Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Cretaceous desert cycles, wind direction and hydrologic cycle variations in Ordos Basin: Evidence for Cretaceous climatic unequability

  • Published:
Science in China Series D: Earth Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Climatic state under greenhouse effect is a currently hot point. Whether greenhouse climate in geological history, especially in Cretaceous, was equable or not has aroused extensive discussion. By analysis on depositional cyclcity, wind direction change and hydrologic cycle variation of Cretaceous desert in the Ordos Basin of China, the unequability of Cretaceous climate is dealt. It is shown that Cretaceous climate was extremely cyclic, not only having long and mid term but also having strong seasonal even instantaneous changes. Therefore, it is suggested that Cretaceous climate was not equable.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Bowen, R., Faunal realms in Jurassic and Cretaceous Belemnites, Geol. Mag., 1964, 101: 374–376.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Savin, S., The history of the earth’s surface temperature during the past 100 million years, Ann. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci., 1977, 5: 319–355.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Hughes, N., Cretaceous floras and the assessment of past climate, (ed. Nairn, A.), Problems in palaeoclimatology, New York: Interscience, 1964, 44–45.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Barnard, P., Mesozoic floras (ed. Hughes, N.), Organisms and continents through time, Spec. Pap. Paleontol., 1973, 12: 175–199.

  5. Vakhrameev, V., Main features of phytogeography of the globe in Jurassic and Early Cretaceous time, Paleontol. J., 1975, 2: 123–133.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Colbert, E., Climatic zonation and terrestrial faunas (ed. Nairn, A.), Problems in palaeoclimatology, I New York: nterscience, 1964, 617-638.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Newell, R. E., Kidson, J. W., Vincent, D. G. et al., The general circulation of the tropical atmosphere and interactions with extratropical latitudes, Cambridge, Mass: M. I. T. Press, 1972, 1: 1–258.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Frakes, L. A., Climate Throughout Geological Time, New York: Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1979, 1–310.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Barron, E. J., Washington, W. M., Cretaceous Climate: comparison of atmospheric simulations with geologic record, Palaeogeog., Palaeoclim., Palaeoecol., 1982, 40: 103–133.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Sloan, L. C., Barron, E. J., “Equable” climate during earth history? Geology, 1990, 18: 489–492.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Barron, E. J., Washington, W. M., Atmospheric circulation during warm geologic periods: Is the equator-to-pole surface-temperature gradient the controlling factor? Geology, 1982, 10: 633–636.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Barron, E. J., A warm, equable Cretaceous: the nature of the problem, Earth Science Rev., 1983, 19: 305–338.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Crowley, T. J., Short, D. A., Mengel, J. G. et al., Role of seasonality in the evolution of climate during last 100 million years, Science, 1986, 231: 579–584.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Crowley, T. J., Mengel, J. G., Short, D. A., Gondwanaland’s seasonal cycle, Nature, 1987, 329 (29): 803–807.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Kutzbach, J. K., Gallimore, R. G., Pangaean climate: Megamonsoons of the megacontinent, Journal of Geophysical Research, 1989, 94: 3341–3357.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Francis, J. E., Frakes, L. A., Cretaceous climate (ed. Wright, V. P.), Sedimentology Review, Oxford: Blackwell, 1993, 17–30.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Frakes, L. A., Francis, J. E., A guide to phanerozoic cold polar climate from high-latitude ice-rafting in the Cretaceous, Nature, 1988, 333: 547–549.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Kemper, E., Das Klima der Kreide-Zeit, Geol. Jahrb., 1987, A96: 5–185.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Crowley, T. J., North, G. R., Palaeoclimatology, New York: Oxford University Press, 1991, 1–339.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Mutterlose, J., Ruffell, A., Milankovitch-scale palaeoclimate changes in pale-dark bedding rhythms from the Early Cretaceous (Hauterivian and Barremian) of eastern England and northern Germany, Palaeogeo., Palaeoclim., Palaeoecol., 1999, 154: 133–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Mutterlose, J., Kessels, K., Early Cretaceous calcareous nannofossils from high latitudes: implications for palaeobiogeography and palaeoclimate, Palaeogeog., Palaeoclim., Palaeoecol., 2000, 160: 347–372.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Frakes, L. A., Francis, J. E., Syktus, J. I., Climate Modes of the Phanerozoic, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992, 1–274.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Ditchfield, P. W., High northern palaeolatitude Jurassic-Cretaceous palaeotemperature variation: New data from Kong Karls Land, Svalbard, Palaeogeog., Palaeoclim., Palaeoecol., 1997, 130: 163–175.

  24. Wilson, P. A., Norris, R. D., Warm tropical ocean surface and global anoxia during the mid-Cretaceous period, Nature, 2001, 412: 425–429.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Jiang Xinsheng, Li Yuwen, Spato-temporal distribution of the Cretaceous desert in central and eastern China and its climatic significance, Proceedings of 30th IGC, Vol.8, VSP Press, 1997, 66 -72.

  26. Dong Guangrong, Wang Guiyong, Chen Huizhong et al., The formation and evolution of the deserts in China and their relation to t he uplifting of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and Global Variations-Proceedings of Symposia (1993–1994) Sponsored by China Society of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Research (in Chinese), Beijing: China Meteorological Press, 1995, 13–29.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Jiang Xinsheng, Pan Zhongxi, Fu Qingping, Primary study on pattern of general circulation of atmosphere before uplift of the Tibetan Plateau in Eastern Asia, Science in China, Series D, 2001, 4: 680–688.

