliability of our chronological models, given that the two coring sites
may have experienced the same lacustrine environment over the past
1600 years.
4.3. Grain-size distributions
In order to better interpret the variability of the grain-size distribu-
tion (GSD) of the sediments in the lake system, we classied the lake
surface sediments into ve categories based on their GSD characteristics
(Fig. 5). Type A samples are from near-shore areas (Fig. 2b) and are well-
sorted, with modal sizes ranging between 200 and 600
μ
m (Fig. 5a).
Type B samples are mainly from the center of the lake (Fig. 2b) and have
an approximately unimodal size at ~6
μ
m (Fig. 5a). Type C samples are
mainly from the southeastern littoral area of the lake (Fig. 2b). Their
GSDs are skewed towards a sand-sized component, with modal sizes
ranging from 40 to 130
μ
m, and they also contain minor 10
μ
m or >200
μ
m fractions (Fig. 5b). Type D samples have complex GSDs, with com-
ponents changing from ne silt to coarse sand. A prominent component
with modal sizes of 6–10
μ
m is like that of the Type A samples, but they
also have coarse silt and ne-to coarse-sand components (Fig. 5c). These
samples are randomly distributed from the littoral areas to the depo-
center (Fig. 2b). Two Type E samples were collected from close to the
lake center (Fig. 2b), and they have a well-sorted GSD (Fig. 5d). Modal
sizes are ~200
μ
m and are smaller than those of the Type A samples and
catchment deposits (cf., Fig. 5a, d, f). In general, the mean grain size
Fig. 4. Variations in carbonate content, median grain size (M
d
), and water content of the sediments from cores JL18-01-A and JL-02-A over the past 1600 years.
M. Qiang et al.
Quaternary International xxx (xxxx) xxx
6
(M
z
) of the lake surface sediments at Jili Lake varies from 6
μ
m to ~500
μ
m, and it tends to decrease from the near-shore areas to the center,
except for the Type E samples along west–east transect (Fig. 6).
The GSDs of the catchment surface sediments are unimodal and well-
sorted, with modal sizes >200
μ
m. Some of the samples contain a small
amount of ne silt (<20
μ
m) (Fig. 5f). The trapped airborne sand and
dust sample consist mainly of coarse silt and ne sand (40–200
μ
m),
accompanied by minor amounts of ne silt and coarse sand (Fig. 5d).
The GSD is generally like that of the airborne materials collected during
dust storms in the northern Qaidam Basin (Qiang et al., 2010).
Furthermore, the GSD of the airborne sample is also like that of the Type
E samples, despite the latter having a much coarser component (Fig. 5d).
The samples from the core sediments of Jili Lake generally have a
modal size of ~6
μ
m (Fig. 5e), and some samples also contain varying
amounts of coarse silt and ne sand. The GSDs of the core sediments are
overall like those of the Type B or Type D samples. The M
z
of the lake
sediments in the upper parts of cores JL18-01-A and JL18-02-A varies
from 5.2 to 15
μ
m and from 4.2 to 17.1
μ
m, respectively, with a major
silt component (4–63
μ
m) comprising 69% and 57%, respectively
(Figs. S1 and S2). The sand fraction (>63
μ
m) of the lake sediments
varies between 0.3% and 21.6% and 0.1% and 27.3%, respectively.
Fig. 5. Grain-size frequency distributions of samples
from the Jili Lake sedimentary system. (a–c) Surface
sediments of Jili Lake; (d) Airborne sand and dust
trapped at a height of ~3.5 m upwind of the shore of
Jili Lake, sand and dust trapped during dust storms at
the Lenghu Meteorological Station in the northern
Qaidam Basin (Qiang et al., 2010), and Type E lake
surface sediments; (e) Representative samples of core
sediments; and (f) Samples of surface deposits in the
lake catchment. Vertical gray lines represent 40
μ
m
and 200
μ
m particle sizes.
Fig. 6. Variations of the >200
μ
m and 40–200
μ
m fractions, mean grain size (M
z
), and median grain size (M
d
) of lake surface sediments along the transect across Jili
Lake, as represented by numbers in Fig. 2.
M. Qiang et al.
Quaternary International xxx (xxxx) xxx
7
5. Discussion
5.1. Evolution of Jili lake
The sedimentary strata from Jili Lake show that the basin underwent
uvial inlling and subsequent lake expansions throughout the last
deglaciation and the Holocene. The brownish red uvial sediments in
the lower parts of cores JL18-01-A and JL18-02-A are dated to
18.0–14.1 cal kyr BP, roughly corresponding to the early part of the last
deglaciation in the Northern Hemisphere (e.g., Cheng et al., 2016). The
older age from the lowermost uvial deposits in core JL18-02-A, relative
to core JL18-01-A, suggests that uvial inlling may have initially
occurred in the southwestern sector of the modern lake (Fig. 3). Fluvial
deposition was rapid, as indicated by the high sedimentation rates,
probably in response to oods caused by frequent meltwater discharges
from the surrounding mountains. This supposition is supported by
glacier retreats at these times, evidenced by well-preserved moraine
ridges in the Kanas river valley in the southern Altai Mountains (Zhang
et al., 2015).
No strata are dated to the early-to mid-Holocene, suggesting that
erosional hiatuses occurred at the two coring sites after uvial deposi-
tion, and probably lasted until ~4.8 cal kyr BP, at least at site JL18-02-A.
The absence of deposits may be ascribed to either a low sediment supply
by runoff, the channel transport of sediments to Wulungu Lake in the
lower reach, and/or the erosion of previously-deposited sediments. The
sedimentary strata from Wulungu Lake show that ~1.5-m-thick sand-
rich uvial deposits rapidly accumulated during ~5.5–5.0
14
C kyr BP
(Zhang et al., 2021). The sedimentary sequences perhaps indicate a
material linkage via channel transport between the two lakes, at least
during the early-to mid-Holocene. On the other hand, although sepa-
rated by ~5 km, the uvial sediments accumulated at the two coring
sites in Jili Lake exhibit comparable erosional hiatuses (Fig. 3). Given
the relatively at bed of Jili Lake, eolian erosion of pre-deposited sedi-
ments is very likely, which is supported by a lake-level fall at Wulungu
Lake during 7.2–5.5 cal kyr BP (Jiang et al., 2016).
The off-white clayey silt lacustrine sediments accumulated at the site
of core JL18-02-A after ~5.0 cal kyr BP suggest the existence of a
shallow lake environment. This is also indicated by a reduction in the
sand fraction and increases in the OM and carbonate contents of the core
sediments (Figs. S1 and S2). However, no comparable shallow-water
sediments occur at site JL18-01-A (Fig. 3). Deposition terminated at
~3.5 cal kyr BP and was succeeded by a sedimentary hiatus lasting for
~1000 years, until 2.4 cal kyr BP. A similar erosional hiatus was
observed during the interval of 3.8 to ~1.6 cal kyr BP in core JL18-01-A
(Fig. 3). These unconformities may have been caused by a moisture
decit induced by a dry climate, or by a modication of the regional
hydrological systems at this time (e.g., Lan et al., 2020; Laug et al.,
2021). Hydroclimatic uctuations would lead to shrinkages in lake area
and hence the increased duration of the exposure of the site of core
JL18-01-A to erosion, compared to site JL18-02-A (Figs. 2 and 3).
