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Environmental and Climatic Change as Recorded in Geological Sediments from the Arid to Semi-Arid Zone of China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 July 2016

Weijian Zhou ,
Wu Zhengkun ,
A J T Jull ,
G Burr ,
D D Donahue ,
Li Baosheng  and
J Head
Weijian Zhou*
Affiliation:
State key laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 17, Xi'an 710054, Shaanxi Province, China
Wu Zhengkun
Affiliation:
State key laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 17, Xi'an 710054, Shaanxi Province, China
A J T Jull
Affiliation:
NSF-AMS Facility, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 USA
G Burr
Affiliation:
NSF-AMS Facility, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 USA
D D Donahue
Affiliation:
NSF-AMS Facility, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721 USA
Li Baosheng
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Normal University of South China, Guangzhou 510631, China
J Head
Affiliation:
State key laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, PO Box 17, Xi'an 710054, Shaanxi Province, China School of Geosciences, University of Wollongong, North Wollongong, NSW 2522, Australia
*
Corresponding author. Email: weijian@llqg.ac.cn.
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Abstract

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Stratigraphic investigations together with climatic proxy data measurements and reliable radiocarbon dating show a history of fluctuations of dry and wet environmental conditions in the arid to semi-arid zone of northern China since the late Pleistocene. Based on these data, we are able to reconstruct shifts of the desert margin in two period extremes, the last glacial maximum (21–15 ka) and the Holocene Optimum (9–5 ka). We have compared the present desert margin with that for the two extremes. The results indicate that a southward shift of the present margin of about 3 degrees in latitude might be caused by anthropogenic impact. Hence the influence of human activity must be taken into consideration for sustainable development and environment protection. Future research will be to find a two-way feedback existing between climate and anthropogenic impacts.

Type
I. Our ‘Dry’ Environment: Above Sea Level
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 43 , Issue 2B: Proceedings of the 17th International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 2 of 3), Conference Editors: Israel Carmi, Elisabetta Boaretto , 2001 , pp. 619 - 627
Copyright
Copyright © 2001 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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