Extensive lacustrine deposits in the eastern Tarim Basin provide records of climate change influenced by the westerly winds and the Asian monsoon. To characterize the evolution of climate change in this region, we analyze elemental concentrations of barium(Ba) from the Ls2 drill core of Lop Nor, a paleo-lakebed located in the eastern Tarim Basin. Biogenic Ba concentrations from this drill core display a large-amplitude oscillation that generally follows a pattern similar to that of Artemisia content and ostracod assemblages, suggesting that is may serve as an index for climate change experienced in the basin. Our results indicate that biogenic Ba is especially sensitive to precipitation. All climatic proxies served in this study vary significantly over late Miocene to early Pleistocene time period. Strong aridification of eastern Tarim in the late Miocene to the early Pliocene may be attributed to a latitudinal shift in the westerly winds, which would have resulted in more moisture transported to southern and eastern Tibet. The growth of the Himalaya and Tibetan Plateau may have acted as an orographic barrier that blocked moisture sourced in the south from the northern margins of the plateau. We link weaker aridification in the late Pliocene to an increased intensity of the Indian Monsoon.
Hong ChangZhisheng AnWeiguo LiuFeng WuXiaoke QiangYougui Song
Aeolian sediments are widely distributed in the Qaidam Basin, northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP). The paleodunes are mainly located at the southeastern, middle and southwestern Qaidam Basin. However, ages of paleodunes in the middle and southwestern Qaidam Basin have not been well studied, although they are close to and might connect to the evolution of salt lakes in the central basin. In this study, we use single aliquot regeneration (SAR) protocol of Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) to date the dune sand in these two regions. The results show that: (1) Sand accumulation in these regions started at ca. 4-3 ka and lasted to ca. 0.5 ka when they were stabilized, due to the arid climate in the late Holocene. (2) The underlying fluvial sand was formed during deglaciation at 12.6±0.8 ka. (3) The stabilization periods of the paleodunes correspond to stages of glacier advance in the northeastern QTP, during which lower temperatures caused the decrease of evaporation and increase of the effective moisture, leading to an increase of vegetation cover and stabilization of the dunes.
Poor bleaching is a significant problem for Optically Stimulated Luminescence(OSL) dating of glacial sediments. Five young glacial samples(including two modern analogues) from different depositional settings were collected beyond the Yingpu Glacier in the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. De was determined using different OSL methods. The luminescence characteristics and dating results showed that the large aliquot quartz Blue Stimulated Luminescence(BSL) is more applicable than polymineral infrared stimulated luminescence(IRSL) method. Small aliquot quartz BSL results showed poor luminescence properties due to low luminescence sensitivity of quartz in this area. The dating results also indicated that glaciofluvial samples deposited close to ice margin(~40 m and ~700 m) and supraglacial debris dominated lateral moraine samples are relatively well-bleached, whereas samples from ground moraine and low terminal moraine were poorly bleached, probably due to containing subglacial and englacial debris. The residual doses of glaciofluvial and lateral moraine crest samples were below a few Gy and age overestimations were below a few hundred years. The ground moraine and low terminal moraine samples had residual doses as high as ~110 Gy, and ages were overestimated by ~15-17 ka.