However, the processes responsible for the erosional hiatuses require
further investigation. Nonetheless, following the interval of erosion of
non-deposition, gray lacustrine sediments with high contents of organic
matter and carbonate began to accumulate at both sites. At site
JL18-01-A, the gray lake sediments began to accumulate at ~1.6 cal kyr
BP (Fig. 3). The stratigraphic variability at the two sites strongly sug-
gests that Jili Lake initially developed in the southwestern sector of the
basin during the late Holocene and then expanded to its current surface
area until ~1600 years ago. The stratigraphic variability at the two sites
suggests that the sedimentary sequence at site JL18-02-A was less
disturbed by lake-level uctuations and thus is more suitable for
recovering the history of eolian activity, at least for the past 1600 years.
5.2. Grain size as an indicator of eolian activity
Sediments always contain particle populations with polymodal sizes,
transported from various sources by different dynamic processes (Sun
et al., 2002; Sun, 2004). When using grain-size data to reconstruct past
environmental changes it is important that individual components are
extracted from the GSD of a mixture of sediment populations and that
they can be clearly interpreted as representing specic sources/tran-
sport processes. Several mathematical methods have been developed to
decompose grain-size assemblages (Sun et al., 2002; Sun, 2004; Qin
et al., 2005; Prins et al., 2007). However, genetically meaningful in-
terpretations of the separated endmembers require a thorough under-
standing of the transport and deposition dynamics, since different
surcial processes can produce similar sedimentary grain-size distribu-
tions. From this perspective, we compared the GSDs of different sedi-
ment types in the sedimentary system of Jili Lake and attempted to
empirically constrain the major processes, as represented by the major
grain-size components of the lake sediments.
The GSDs of the core sediments from Jili Lake are polymodal, mainly
characterized by a major <40
μ
m fraction and with modal sizes of 6–10
μ
m and two minor fractions of 40–200
μ
m and >200
μ
m, with relatively
small volume percentages (Fig. 5e). These grain-size components are
also evident in the GSDs of the lake surface sediments, although the
surface samples containing different prominent grain-size components
were collected at different sampling sites in the lake (Figs. 2 and 5). Type
A samples are primarily well-sorted with coarse-grained components
(modal size >200
μ
m) and are mainly distributed in the littoral zone and
northern sector of the lake (Fig. 2). The GSDs of the Type A samples are
very similar to those of surface sediments in the lake catchment (cf.,
Fig. 5a, f), which reect intense wind erosion. Given that the sampling
sites of the Type A samples are close to the lake shore, the possibility that
the coarse-grained component may have been supplied directly by
winds cannot be excluded. This scenario was also observed at Sugan
Lake in the northern Qaidam Basin (Qiang et al., 2007). However, most
of the Type A samples are distributed in the vicinity of the inlet and
outlet of the lake, suggesting that the Wulungu River may have trans-
ported well-sorted eolian sand to the lake. Determining whether the
Type A sediments were transported by winds, or by the inowing rivers,
requires further verication, but it is plausible that the sediments were
sorted by wave-induced turbulence in littoral settings (Xiao et al., 2012,
2013). This is partially supported by the absence of a ne-grained
component (<40
μ
m) in the Type A samples (Fig. 5a), while the ne
component is abundant in the Type B sediments.
The >200
μ
m fraction in the lake surface sediments decreases rapidly
southwards along prole BB’, decreasing to <5% within 2.5 km of the
inlet (Figs. 2 and 6). The >200
μ
m fraction along the AA’ and CC’
proles also decreases sharply with increasing distance between the
sampling sites and the lakeshore, except for the Type E samples (Fig. 6).
These observations suggest that the >200
μ
m fraction is sensitive to
changes in the proximity to the lakeshore, and that this fraction cannot
be easily transported by rivers to the lake center. Thus, we infer that the
coarse fraction in the core sediments is an indicator of changes in the
intensity of wave action in the lake (Xiao et al., 2012, 2013), and hence
of lake-level uctuations throughout the period of the lake’s existence.
Nonetheless, coarse particles may be transported onto and across the
ice-covered lake surface by saltation under strong wind conditions, and
then be trapped via freeze-thaw cycles within the underlying surface due
to their different thermal inertia (e.g., Qiang et al., 2007), followed by
deposition within the lake following the spring thaw. This process may
explain the presence of the >200
μ
m fraction in some of the lake surface
and core samples, even in the center of the lake. However, there is a
minor >200
μ
m fraction in the airborne trapped sample (Fig. 5d),
indicating the possible contribution of sand transport to the lake in
suspension by strong winds.
The 40–200
μ
m fraction in the surface lake sediments appear to be
ubiquitous, with greater amounts in the littoral zone compared with
offshore, likely due to wave action (Figs. 2 and 6). This fraction varies
around 10% in volume and increases slightly southeastward along the
sampling transects. The spatial pattern of the grain-size parameters is
M. Qiang et al.
Quaternary International xxx (xxxx) xxx
8
inconsistent with the fact that the Wulungu River enters the lake in the
northeast corner and that the grain size of the lake sediments should
therefore gradually decrease with increasing distance from the river
inlet (Sun and Li, 1986). This suggests that the coarse silt and ne sand
fractions may not be uvially transported. Most of the storms and strong
winds at Jili Lake occur from April to June (Fig. 1e). Under typical
windstorm conditions, the coarse silt and ne sand are mainly trans-
ported in short-term suspension and/or by modied saltation due to the
higher settling velocities of the particles (Tsoar and Pye, 1987; Pye,
1995). When the suspended dust and sand material is swept across the
lake, the particles could be deposited on the water surface and deposited
as sediments. This process is conrmed by the grain-size composition of
the trapped airborne deposits at the western shore of Jili Lake, in which
the grain-size component mainly comprises particles in the size range of
40–200
μ
m (Fig. 5d). Furthermore, the GSD of airborne deposits is
largely consistent with that of airborne samples collected during dust
storms in the northern Qaidam Basin (Qiang et al., 2010). Additionally,
the similar GSDs of the airborne samples and the Type E samples
strongly suggest the eolian origin of the latter (Fig. 5d). Thus, it is
possible that coarse particles are supplied to the lake by winds, and that
the coarse silt and ne sand in the sediments were transported by strong
winds operating in an arid and windy environment. Notably, the sand
fraction (>63
μ
m) of lake sediments has been used as an indicator of
eolian activity and/or dust storm occurrence in arid and semi-arid re-
gions (e.g., De Deckker et al., 1991; Chen et al., 2013; Qiang et al., 2007,
2014). The high wind speed needed to entrain coarse silt and ne sand
particles (Tsoar and Pye, 1987), together with the availability of clastic
materials from the ground surface, suggest that the 40–200
μ
m fraction
of the sediments of Jili Lake can be used as an indicator of eolian activity
during the period from late spring through early summer. At this time,
the wind regime is at a maximum and the snow and ice cover in the area
has melted (Fig. 1c–e).
The slight southeastward increase in the 40–200
μ
m fraction offshore
of the littoral zones of Jili Lake can be ascribed to the greater occurrence
of active dune elds in the southeastern part of the catchment, which
likely act as an important sediment source for eolian deation. More-
over, the Type C samples, with GSDs like that of the airborne sample, are
also distributed in the southeastern littoral areas of the lake (Fig. 5b),
reecting the eolian origin of a major sedimentary component.
The <40
μ
m fraction is abundant in the sediments of Jili Lake
(Fig. 5), like the sediments of other lakes in arid and semi-arid regions
(Xiao et al., 2012, 2013; Chen et al., 2013; Qiang et al., 2007, 2014).
