Work

Evolution of millennial-scale sandy land’s advance and retreat in the Chinese sand-loess belt since 150 ka

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Understanding the evolution of aeolian activities and the changes in desert/sand environments is crucial for clarifying their occurrence mechanisms and promoting ecological restoration. Although evidence from loess and lake records in the Chinese sand-loess belt has shown the role of the East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) in dust-storm activities, these records can't clearly divide the intensity levels and material component alterations, nor explain the mechanism. This study used grain size，magnetic susceptibility (MS) and the SiO2/Al2O3 ratio analyses, along with the grain size end-member (EM) model, fractal dimension (Dv), and MS-based paleo-precipitation reconstruction to clarify these aspects. Four grain size end-members (EMs) revealed that fine grains were predominantly derived from westerlies and pedogenesis while coarse grains primarily transported by EAWM. We classified aeolian activity intensity into three grades based on the proportion changes of fine sand and very fine sand, which were the main signs of strong wind erosion in the LHG profile located in the southeastern margin of Mu Us Sandy Land (MUSL). Since 150 ka, there have been three major sand expansion episodes and four fixed or shrinking intervals. It was mostly a sand environment, except from about 60.95 ka to 27.61 ka B.P. when it became a typical desert environment with a mean annual precipitation (MAP) of 167 mm. The changes in the sand-loess belt were affected by moisture, and vegetation cover changes controlled by the climate, wind intensity and synchronized with glacial-interglacial and millennial-scale fluctuations. The findings help improve our knowledge of regional ecological environment changes and aeolian disaster monitoring and prevention.

Source: Geoderma

DOI: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2025.117524

Authors: Lixing Zhang, Dapeng Yue, Jingbo Zhao, Xiaoning Wang, Yueshan Liu, Lili Yang

Language: English

Topic: Aeolian processes and effects

Subfield: Earth-Surface Processes

Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDGs: Climate action, Life on land

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,320

Funders: National Natural Science Foundation of China, State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology