scholarly journals The aeolian desertification process and driving mechanism of Qinghai Lake basin from 2004 to 2019

2021 ◽  
Vol 308 ◽  
pp. 02025
Author(s):  
Haoran Xu ◽  
Zhewen Luo ◽  
Zhiyi Chen

We calculated the area of seven ecosystems, used the NDVI index to analyze the temporal-change of vegetation-covered land in the Qinghai Lake basin from 2004 to 2019, and the principal component analysis to analyze the driving mechanism of desertification. The results showed that grasslands are the dominant ecosystem, and the desert ecosystem had an area of 32 km2, accounting for only 0.1% of the total area. The evolution of desertification was in the reversal stage. The vegetation cover increased from 54% in 2004 to 66% in 2019, showing a change process of mild destruction-slow restoration: 2004-2008, high degree vegetation-covered land dominated the declination of vegetation with the dynamic trend of -5.67%; 2009-2013, medium degree vegetation-covered land dominated the restoration of vegetation with the dynamic trend of 2.45%; 2014-2019, medium and high degree vegetation-covered land showed an increasing trend with the dynamic trend of 0.86% and 1.17% respectively. Natural and human factors, which were manifested as the domination of human activities and the exacerbation effect of natural factors, influenced desertification. The first principal component integrated both anthropogenic and natural factors accounted for 52.27% of the contribution rate, while the second principal component included only natural factors that accounted for 23.77%.

2006 ◽  
Vol 49 (8) ◽  
pp. 851-861 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhisheng An ◽  
Ping Wang ◽  
Ji Shen ◽  
Yixiang Zhang ◽  
Peizhen Zhang ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hai-cheng Wei ◽  
Guang-liang Hou ◽  
Qi-shun Fan ◽  
David B Madsen ◽  
Zhan-jie Qin ◽  
...  

The history of permanent human settlement in the high-altitude regions (>3000 m above sea level [masl]) of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) is important in understanding human adaptation to this cold “Third Pole” region. The Qinghai Lake Basin was an important corridor used by prehistoric humans migrating to the inner QTP. Pastoralism is currently the most important means of sustaining permanent human settlement in the high-altitude regions of the QTP. However, the lack of reliable proxy measures reflecting prehistoric pastoral activities impedes our understanding of how pastoralism developed. The identification of coprophilous fungi in prehistoric cultural deposits may help refine the history of pastoralism. We collected 21 modern domesticated herbivore dung samples and 66 surface soil samples from the Qinghai Lake Basin for fungal spore analyses. We then evaluated how useful such analyses are for identifying grazing activities. Fifty-three samples were also collected from the JXG2 stratigraphic profile (∼10.0–0 ka; 3312 masl) for fungal spore analysis. Results indicate that low and stable values of the total concentration of coprophilous fungi were present from ∼10.0 to ∼5.5 ka. Concentrations gradually increased from ∼5.5 to ∼4.2 ka, significantly increased from ∼4.2 to ∼2.6 ka, and then increased dramatically after ∼2.6 ka. By combining these results with charcoal concentrations (>50 µm), lithic artifacts, bones and potsherds recovered from the JXG2 site, we infer that early pastoralism in Qinghai Lake Basin appeared between ∼6.0 to ∼5.5 ka and gradually intensified throughout the remainder of the Holocene as herding and farming gradually replaced hunting–gathering as the primary subsistence strategies. These results are supported by pollen records, archeological remains and historical records in the northeastern QTP.


2018 ◽  
Vol 90 (2) ◽  
pp. 310-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruijie Lu ◽  
Xiaokang Liu ◽  
Zhiqiang Lü ◽  
Lu Chen ◽  
Jing Du

AbstractHere we report a new find of abundant woody debris and cones in stratum of two sections located to the east of the Qinghai Lake basin in China. Analysis of the anatomical structure of the wood and cones confirmed that they are Picea crassifolia Kom. The results of accelerator mass spectrometry 14C dating indicate that the buried Qinghai spruce grew during 9.7–4.2 ka, and the ages of the large trunks or branches are mainly concentrated within the interval 7.5–6.5 ka. This finding gives direct evidence at the species level about the presence of coniferous forest in the early–middle Holocene in Qinghai lake basin. In addition, the buried cones suggest that the early-middle Holocene environment was suitable for the propagation of Picea crassifolia Kom. The variations in the occurrence of Qinghai spruce forest in the Holocene probably reflect changes in humidity/moisture. The humid early-middle Holocene was suitable for the growth and reproduction of Qinghai spruce forest, while a shift toward an increasingly arid climate during the late Holocene resulted in the disappearance of Picea crassifolia Kom. from the Qinghai Lake basin, although human activities may also have contributed to the environmental change.


CATENA ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 147 ◽  
pp. 345-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunli Li ◽  
Qi Li ◽  
Liang Zhao ◽  
Shidong Ge ◽  
Dongdong Chen ◽  
...  

2013 ◽  
Vol 33 (14) ◽  
pp. 4450-4459 ◽  
Author(s):  
骆成凤 LUO Chengfeng ◽  
许长军 XU Changjun ◽  
游浩妍 YOU Haoyan ◽  
靳生洪 JIN Shenghong

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naimeng Zhang ◽  
Qinghai Xu ◽  
Dongju Zhang ◽  
Ulrike Herzschuh ◽  
Zhongwei Shen ◽  
...  

<p>Understanding the paleoenvironment (such as climate and landscape) in the area where the early ancient human appears on the Tibetan Plateau is an interesting topic. Based on the results of pollen data on the Yaowuyao loess section of the Qinghai Lake Basin, we used landscape reconstruction algorithms to reconstruct the changes in vegetation cover for 15,000 years. It is shown that the vegetation in the Yaowuyao area changed from temperate steppe (15-7.5 ka) to forest-steppe (7.5-4 ka). Compared with previous studies on the sediment in Qinghai Lake, our study can better reflect the local environment of the Qinghai Lake basin. Furthermore, based on the paleoclimate change data and archeological data from the surrounding areas, it is noticed that while precipitation increases and trees increase, human activities decrease. This may be caused by the substance and strategies of the ancient human beings that have adapted to the steppe. In addition, our results also show that the intensity of ancient human activity has a negative correlation with plant biodiversity, which may be related to human disturbance to the environment. Our paleoecological and environmental study not only shows the paleoenvironment of the early human activities on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau but also revealed possible early human activity signals.</p>


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