However, it is difcult to ascribe changes in this fraction to specic
processes, because multiple factors affect its contribution to lake sedi-
ments, including riverine input, “dust devils” in the catchment, attach-
ment to larger particles and/or as aggregates, and settling from the air as
discrete grains (Chen et al., 2013).
5.3. Evolution of eolian activity and its potential forcing factors
Within the chronological framework of core JL 18-02-A, we con-
structed a 1600-year history of eolian activity, based on changes in the
coarse silt and ne sand (40–200
μ
m) components of the core sediments
(Fig. 7a). More intense eolian activity occurred from 910 to 1300 AD,
largely corresponding to the Medieval Warm Period (MWP). Eolian ac-
tivity intensied slightly during the intervals of 450–600 AD and
1760–1960 AD. In contrast, during 600–910 AD and 1300–1760 AD,
eolian activity was weaker, with the latter interval corresponding to the
Little Ice Age (LIA).
Eolian activity is controlled mainly by sediment supply, vegetation
conditions, and the wind transport capacity (Lancaster, 1995; Pye, 1995;
Kocurek and Lancaster, 1999), as well as by human activity (Neff et al.,
2008; Chen et al., 2020). In arid and semiarid regions, alternations be-
tween arid and humid conditions play an important role in replenishing
the supply of sediments to lowland areas for subsequent deation (Pye,
1995). There are various undated Quaternary uvial deposits in the
catchment of Jili Lake (Yan and Xia, 1962), implying that hydraulic
processes may have been an active agent for the transport of clastic
sediments. As recorded at Fuhai Meteorological Station, during the past
46 years, dust storms always occurred under strong wind conditions
(Fig. 1e), suggesting that abundant clastic material can be easily
entrained and then reduced horizontal visibility there. Additionally,
dune elds or sparse sand dunes are present around Jili Lake (Mao et al.,
1981), which are also potential sources of coarse silt and ne sand. Thus,
overall, sediment supply was not a limiting factor for eolian activity in
the study area.
In an arid and semiarid environment, effective moisture—the bal-
ance between precipitation and potential evapotranspiration—plays a
critical role in sand and mobility via its inuence on vegetation cover (e.
g., Lancaster, 1995; Mason et al., 2008). In northern Xinjiang, multiple
proxies suggest that the climate was characterized by a continuous
wetting trend throughout the late Holocene (Ran and Feng, 2013; Hong
et al., 2014; Chen et al., 2016, 2019; Kang et al., 2020). Several records,
however, suggest that moisture levels uctuated on a centennial time-
scale during the late Holocene (Chen et al., 2010; Cheng et al., 2012; Lan
et al., 2020), and abrupt climatic events, such as the MWP and LIA, were
identied. For instance, a synthesis of 17 moisture records showed that
arid central Asia experienced drought conditions during the MWP and
wet conditions during the LIA (Chen et al., 2010). The inconsistency
between the various moisture records from arid central Asia makes it
difcult to determine it as a driving factor for eolian activity in the study
area.
Eolian activity at Lake Jili was much more intense during the MWP
(910–1300 AD), compared to other intervals, including the LIA (Fig. 7a).
This may imply a low level of effective moisture at that time, probably
due to either high air temperatures and/or decreased precipitation
(Chen et al., 2010; Myglan et al., 2012; Cheng et al., 2012) (Fig. 7b and
Fig. 7. Comparison of the results with climatic records and changes in the
human population of Xinjiang. (a) 1600-year record of eolian activity at Jili
Lake, represented by changes in the 40–200
μ
m fraction of the sediments of
core JL18-02-A. The dashed line indicates the average value of the fraction. (b)
Tree-ring based summer temperatures in southern Altai (Myglan et al., 2012).
(c) Oxygen isotope composition of speleothems from Kesang Cave in northern
Xinjiang, reecting precipitation changes (Cheng et al., 2012). (d) Human
population of Xinjiang, potentially indicating the intensity of human activity,
which may have disturbed the ground surface and facilitated eolian activity
(Zhao and Xie, 1988).
M. Qiang et al.
Quaternary International xxx (xxxx) xxx
9
c). However, eolian activity with a magnitude like that during the MWP
did not occur after 1760 AD, despite the fact that this interval was also
characterized by relatively high air temperatures and reduced precipi-
tation (e.g., Yang et al., 2002; Myglan et al., 2012; Cheng et al., 2012),
and that there was also an intensication of human activity in Xinjiang
due to the rapidly increasing human population (Zhao and Xie, 1988)
(Fig. 7d). In fact, besides the effect of aridity on eolian/dust activity due
to increasing sand and dust availability as vegetation coverage declines,
a drought climate may also have reduced dust emission due to decreases
in sediment supply, as a result of a decrease in hydraulic transport of
ne-grained materials to dust sources (Tau et al., 2021). These obser-
vations therefore suggest that it is difcult to causally link the eolian
activity at Jili Lake with changes in the regional effective moisture.
Nonetheless, the possible role of vegetation cover as a forcing factor for
eolian activity cannot be excluded, because there was a substantial
thermal contrast between the MWP and the LIA (e.g., Yang et al., 2002),
which could have regulated the evolution of effective moisture and
hence the vegetation conditions.
As shown in Fig. 7d, the human population of Xinjiang was low prior
to ~1800 AD, and it even decreased during ~1100–1400 AD. This
suggests that human activity may not have been a major cause of the
intense eolian activity during the MWP. Thus, we suggest that wind
strength may have been the critical factor driving eolian activity in the
study area, since the coarse silt and ne sand in the lake sediments
would have required a stronger wind regime for the particles to be lofted
and transported to the lake (Tsoar and Pye, 1987). Thus, our results
provide evidence of changes in atmospheric circulation in arid central
Asia over the last 1600 years.
5.4. Implications for changes in atmospheric circulation
There are only a few records of eolian sand/dust activity for the last
two millennia reconstructed from lake sediments from arid central Asia.
Chen et al. (2013) used the coarse silt and ne sand fraction (56–282.5
μ
m) of the sediments of Sugan Lake as an indicator of dust storms in the
northern Qaidam Basin (see Fig. 1 for the location), and showed that
more frequent and/or intensive dust storms occurred during the LIA and
in the middle of the last century (Fig. 8c), compared to other climatic
intervals of the last 2000 years. Records of Ti concentration and
grain-size ratios of Aral Sea sediments also suggest that most of dust
input occurred during the LIA (Sorrel et al., 2007; Huang et al., 2011)
(Fig. 8d). Dust activity during the LIA is clearly reected by enhanced
dust deposition downwind, e.g., by the high microparticle concentra-
tions in the Dunde ice core from the Qilian Mountains (Mosley--
Thompson et al., 1993) (Fig. 8b), the increased dust fall frequency
derived from Chinese historical records in northern China (Zhang,
1984), and by an increase in the non-sea salt potassium ion (nss K
+
) in
the Greenland GISP2 ice core (Meeker and Mayewski, 2002; Mayewski
and Maasch, 2006) (Fig. 8e). Therefore, it is obvious that the temporal
pattern of eolian activity at Jili Lake differs substantially from these
other dust records.