    Google Scholar 

  28. Cheng Shoutian, Li Shitian, Huang Yanqiu et al., The Aeolian deposition and inland palaeo-desert environment in the lower Cretaceous of Ordos Basin (ed. Li Shitian), The Depositional Systems of Energy Resource Bearing Basins-Typical Analyses for Main Inland and Near Shore Depositional System Types (in Chinese), Wuhan: China University of Geosciences Press, 1996, 138–147.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Jiang Xinsheng, Pan Zhongxi, Fu Qingping, Regularity of palaeowind directions of the early Cretaceous desert in Ordos Basin and climatic significance, Science in China, Series D, 2001, 44(1): 24–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Qi Hua, Li Guodong, The systems of paleodesert basins in sedimentary period of Zhidan Group, Ordos Basin, Northwest Geoscience (in Chinese), 1996, 17(1): 63–89.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Cheng Shoutian, Liu Xing, Aeolian palaeo-desert depositional system, Earth Science Frontiers (China University of Geosciences, Beijing) (in Chinese), 1999, 6 (supplement): 80.

    Google Scholar 

  32. Cheng Shoutian, Liu Xing, Guo Xiurong et al., Palaeo-desert deposition and sequence stratigraphic units: an example from Cretaceous continental palaeo-desert basin in Ordos, Earth Science-Journal of China University of Geosciences (in Chinese), 2000, 25(6): 587–591.

    Google Scholar 

  33. Liu Xing, Cheng Shoutian, Guo Xiurong, Desert sequence of continental arid basin fillings—an example from the Cretaceous in Ordos, Northwestern Geology (in Chinese), 2000, 33(1): 50–55.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Hao Yichun, Su Deying, Yu Jingxian et al., The Cretaceous System of China (in Chinese), Beijing: Geological Publishing House, 1986, 1–310.

    Google Scholar 

  35. Hao Yichun, Su Deying, Yu Jingxian et al., The Stratigraphic Dictionary of China—The Cretaceous System (in Chinese), Beijing: Geological Publishing House, 2000, 1–124.

    Google Scholar 

  36. Gao Guodong, Lu Yurong, Climatology (in Chinese), Beijing: China Meteorological Press, 1988,1–468.

    Google Scholar 

  37. Ahlbrandt, T. S., Fryberger, S. G., Sedimentary features and significance of interdune deposits (eds. Ethridge, F. G., Flores, R. M.), Recent and Ancient Nonmarine Depositional Evironments: Models for Exploration, Special Publication 31, Tulsa, Oklahoma, U.S.A., 1981, 293–314.

    Google Scholar 

  38. Lancaster, N., The development of large eolian bedforms, Sedimentary Geology, 1988, 55: 69–89.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Yin Hongfu et al., Paleobiogeography of China (in Chinese), Wuhan: China university of Geosciences Press, 1988, 1–329.

    Google Scholar 

  40. Jiang Xinsheng, Chen Leyao, Li Yuwen, Cretaceous-Tertiary deserts in southwestern China and desert sedimentology, Sedimentary Facies and Palaeogeography (in Chinese), 1992, (5): 1–66.

    Google Scholar 

  41. Zhao Xiwen, General Palaeoclimatology (in Chinese), Beijing: Geological Publishing House, 1992, 1–176.

    Google Scholar 

  42. Huang Qinghua, Zheng Yulong, Yang Mingjie et al., On Cretaceous paleoclimate in the Songliao Basin, Acta Micropalaeontologica Sinica (in Chinese), 1999, 16(1): 95–103.

    Google Scholar 

  43. Wang Dongpo, Liu Li, Frakes, L. A., The paleoclimatic and paleogeographic significance of the Cretaceous red-bed ice-rafting deposits in the Songliao Basin, northeastern China, Sedimentary Facies and Palaeogeography (in Chinese), 1996, 16(4): 6–11.

    Google Scholar 

  44. Cheng Shuotian, Li Zhide, Huang Yanqiu et al., Discovery and its genetic evidences of early Cretaceous glacial debris flow in the northeast margin of Ordos, Geological Science and Technology Information (in Chinese), 2002, 21(2): 40–63.

    Google Scholar 

  45. Liu Benpei, Zhang Shihong, Rhythms of different geospheres and their relations in middle Jurassic-early Cretaceous, Earth Science Frontiers (China University of Geosciences, Beijing) (in Chinese), 1997, 4(3-4): 65–74.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Sedimentary Geology, Chengdu University of Technology, 610059, Chengdu, China

    Xinsheng Jiang

  2. Chengdu Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources, CGS, 610082, Chengdu, China

    Xinsheng Jiang, Zhongxi Pan, Yuan Xie & Minghui Li

Authors
  1. Xinsheng Jiang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Zhongxi Pan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Yuan Xie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Minghui Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xinsheng Jiang.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Jiang, X., Pan, Z., Xie, Y. et al. Cretaceous desert cycles, wind direction and hydrologic cycle variations in Ordos Basin: Evidence for Cretaceous climatic unequability. Sci. China Ser. D-Earth Sci. 47, 727–738 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1360/02yd0031

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1360/02yd0031

Keywords

Search

Navigation