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Evolution of permafrost in China during the last 20 ka

  • Research Paper
  • Special Topic: China since the Last Glacial Maximum
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Abstract

The formation and evolution of permafrost in China during the last 20 ka were reconstructed on the basis of large amount of paleo-permafrost remains and paleo-periglacial evidence, as well as paleo-glacial landforms, paleo-flora and paleofauna records. The results indicate that, during the local Last Glacial Maximum (LLGM) or local Last Permafrost Maximum (LLPMax), the extent of permafrost of China reached 5.3×106−5.4×106 km2, or thrice that of today, but permafrost shrank to only 0.80×106−0.85×106 km2, or 50% that of present, during the local Holocene Megathermal Period (LHMP), or the local Last Permafrost Minimum (LLPMin). On the basis of the dating of periglacial remains and their distributive features, the extent of permafrost in China was delineated for the two periods of LLGM (LLPMax) and LHMP (LLPMin), and the evolution of permafrost in China was divided into seven periods as follows: (1) LLGM in Late Pleistocene (ca. 20000 to 13000−10800 a BP) with extensive evidence for the presence of intensive ice-wedge expansion for outlining its LLPMax extent; (2) A period of dramatically changing climate during the early Holocene (10800 to 8500−7000 a BP) when permafrost remained relatively stable but with a general trend of shrinking areal extent; (3) The LHMP in the Mid-Holocene (8500−7000 to 4000−3000 a BP) when permafrost degraded intensively and extensively, and shrank to the LLPMin; (4) Neoglaciation during the late Holocene (4000−3000 to 1000 a BP, when permafrost again expanded; (5) Medieval Warming Period (MWP) in the late Holocene (1000−500 a BP) when permafrost was in a relative decline; (6) Little Ice Age (LIA) in the late Holocene (500−100 a BP), when permafrost relatively expanded, and; (7) Recent warming (during the 20th century), when permafrost continuously degraded and still is degrading. The paleo-climate, geography and paleopermafrost extents and other features were reconstructed for each of these seven periods.

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Acknowledgements

We greatly appreciate the support of Professor Hua’yu Lu at the Nanjing University in timely providing the OSL dating; remarks and advice from Academician Zhengtang Guo and other colleagues in the Strategic Pilot Science and Technology Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDA05000000, Identification of carbon budgets for adaptation to changing climate and the associated issues). Authors also would like to thank two unidentified reviewers for their constructive review opinions. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Russian Foundation for Basic Research (FRBR) on “Formation, evolution and changes of Pleistocene cryogenic deposits in Eastern Asia” (Grant No. 41811530093), the Key Program of the Department of International Cooperation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Assessment of changes in permafrost in China, Russia and Mongolia and their impacts on key engineering infrastructures), (Permafrost extent in China during the Last Glaciation Maximum and Megathermal) of the Strategic Pilot Science and Technology Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDA05120302), and the CAS Overseas Professorship of Sergey S. Marchenko, and under the auspices of the International Permafrost Association Working Group on Global Permafrost Extent During the Last Permafrost Maximum (LPM).

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  1. Equal contribution

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Northeast China Observational Station of Cold-regions Engineering and Environment, State Key Laboratory of Frozen Soils Engineering, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, 730000, China

    Huijun Jin, Xiaoying Jin, Ruixia He, Dongliang Luo, Xiaoli Chang, Shaoling Wang, Sergey S Marchenko & Sizhong Yang

  2. School of Civil Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090, China

    Huijun Jin

  3. School of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, 100049, China

    Huijun Jin & Xiaoying Jin

  4. Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, 411201, China

    Xiaoli Chang

  5. Permafrost Laboratory, Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA

    Sergey S Marchenko

  6. GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, D-14473, Germany

    Sizhong Yang

  7. Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100010, China

    Chaolu Yi

  8. Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang, 550081, China

    Shijie Li

  9. Department of Geography, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada

    Stuart A Harris

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Correspondence to Huijun Jin or Xiaoying Jin.

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Jin, H., Jin, X., He, R. et al. Evolution of permafrost in China during the last 20 ka. Sci. China Earth Sci. 62, 1207–1223 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-018-9272-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-018-9272-0

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