In the dust source areas of arid central Asia, dust outbreaks mostly
occur in the spring (Littmann, 1991; Kurosaki and Mikami, 2003; Sorrel
et al., 2007; Uno et al., 2009; Roe, 2009). This seasonal pattern is
directly related to the intensied cold front activity due to the break-
down of the Siberian High (SH) (Roe, 2009). The SH begins to weaken in
spring and the less stable atmospheric stratication enables vertical air
motion and hence increased interactions between the surface and the
middle and upper troposphere, which is important for the development
of synoptic cyclones. Furthermore, the northward shift of the Westerlies
jet stream during this season also plays an important role in generating
frequent and intense lee cyclogenesis (Roe, 2009). The spring synoptic
conditions favoring dust outbreaks is substantiated by the negative
relationship between the strength of the SH and dust storm frequency in
East Asia (Ding et al., 2005). In spring, on the other hand, a reservoir of
cold air still exists in the north, although the lower-latitude dust source
areas are warming rapidly. This creates the large-scale temperature
gradient capable of producing intense cold fronts (Roe, 2009). Consid-
ering the physical processes for producing dust-generating cold fronts,
dust outbreaks in central Asia represent a coupling of synoptic-scale
windstorms and the dust source areas along the leading edge of cold
air surges, i.e., on the southern and western peripheries of the SH system
(Orlovsky et al., 2005; Sorrel et al., 2007; Roe, 2009).
Air temperatures were generally lower during the LIA than during
the MWP (e.g., Yang et al., 2002; Myglan et al., 2012). During cold
phases, the cold interior of Eurasia enabled the strengthening of the
reservoir of cold air mass over Siberia (Roe, 2009), giving rise to the
higher pressure and wider extent of the anticyclonic system compared to
warm intervals (Gong et al., 2001). Due to the oceanic conditions off
eastern Siberia the SH system tended to expand southwestwards when
its strength greatly increased during cold episodes (Pers¸oiu et al., 2019).
Given that the intensity and extent of the SH were modulated by the
thermal contrast during different climatic intervals, and that more
intense windstorms for dust outbreaks occurred along the periphery of
the SH, the opposing patterns of eolian dust activity between the MWP
and LIA can be ascribed to the dynamics of the SH system. During the
LIA, the SH was intensied and expanded, leading to the intense eolian
Fig. 8. Comparisons of the results from Jili Lake with other dust records. (a)
1600-year record of eolian activity at Jili Lake. (b) Normalized dust concen-
trations from the Dunde ice core (Mosley-Thompson et al., 1993). (c) History of
dust storms indicated by changes in the 56–282.5
μ
m fraction of the sediments
from Sugan Lake (Chen et al., 2013). (d) Ti record from the Aral Sea reecting
wind intensity and frequency (11-year moving average) (Sorrel et al., 2007). (e)
GISP2 non-sea salt potassium (nssK
+
) record, indicating changes in the Siberian
High (Mayewski and Maasch, 2006). (f) NAO reconstructions. The NAO
ms
index
based on a comparison of moisture records between Morocco and Scotland
(Trouet et al., 2009), and the NAO
PCA3
index which integrates redox parameters
(e.g., Mn, Mn/Fe, Ca/Ti and sediment gray scale) (Olsen et al., 2012).
M. Qiang et al.
Quaternary International xxx (xxxx) xxx
10
dust activity recorded in the Aral Sea and at Sugan Lake (Figs. 1 and 8).
In contrast, the SH shrank northeastwards during the MWP and eolian
activity was intense at Jili Lake as a result of its location on the periphery
of the SH at that time.
There appears to be a contradiction between the strengthened SH in
winter and its subsequent breakdown in spring when the atmospheric
pressure decreases, since both conditions favor dust outbreaks. How-
ever, the frequency of dust storms in northern China is negatively
correlated with the air temperatures in the preceding winter (Qian et al.,
2002). This suggests that the enhanced descent of a cold air mass in
Siberia in the winter season may promote lee cyclogenesis and tem-
perature gradients on a large scale in the subsequent spring, driving cold
air surges southward and generating dust outbreaks (Roe, 2009). This
evolution of the SH from winter to spring would create the critical dy-
namic conditions necessary for the development of dust activity in
central Asia, explaining the high level of Asian dust activity within cold
climatic stages on various timescales (e.g., O’Brien et al., 1995; Ruth
et al., 2007; Sun et al., 2012).
The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is one of the most important
modes of atmospheric circulation over the North Atlantic region (Olsen
et al., 2012), and it plays an important role in climate change in the lee
of central Asia (e.g., Lan et al., 2020). The reconstructed NAO index
shows a positive phase during the MWP but a negative phase during the
LIA (Trouet et al., 2009, 2012; Olsen et al., 2012) (Fig. 8f). Based on the
differences in eolian sand mobility recorded in peat deposits from Spain
and Scotland, Orme et al. (2017) suggested that during the late Holocene
storm tracks gradually moved from lower to higher latitudes, repre-
senting a change from a meridional to a zonal pattern of atmospheric
circulation. This nding coincides with a negative to a positive NAO
shift during the late Holocene (Olsen et al., 2012). Therefore, the posi-
tive NAO phase during the MWP may have been characterized by an
enhanced zonal ow and thus a strong polar vortex, accompanied by
intensied westerlies which extended northward (Trouet et al., 2009).
The reduced intensity and extent of the SH during the MWP may have
resulted from the weakened advection of cold air masses from high
latitudes (Roe, 2009; Orme et al., 2017; Pers¸oiu et al., 2019). In contrast,
the intensied SH may have been caused by the enhanced meridional
circulation during the negative NAO phase of the LIA, like that during
cold interval at ~4.2 kyr BP (Pers¸ oiu et al., 2019). The spatial differ-
entiation of eolian dust activity throughout the MWP and the LIA (Fig. 8)
therefore largely reects changes in the intensity and extent of the SH,
associated with changes in atmospheric circulation patterns over the
Northern Hemisphere. The strong thermal contrast between the MWP
and the LIA, probably forced by changes in solar irradiation and polar
sea ice cover (e.g., Orme et al., 2017), likely played a crucial role in
forcing this major adjustment of atmospheric circulation. Thus, it is
possible that the weakened eolian dust activity prior to 910 AD can be
ascribed to a decreased thermal contrast (Figs. 7 and 8).
Together with other dust records from the region, the record of
eolian activity from Jili Lake potentially provides valuable information
on dust emission in the Asian dust source areas, which is important for
understanding Asian dust cycles and the potential forcing mechanisms
(e.g., Shao et al., 2011). The major eolian activity at Jili Lake during the
MWP suggests that dust emission in central Asia is not necessarily
associated with climatic deterioration, such as during the cold LIA, but
that it largely depended on the geographical displacement of windstorm
conditions that are coupled with potential dust source areas in arid
central Asia. This scenario may undermine the reconstruction of the
Siberian High based on the record of major ions (nss K
+
) in the
Greenland GISP2 ice core, although this record is calibrated using
modern observations of sea level pressure (Meeker and Mayewski,
2002). Given the Asian origin of nss K
+
(Biscaye et al., 1997; Bory et al.,
2002), the high concentrations of glaciochemical ions during the LIA
essentially represents the enhanced efciency of the entrainment and
transport of Asian dust to the Greenland Ice Sheet. The increased dust-
iness was associated, at least, with the synchronous occurrence of
windstorms and an abundant sediment supply in the source areas, rather
than with changes in the intensity of the SH, although the strengthened
SH system, probably accompanied by a prolonged winter and spring
seasons during cold climatic stages, favored the occurrence of dust
outbreaks.
6. Conclusions
The stratigraphic variability and absolute AMS
14
C–based chronol-
ogy from two composite sediment cores suggest that the basin of Jili
Lake was inlled by uvial processes during the last deglaciation. There
are no early-to mid-Holocene sediments, probably as a result of the long-
term erosion of the lake-bed. The lake may have developed initially in
the southwestern part of the modern lake basin, from ~5.0 cal kyr BP,
and then expanded to close to the modern surface area some 1600 years
ago, despite a possible desiccation at the depocenter of the lake during
3.5–2.3 cal kyr BP. Detailed grain-size analyses of samples from the
various components of the lake sedimentary system show that the coarse
silt and ne sand fraction (40–200
μ
m) of the lake sediments was
transported primarily by strong winds to the lake, and therefore that this
fraction can be used as an indicator of eolian activity in the study area.
The most intensive phase of eolian activity during the last 1600 years
occurred during the MWP (910–1300 AD), whereas eolian activity was
relatively weak during other intervals, including the Little Ice Age
(1300–1760 AD). Further, we argue that strong wind regimes played an
important role in the occurrence of eolian activity, although the drought
conditions during the MWP may have been an additional factor favoring
sand mobility in the study area. The temporal pattern of eolian activity
at Jili Lake is contrary to other records of sand/dust activity recorded by
lake sediments and ice cores during the last two millennia. We ascribe
this spatial differentiation of eolian dust activity across central Asia to
the dynamics of the intensity and extent of the SH during different cli-
matic stages. Cold air surges generated on the southwestern periphery of
the SH enable intense dust outbreaks in springtime. The intensity of the
SH appears to be regulated by changes in atmospheric circulation, most
likely linked to different phases of the NAO. Given the likelihood of
continued warming, dust outbreaks would be expected to decrease in the
future, if the further contraction of the SH system shifts the location of
dust-generating cold fronts to the north of the major dust source areas in
central Asia.
The dynamics of eolian activity proposed here are tentative, because
there are no other records which show a comparable temporal pattern to
the eolian activity recorded at Jili Lake. Thus, it is necessary to obtain
new records of eolian dust variability to verify our hypothesis, especially
from sites much closer to the geographical center of the SH. In addition,
the implications of the applied proxies of eolian activity should be
emphasized in future research, in particular for the propagation of dust
outbreak signals on timescales from seasonal to long-term, as in the
present study.
Author contributions
Mingrui Qiang: Conceptualization, Investigation, Writing - Original
Draft, Writing - Review & Editing, Funding acquisition; Wenzhe Lang:
Writing - Original Draft, Investigation, Formal analysis; Zhenhao He:
Investigation, Formal analysis, Visualization; Ming Jin: Investigation,
Formal analysis; Aifeng Zhou: Investigation, Writing - Review & Edit-
ing; Jiawu Zhang: Investigation, Writing - Review & Editing.
Data availability
The data used to support the ndings of this study are available from
the corresponding author upon request.
M. Qiang et al.
Quaternary International xxx (xxxx) xxx
11
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing nancial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to inuence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China
(award 2017YFA0603402) and the National Natural Science Foundation
of China (award 42071109). We thank Dr. Y. Li and Mr. X.W. Wang for
their assistance in the eld. We thank Dr. J. Bloemendal for his com-
ments and language improvements. We also thank Prof. J.L. Xiao and
two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions to
improve the paper.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.quaint.2022.05.012.
References
An, C.B., Zhao, J.J., Tao, S.C., Lv, Y.B., Dong, W.M., Li, H., Jin, M., Wang, Z.L., 2011.
Dust variation recorded by lacustrine sediments from arid central Asia since similar
to 15 cal ka BP and its implication for atmospheric circulation. Quat. Res. 75,
566–573.
An, Z.S., Colman, S.M., Zhou, W.J., Li, X.Q., Brown, E.T., Timothy Jull, A.J., Cai, Y.J.,
Huang, Y.S., Lu, X.F., Chang, H., Song, Y.G., Sun, Y.B., Xu, H., Liu, W.G., Jin, Z.D.,
Liu, X.D., Cheng, P., Liu, Y., Ai, L., Li, X.Z., Liu, X.J., Yan, L.B., Shi, Z.G., Wang, X.L.,
Wu, F., Qiang, X.K., Dong, J.B., Lu, F.Y., Xu, X.W., 2012. Interplay between the
westerlies and Asian monsoon recorded in lake Qinghai sediments since 32 ka. Sci.
Rep. 2, 619–625.
Biscaye, P.E., Grousset, P.E., Revel, M., Van der Gaast, S., Zielinski, G.A., Vaars, A.,
Kukla, G., 1997. Asian provenance of glacial dust (stage 2) in the GISP2 ice core,
Summit, Greenland. J. Geophys. Res. 102 (C12), 26675–26781.
Blaauw, M., Christen, A.J., 2011. Flexible paleoclimate age-depth models using an
autoregressive Gamma process. Bayesian Anal. 6, 457–474.
Bory, A.J.-M., Biscaye, P.E., Svensson, A., Grousset, F.E., 2002. Seasonal variability in the
origin of recent atmospheric mineral dust at NorthGRIP, Greenland. Earth Planet Sci.
Lett. 196, 123–134.
Chen, F.H., Chen, J.H., Holmes, J., Boomer, I., Austin, P., Gates, J.B., Wang, N.L.,
Brooks, S.J., Zhang, J.W., 2010. Moisture changes over the last millennium in arid
central Asia: a review, synthesis and comparison with monsoon region. Quat. Sci.
Rev. 29, 1055–1068.
Chen, F.H., Chen, S.Q., Zhang, X., Chen, J.H., Wang, X., Gowan, E.J., Qiang, M.R.,
Dong, G.H., Wang, Z.L., Li, Y.C., Xu, Q.H., Smol, J.P., Liu, J.B., 2020. Asian dust-
storm activity dominated by Chinese dynasty changes since 2000 BP. Nat. Commun.
11, 992. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-14765-4.
Chen, F.H., Chen, J.H., Huang, W., Chen, S.Q., Huang, X.Z., Jin, L.Y., Jia, J., Zhang, X.J.,
An, C.B., Zhang, J.W., Zhao, Y., Yu, Z.C., Zhang, R.H., Liu, J.B., Zhou, A.F., Feng, S.,
2019. Westerlies Asia and monsoonal Asia: spatiotemporal differences in climate
change and possible mechanisms on decadal to sub-orbital timescales. Earth Sci.
Rev. 192, 337–354.
Chen, F.H., Jia, J., Chen, J.H., Li, G.Q., Zhang, X.J., Xie, H.C., Xia, D.S., Huang, W., An, C.
B., 2016. A persistent Holocene wetting trend in arid Central Asia, with wettest
conditions in the late Holocene, revealed by multi-proxy analyses of loess-paleosol
sequences in Xinjiang, China. Quat. Sci. Rev. 146, 134–146.
Chen, F.H., Qiang, M.R., Zhou, A.F., Xiao, S., Chen, J.H., Sun, D.H., 2013. A 2000-year
dust storm record from Lake Sugan in the dust source area of arid China. J. Geophys.
Res. 118, 2149–2160.
Cheng, H., Edwards, L., Sinha, A., Sp¨
otl, C., Yi, L., Chen, S.T., Kelly, M., Kathayat, G.,
Wang, X.F., Li, X.L., Kong, X.G., Wang, Y.J., Ning, Y.F., Zhang, H.W., 2016. The
Asian monsoon over the past 640,000 years and ice age terminations. Nature 534,
640–646.
