Abstract
Loess on the northern slope of Kunlun Mountains is the synchronous deposition of the Taklimakan Desert. The paleomagnetism and climatic records of an over 80 m loess-paleosol sequence on the highest river terrace at the foot of Kunlun Mountains show that the loess formed at ≈ 880 ka B.P., suggesting a roughly synchronous occurrence of the present-like air circulation and extremely dry climate and the initial desert. The uplift of the Tibetan-Pamir Plateau and Tian-shan Mountains may initiate these events. The rise of the plateau and adjacent mountains caused the drying and desertification of China inland and Tarim Basin, which was dramatically enhanced at ≈ 500 ka B.P., leading the desert to expand to its present scale. Global change just overprints this drying trend. Local climate response to global change both in long-term evolution and glacial-interglacial cycles manifests that the stronger the westerlies, the more the precipitation. But the heat-moisture pattern seems still similar to that in the Asian monsoon region.
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Fang, X., Lü, L., Yang, S. et al. Loess in Kunlun Mountains and its implications on desert development and Tibetan Plateau uplift in west China. Sci. China Ser. D-Earth Sci. 45, 289–299 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1360/02yd9031
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1360/02yd9031