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The sedimentary evolution of Da Qaidam Salt Lake in Qaidam Basin, northern Tibetan Plateau: implications for hydro-climate change and the formation of pinnoite deposit

Environmental Earth Sciences volume 78, Article number: 463 (2019) Cite this article

Abstract

Da Qaidam Salt Lake, northern Qaidam Basin, is known for its liquid and solid boron resource. More than that, pinnoite-bearing sediments, occurring in this lake, are rare in the world. However, little attention has been paid to the hydro-climate change and brine evolution correlation with the formation of pinnoite deposit. According to the multi-proxy records, as well as AMS 14C dating, the sediment profiles DCD02 and DCD03 from Da Qaidam Salt Lake were studied. The results revealed that the ore-forming age of three pinnoite deposits are 7.83–8.62 cal ka BP, 6.74–7.07 cal ka BP and 4.66–5.41 cal ka BP. The sedimentary evolution of Da Qaidam Salt Lake along with the pinnoite formation during the past 13,000 years can be divided into four stages, i.e., (1) relatively fresh and deep paleo-lake with low salinity during 12.98–9.00 cal ka BP; (2) seasonal variations between fresh and brackish paleo-lake during 9.00–8.62 cal ka BP; (3) salt lake stage with relatively high salinity and alkalinity during 8.62–4.66 cal ka BP, and (4) relatively shallow lake with high salinity since 4.66 cal ka BP. Under favorable sedimentologic and hydrogeochemical conditions, a series of boron deposits including pinnoite ore formed in different zones of Da Qaidam Salt Lake due to the different ore-forming mechanisms. Finally, under the differential effect of climate warming condition between the high mountain catchments and arid basin, the boron ore-forming model was established as a higher mountain–lower basin–shallower water model.

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Modified from Qu and Han (1981)

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Acknowledgements

We thank Bo Yang and Liming Xu for laboratory assistance, Xianhu He and Shouzhen Xin for assistance with fieldwork. Thanks are also given to Editorial Board and two/three anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and constructive suggestions. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41501052, U1407206, 41471013), Qinghai Natural Science Foundation of China (2017-ZJ-928Q, 2016–ZJ–736), and West Light Foundation of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant to C.L. Gao: Y412051008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Comprehensive and Highly Efficient Utilization of Salt Lake Resources, Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, 810008, People’s Republic of China

    Chunliang Gao, Junqing Yu, Xiuyun Min, Aiying Cheng, Rongchang Hong, Lisha Zhang & Tingwei Li

  2. Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Geology and Environment of Salt Lakes, Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, 810008, People’s Republic of China

    Chunliang Gao, Junqing Yu, Aiying Cheng, Lisha Zhang & Tingwei Li

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People’s Republic of China

    Xiuyun Min & Rongchang Hong

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  1. Chunliang Gao
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  2. Junqing Yu
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Correspondence to Chunliang Gao.

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Gao, C., Yu, J., Min, X. et al. The sedimentary evolution of Da Qaidam Salt Lake in Qaidam Basin, northern Tibetan Plateau: implications for hydro-climate change and the formation of pinnoite deposit. Environ Earth Sci 78, 463 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-019-8480-0

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Keywords

  • Pinnoite deposit
  • Hydro-climate change
  • Mineralogical records
  • Sedimentary evolution
  • Da Qaidam Salt Lake
  • Qaidam Basin
  • Tibetan Plateau