Cheng, H., Zhang, P.Z., Sp¨
otl, C., Edwards, R.L., Cai, Y.J., Zhang, D.Z., Sang, W.C.,
Tan, M., An, Z.S., 2012. The climatic cyclicity in semiarid-arid central Asia over the
past 500,000 years. Geophys. Res. Lett. 39, L01705. https://doi.org/10.1029/
2011GL050202.
Christen, J.A., Perez, E.S., 2010. A new robust statistical model for radiocarbon data.
Radiocarbon 51, 1047–1059.
De Deckker, P., Corr`
ege, T. Head J., 1991. Late Pleistocene record of cyclic eolian
activity from tropical Australia suggesting the Younger Dryas is not an unusual
climatic event. Geology 19, 602–605.
Dentener, F.J., Carmichael, G.R., Zhang, Y., Lelieveld, J., Cruzen, P.J., 1996. Role of
mineral aerosol as a reactive surface in the global troposphere. J. Geophys. Res. 101,
22869–22889.
Ding, R.Q., Li, J.P., Wang, S.G., Ren, F.M., 2005. Decadal change of the spring dust storm
in northwest China and the associated atmospheric circulation. Geophys. Res. Lett.
32, L02808. https://doi.org/10.1029/2004gl021561.
Fellner, J., Rechberger, H., 2009. Abundance of
14
C in biomass fractions of wastes and
solid recovered fuels. Waste Manag. 295, 1495–1503.
Ferrat, M., Weiss, D.J., Spiro, B., Large, D., 2012. The inorganic geochemistry of a peat
deposit on the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and insights into changing
atmospheric circulation in central Asia during the Holocene. Geochem. Cosmochim.
Acta 91, 7–31.
Fitzsimmons, K.E., Nowatzki, M., Dave, A.K., Harder, H., 2019. Intersections between
wind regimes, topography and sediment supply: perspectives from aeolian landforms
in Central Asia. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 540, 109531.
Fuhrer, K., Wolff, E.W., Johnsen, S.J., 1999. Timescales for dust variability in the
Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP) ice core in the last 100,000 years. J. Geophys. Res.
104, 31043–31052.
Gong, D.Y., Wang, S.W., Zhou, J.H., 2001. East Asian winter monsoon and Arctic
oscillation. Geophys. Res. Lett. 28, 2073–2076.
Hazazi, N., 2014. Hydrological characteristics in the Ulungur river basin. Arid Zone Res.
31 (5), 798–802 (in Chinese).
Heiri, O., Lotter, A.F., Lemcke, G., 2001. Loss on ignition as a method for estimating
organic and carbonate content in sediments: reproducibility and comparability of
results. J. Paleolimnol. 25, 101–110.
Hong, B., Gasse, F., Uchida, M., Hong, Y.T., Leng, X.T., Shibata, Y., An, N., Zhu, Y.X.,
Wang, Y., 2014. Increasing summer rainfall in arid eastern-Central Asia over the past
8500 years. Sci. Rep. 4, 5279. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep05279.
Huang, J.P., Minnis, P., Liu, B., Wang, T.H., Yi, Y.H., Hu, Y.X., Sun-Mack, S., Ayers, K.,
2006. Possible inuences of Asian dust aerosols on cloud properties and radiative
forcing observed from MODIS and CERES. Geophys. Res. Lett. 33, L06824. https://
doi.org/10.1029/2005GL024724.
Huang, X.T., Oberh¨
ansli, H., von Suchodoletz, H., Sorrel, P., 2011. Dust deposition in the
Aral Sea: implications for changes in atmospheric circulation in central Asia during
the past 2000 years. Quat. Sci. Rev. 30, 3661–3674.
Jiang, Q.F., Qian, P., Zhou, T., Hong, J., Fan, H., Liu, J.F., 2016. Preliminary research on
ancient lacustrine sediments in Lake Ulungur in arid Central Asia since late MIS-3.
J. Lake Sci. 28 (2), 444–454 (in Chinese).
Kang, S., Wang, X., Roberts, H.M., Duller, G.A.T., Song, Y., Liu, W., Zhang, R., Liu, X.,
Lan, J., 2020. Increasing effective moisture during the Holocene in the semiarid
regions of the Yili basin, central Asia: evidence from loess sections. Quat. Sci. Rev.
246, 106553.
Kocurek, G., Lancaster, N., 1999. Aeolian system sediment state: theory and Mojave
Desert Kelso dune eld example. Sedimentology 46, 505–515.
Kurosaki, Y., Mikami, M., 2003. Recent frequent dust events and their relation to surface
wind in East Asia. Geophys. Res. Lett. 30, 1376. https://doi.org/10.1029/
2003GL017261.
Lan, J.H., Zhang, J., Cheng, P., Ma, X.L., Ai, L., Chawchai, S., Zhou, K.E., Wang, T.L.,
Yu, K.K., Sheng, E.G., Kang, S.G., Zang, J.J., Yan, D.N., Wang, Y.Q., Tan, L.C., Xu, H.,
2020. Late Holocene hydroclimatic variation in central Asia and its response to mid-
latitude Westerlies and solar irradiance. Quat. Sci. Rev. 238, 106330.
Lancaster, N., 1995. Geomorphology of Desert Dunes. Routledge, London and New York,
pp. 228–254.
Laug, A., Haberzettl, T., Pannes, A., Schwarz, A., Turner, F., Wang, J.B., Engels, S.,
Rigterink, S., B¨
orner, N., Ahlborn, M., Ju, J.T., Schwalb, A., 2021. Holocene
paleoenvironmental change inferred from two sediment cores collected in the
Tibetan Lake Taro Co. J. Paleolimnol. 66, 171–186.
Li, G.Q., Rao, Z.G., Duan, Y.W., Xia, D.S., Wang, L.B., Madsen, D.B., Jia, J., Wei, H.T.,
Qiang, M.R., Chen, J.H., Chen, F.H., 2016. Paleoenvironmental changes recorded in
a luminescence dated loess/paleosol sequence from the Tianshan Mountains, arid
central Asia, since the Penultimate Glaciation. Earth Planet Sci. Lett. 448, 1–12.
Littmann, T., 1991. Dust storm frequency in Asia: climatic control and variability. Int. J.
Climatol. 11, 393–412.
Liu, T.S., 1985. Loess and Environment. China Ocean Press, Beijing.
Liu, X.J., Colman, S.M., Brown, E.T., An, Z.S., Zhou, W.J., Jull, A.J.T., Huang, Y.S.,
Cheng, P., Liu, W.G., Xu, H., 2014. A climate threshold at the eastern edge of the
Tibetan plateau. Geophys. Res. Lett. 41, 5598–5604.
Liu, X.Q., Herzschuh, U., Shen, J., Jiang, Q.F., Xiao, X.Y., 2008. Holocene environmental
and climatic changes inferred from Wulungu Lake in northern Xinjiang, China. Quat.
Res. 70, 412–425.
Ma, L., Wu, J.L., Abuduwaili, J., 2013. Climate and environmental changes over the past
150 years inferred from the sediments of Chaiwopu Lake, central Tianshan
Mountains, northwest China. Int. J. Earth Sci. 102, 595–967.
Mao, D.H., 1981. Geomorphological evolution of Wulungu Lake in quaternary period.
Geogr. Xinjiang 2, 17–24 (in Chinese).
Maher, B.A., Prospero, J.M., Machie, D., Gaiero, D., Hesse, P.P., Balkanski, Y., 2010.
Global connections between aeolian dust, climate and ocean biogeochemistry at the
present day and the last glacial maximum. Earth Sci. Rev. 99, 61–97.
Martin, J.H., Fitzwater, S.E., 1988. Iron deciency limits phytoplankton growth on the
north-east Pacic subarctic. Nature 331, 341–343.
Martínez-García, A., Rosell-Mel´
e, A., Geibert, W., Gersonde, R., Masqu´
e, P., Gaspari, V.,
Barbante, C., 2009. Links between iron supply, marine productivity, sea surface
temperature, and CO2 over the last 1.1 Ma. Paleoceanography 24, PA1207. https://
doi.org/10.1029/2008PA001657.
Mason, J.A., Swinehart, J.B., Lu, H.Y., Miao, X.D., Cha, P., Zhou, Y.L., 2008. Limited
change in dune mobility in response to a large decrease in wind power in semi-arid
north China since 1970s. Geomorphology 102, 351–363.
M. Qiang et al.
Quaternary International xxx (xxxx) xxx
12
Mayewski, P.A., Maasch, K.A., 2006. Recent warming inconsistent with natural
association between temperature and atmospheric circulation over the last 2000
years. Clim. Past Discuss 2, 327–355.
McTainsh, G., Strong, C., 2007. The role of aeolian dust in ecosystems. Geomorphology
89, 39–54.
Meeker, L.D., Mayewski, P.A., 2002. A 1400-year high-resolution record of atmospheric
circulation over the north Atlantic and Asia. Holocene 12, 257–266.
Mosley-Thompson, E., Thompson, L.G., Dai, J., Davis, M., Lin, P.N., 1993. Climate of the
last 500 years: high resolution ice core records. Quat. Sci. Rev. 12, 419–430.
Myglan, V.S., Zharnikova, O.A., Malysheva, N.V., Gerasimova, O.V., Vaganov, E.A.,
Sidorov, O.V., 2012. Constructing the tree-ring chronology and reconstructing
summertime air temperatures in southern Altai for the lake 1500 years. Geogr. Nat.
Resour. 33, 200–207.
Neff, J.C., Ballantyne, A.P., Farmer, G.L., Mahowald, N.M., Conroy, J.L., Landry, C.C.,
Overpack, J.T., Painter, T.H., Lawrence, C.R., Reynolds, R.L., 2008. Increasing eolian
dust deposition in the western United States linked to human activity. Nat. Geosci. 1,
189–195.
O’Brien, S.R., Mayewski, P.A., Meeker, L.D., Meese, D.A., Twickler, M.S., Whitlow, S.I.,
1995. Complexity of Holocene climate as reconstructed from a Greenland ice core.
Science 270, 1962–1964.
Orlovsky, L., Orlovsky, N., Durdyev, A., 2005. Dust storms in Turkmenistan. J. Arid
Environ. 60, 83–97.
Olsen, J., Anderson, N.J., Knudsen, M.F., 2012. Variability of the north Atlantic
oscillation over the past 5200 years. Nat. Geosci. 5, 808–812. https://doi.org/
10.1038/NG1589.
Orme, L.C., Charman, D.J., Reinhard, L., Jones, R.T., Mitchell, F.J.G., Stefanini, B.S.,
Barkwith, A., Ellis, M.A., Grosvenor, M., 2017. Past changes in the North Atlantic
storm track driven by isolation and sea-ice forcing. Geology 45, 335–338.
Panagiotopoulos, F., Shahgedanova, M., Hannachi, A., Stephenson, D.B., 2005. Observed
trends and teleconnections of the Siberian High: a recently declining center of action.
J. Clim. 18, 1411–1422.
Perșoiu, A., Ionita, M., Weiss, H., 2019. Atmospheric blocking induced by the
strengthened Siberian High led to drying in west Asia during the 4.2 ka BP event — a
hypothesis. Clim. Past Disuss. 15, 781–793.
Prins, M.A., Vriend, M., Nugteren, G., Vandenberghe, J., Lu, H.Y., Zheng, H.B., Weltje, G.
J., 2007. Late Quaternary Aeolian dust input variability on the Chinese Loess
Plateau: inferences from unmixing of loess grain-size records. Quat. Sci. Rev. 26,
230–242.
Prospero, J.M., Ginoux, P., Torres, O., Nicholson, S.E., Gill, T.E., 2002. Environmental
characterization of global sources of atmospheric soil dust identied with the
Nimbus 7 Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) absorbing aerosol product.
Rev. Geophys. 40 https://doi.org/10.1029/2000RG000095.
Pye, K., 1995. The nature, origin and accumulation of loess. Quat. Sci. Rev. 14, 653–667.
Qian, W.H., Quan, L.S., Shi, S.Y., 2002. Variations of the dust storm in China and its
climatic control. J. Clim. 15, 1216–1229.
Qiang, M.R., Chen, F.H., Zhang, J.W., Zu, R.P., Jin, M., Zhou, A.F., Xiao, S., 2007. Grain
size in sediments from Lake Sugan: a possible linkage to dust storm events at the
northern margin of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. Environ. Geol. 51, 1229–1238.
Qiang, M., Lang, L., Wang, Z., 2010. Do ne-grained components of loess indicate
westerlies: insights from observations of dust storm deposits at Lenghu (Qaidam
Basin, China). J. Arid Environ. 74, 1232–1239.
Qiang, M.R., Liu, Y.Y., Jin, Y.X., Song, L., Huang, X.T., Chen, F.H., 2014. Holocene record
of eolian activity from Genggahai lake, northeastern Qinghai- Tibetan Plateau,
China. Geophys. Res. Lett. 41, 589–595.
Qiang, M.R., Stevens, T., Li, G.Q., Hu, L., Wang, X.W., Lang, W.Z., Chen, J., 2021. Late
Quaternary dust, loess and desert dynamics in upwind areas of the Chinese Loess
Plateau. Front. Earth Sci. 9, 661874. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2021.661874.
Qin, X.G., Cai, B.G., Liu, T.S., 2005. Loess record of the aerodynamic environment in the
east Asia monsoon area since 60,000 years before present. J. Geophys. Res. 110,
B01204. https://doi.org/10.1029/2004JB003131.
Ran, M., Feng, Z.D., 2013. Holocene moisture variations across China and driving
mechanisms: a synthesis of climatic records. Quat. Int. 313−314, 179–193.
Rea, D.K., 1994. The paleoclimatic record provided by eolian deposition in the deep sea:
the geologic history of wind. Rev. Geophys. 32, 159–195.
Reimer, P.J., Austin, W.E., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Blackwell, P.G., Ramsey, C.B., Butzin, M.,
Cheng, H., Edwards, R.L., Friedrich, M., Grootes, P.M., Guilderson, T.P., Hajdas, I.,
Heaton, T.J., Hogg, A.G., Hughen, K.A., Kromer, B., Manning, S.W., Muscheler, R.,
Palmer, J.G., Pearson, C., van der Plicht, J., Reimer, R.W., Richards, D.A., Scott, E.
M., Southon, J.R., Turney, C.S.M., Wacker, L., Adolphi, F., Büntgen, U., Capano, M.,
Fahrni, S.M., Fogtmann-Schulz, A., Friedrich, R., K¨
ohler, P., Kudsk, S., Miyake, F.,
Olsen, J., Reinig, F., Sakamoto, M., Sookdeo, A., Talamo, S., 2020. The IntCal20
Northern Hemisphere radiocarbon age calibration curve (0-55 cal k BP).
Radiocarbon 62, 725–757.
Roe, G., 2009. On the interpretation of Chinese loess as a paleoclimate indicator. Quat.
Res. 71, 150–161.
Ruth, U., Bigler, M., R¨
othlishberger, R., Siggaard-Andersen, M.-L., Kipfatuhl, S., Goto-
Azuma, K., Hansson, M.E., Johnsen, S.J., Lu, H., Steffensen, J.P., 2007. Ice core
evidence for a very tight link between North Atlantic and east Asian glacial climate.
Geophys. Res. Lett. 34, L03706. https://doi.org/10.1029/2006GL027876.
Santisteban, J.I., Mediavilla, R., L´
opez-Pamo, E., Dabrio, C.J., Zapata, M.B.R., Blanca
Ruiz Zapata, M., Jos´
e Gil García, M., Casta˜
no, S., Martínez-Alfaro, P.E., 2004. Loss on
ignition: a qualitative or quantitative method for organic matter and carbonate
mineral content in sediments. J. Paleolimnol. 32, 287–299.
Shao, Y.P., Wyrwoll, K.H., Chappell, A., Huang, J.P., Lin, Z.H., McTainsh, G.H.,
Mikami, M., Tanaka, T.Y., Wang, X.L., Yoon, S., 2011. Dust cycle: an emerging core
theme in Earth system science. Aeolian Res 2, 181–204.
Song, Y.G., Li, Y., Cheng, L.Q., Zong, X.L., Kang, S.G., Ghafarpour, A., Li, X.Z., Sun, H.Y.,
Fu, X.F., Dong, J.B., Mamadjanov, Y., Orozbaev, R., Shukurov, N., Gholami, H.,
Shukurov, S., Xie, M.P., 2021. Spatio-temporal distribution of quaternary loess
across central Asia. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol. 567, 110297. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2021.110279.
Sorrel, P., Oberh¨
ansli, H., Boroffka, N., Nourgaliev, D., Dulski, P., R¨
ohl, U., 2007. Control
of wind strength and frequency in the Aral Sea basin during the late Holocene. Quat.
Res. 67, 371–382.
Stevens, T., Armitage, S.J., Lu, H.Y., Thomas, D.S.G., 2006. Sedimentation and diagenesis
of Chinese loess: implications for the preservation of continuous, high-resolution
climate records. Geology 34, 849–852.
Stevens, T., Buylaert, J.P., Thiel, C., Újv´
ari, G., Yi, S., Murray, A.S., Frechen, M., Lu, H.,
2018. Ice-volume-forced erosion of the Chinese Loess Plateau global Quaternary
stratotype site. Nat. Commun. 9, 983–994.
Sun, Y.C., Li, H.S., 1986. Clastic Rock Sedimentary Facies and Sedimentary Environment.
Geological Press of China, Beijing, pp. 65–81 (in Chinese).
Sun, D.H., 2004. Monsoon and westerly circulation changes recorded in the late Cenozoic
aeolian sequences of Northern China. Global Planet. Change 41, 63–80.
Sun, D.H., Bloemendal, J., Rea, D.K., Vandenberghe, J., Jiang, F.C., An, Z.S., Su, R.X.,
2002. Grain-size distribution function of polymodal sediments in hydraulic and
aeolian environments, and numerical partitioning of the sedimentary components.
Sediment. Geol. 152, 263–277.
Sun, J., 2002. Source regions and formation of the loess sediments on the high mountain
regions of northwestern China. Quat. Res. 58, 341–351.
Sun, Y.B., Clements, S.C., Morrill, C., Lin, X.P., Wang, X.L., An, Z.S., 2012. Inuence of
Atlantic meridional overturning circulation on the East Asian winter monsoon. Nat.
Geosci. 5, 46–49.
Tau, G., Crouvi, O., Enzel, Y., Teutsch, N., Ginoux, P., Rasmussen, C., 2021. Shutting
down dust emission during the middle Holocene drought in the Sonoran Desert,
Arizona, USA. Geology 49, 857–861.
Tegen, I., Lacis, A.A., Fung, I., 1996. The inuence on climate forcing of mineral aerosols
from disturbed soils. Nature 380, 419–422.
Trouet, V., Esper, J., Graham, N.E., Baker, A., Scourse, J.D., Frank, D.C., 2009. Persistent
positive North Atlantic oscillation mode dominated the Medieval climate Anomaly.
Science 324, 78–80.
Trouet, V., Scourse, J.E., Raible, C.C., 2012. North Atlantic storminess and Atlantic
meridional overturning circulation during the last millennium: reconciling
contradictory proxy records of NAO variability. Global Planet. Change 84–85,
48–55.
Tsoar, H., Pye, K., 1987. Dust transport and the question of desert loess formation.
Sedimentology 34, 139–153.
Uno, I., Eguchi, K., Yumimoto, K., Takemura, T., Shimizu, A., Uematsu, M., Liu, Z.Y.,
Wang, Z.F., Hara, Y., Sugimoto, N., 2009. Asian dust transported one full circuit
around the globe. Nat. Geosci. 2, 557–560.
Wang, S., Dou, H., 1998. Records of Lakes in China. Science Press, Beijing, pp. 351–352
(in Chinese).
Xiao, J.L., Chang, Z.G., Fan, J.W., Zhou, L., Zhai, D.Y., Wen, R.L., Qin, X.G., 2012. The
link between grain-size components and depositional processes in a modern clastic
lake. Sedimentology 59, 1050–1062.
Xiao, J.L., Fan, J.W., Zhou, L., Zhai, D.Y., Wen, R.L., Qin, X.G., 2013. A model for linking
grain-size component to lake level status of a modern clastic lake. J. Asian Earth Sci.
69, 149–158.
Yan, Q.S., Xia, X.C., 1962. Geomorphological development of Eerqisi River and Wulungu
River Basin in Xinjiang. Acta Geograph. Sin. 29 (4), 257–274 (in Chinese).
Yang, B., Braeuning, A., Johnson, K.R., Shi, Y.F., 2002. General characteristics of
temperature variation in China during the last two millennia. Geophys. Res. Lett. 29,
1324. https://doi.org/10.1029/2001GL014485.
Zhang, W., Fu, Y.J., Liu, B.B., Liu, L., Cui, Z.J., Shi, Y.H., Wang, S.W., 2015.
Geomorphological processes and evolutions of late quaternary glaciers in the Kanas
river valley in the Altay Mountains. Acta Geograph. Sin. 70 (5), 739–750 (in
Chinese).
Zhang, X.N., Zhou, A.F., Huang, Z.D., An, C.B., Zhao, Y.T., Yin, L.Y., Russell, J.M., 2021.
Moisture evolution in North Xinjiang (northwest China) during the last 8000 years
linked to the westerlies’ winter half-year precipitation. Quat. Res. 100, 122–134.
Zhang, J.W., Ma, X.Y., Qiang, M.R., Huang, X.Z., Li, S., Guo, X.Y., Henderson, A.C.G.,
Holmes, J.A., Chen, F.H., 2016. Developing inorganic carbon-based radiocarbon
chronologies for Holocene lake sediments in arid NW China. Quat. Sci. Rev. 144,
66–82.
Zhang, D.E., 1984. Synoptic-climatic studies of dust fall in China since historic times. Sci.
Sin. 27, 825–836.
Zhao, W.L., Xie, S.J., 1988. Population History of China. People’s Publishing House,
Beijing (in Chinese).
M. Qiang et al.
