Multiple organic–inorganic interactions and influences on heterogeneous carbonate‐cementation patterns: Example from Silurian deeply buried sandstones, central Tarim Basin, north‐western China

Tamarix taklamakanensis is an endangered shrub endemic to the Tarim Basin and adjacent Kumtag Desert in north-western China. Here, we used two chloroplast DNA sequences, namely, psbA-trnH and trnS-trnG, to examine the genetic diversity patterns of this species across its entire covered range. A total of nineteen haplotypes were detected. The total gene diversity within the species is high. Genetic variation mainly occurred among populations, SAMOVA groups, and geographic regions. The test for isolation-by-distance showed a significant correlation between genetic and geographical distances, and the genetic landscape shape analysis showed a significant genetic divergence between the Tarim Basin and Kumtag Desert. T. taklamakanensis likely had a potential geographic range during the Last Glacial Maximum period that was much smaller than the present range predicted by ecological niche modelling. The cold and dry climate during the glacial periods of the Quaternary might be a driver of the genetic isolation and divergence detected within T. taklamakanensis, and climatic oscillations might account for the habitat fragmentation of the species. Within the inner of the basin, populations have a higher level of genetic diversity and harbor most of this genetic diversity, thus a nature reserves should be set up in this area for the in situ conservation. In addition, five genetically distinct groups within T. taklamakanensis should be treated as different management units (MUs) when implementing conservation activities.

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Phylogeography of the rare Gymnocarpos przewalskii (Caryophyllaceae): indications of multiple glacial refugia in north-western China

Australian Journal of Botany ◽

10.1071/bt11055 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 60 (1) ◽

pp. 20 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

S. M. Ma ◽

M. L. Zhang ◽

S. C. Sanderson

Keyword(s):

Tarim Basin ◽

Phylogenetic Analyses ◽

Glacial Refugia ◽

Gansu Province ◽

Western China ◽

Phylogeographic Structure ◽

Quaternary Climate ◽

Geographic Regions ◽

Gymnocarpos Przewalskii ◽

North Western

We investigated the phylogeography of Gymnocarpos przewalskii Maxim. (Caryophyllaceae), a rare relictual shrub restricted to north-western China, in the context of Quaternary climate oscillations. Three cpDNA regions (psbA–trnH, ycf6–psbM and rpl32–trnL (UAG)) were sequenced for 160 individuals from 16 populations. High genetic diversity (hT = 0.930, hS = 0.425) and a significant phylogeographic structure (NST > GST, P < 0.01) were identified; 31 different cpDNA haplotypes were detected. Phylogenetic analyses showed that the haplotypes were clustered into five clades, consistent with their distributions in the following four geographic regions: the Tarim Basin, Hami Basin, the western Yumen of Gansu Province and an easternmost region, consisting of populations in the Wulate Rear Banner region in Inner Mongolia, the Jinta and Jingyuan regions in Gansu Province and the Zhongwei region in Ningxia. The existence of regional divergence was supported by AMOVA, which revealed that ~63% of variation was due to differences among the four geographic regions. Four independent glacial refugia were inferred, in the western Tarim Basin, Hami Basin, the Liuyuan region in western Gansu and the easternmost region mentioned. Population bottlenecks and postglacial recolonisation were identified in the northern Tarim Basin, western Yumen and the Jinta region in Gansu Province.

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Silk Road riches no embarrassment

Antiquity ◽

10.1017/s0003598x00068058 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 85 (328) ◽

pp. 654-656 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

N. James

Keyword(s):

Central Asia ◽

Bronze Age ◽

Tarim Basin ◽

Silk Road ◽

Western China ◽

Domestic Life ◽

Sven Hedin ◽

North Western ◽

The Bronze Age ◽

The Silk Road

The survival of organicmaterials in the waterless fringes of the Takla Makan and Lop Deserts in the Tarim basin in Xinjiang (north-western China) has fascinated us for a century, since Sven Hedin, Aurel Stein and Albert von Le Coq found the remains of settlements and cemeteries at the Great Wall's lonely outposts and along the routes between China and Central Asia known as the Silk Road. The finds date from the Bronze Age to the later firstmillennium AD. In the 1980s and '90s, it was shown that the most striking of them, the Tarim 'mummies', belong to both Mongoloid and Caucasoid peoples (Mallory&Mair 2000). The archaeology here of public and domestic life is full of the kinds of surprises and contradictions that we are learning to expect—if not accept—with 'globalisation'. Development in the region is now prompting new discoveries but also looters, so the research is urgent.

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Decision letter for "Recovery of the Cretaceous palaeo‐uplifts and its implications for hydrocarbon systems in the Kuqa Depression, Tarim Basin, western China"

10.1002/gj.3905/v1/decision1 ◽

2020 ◽

Keyword(s):

Tarim Basin ◽

Western China ◽

Kuqa Depression

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Prince Henri d'Orleans (1867–1901): geographical and botanical exploration between inner Asia and southwest China

Journal of the Society for the Bibliography of Natural History ◽

10.3366/jsbnh.1978.8.4.399 ◽

1978 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 399-399

Author(s):

WILLIAM GARDENER

Keyword(s):

Southwest China ◽

Western China ◽

Left Bank ◽

Inner Asia ◽

Botanical Exploration ◽

Western Yunnan ◽

Westerly Direction ◽

Chinese Province ◽

The Right ◽

North Western

Prince Henri d'Orleans, precluded by French law from serving his country in the profession of arms, had his attention turned early towards exploration. In 1889, accompanied by the experienced traveller Gabriel Bonvalet, he set out from Paris to reach Indo-China overland by way of Central Asia, Tibet and western and south western China. The journey made contributions in the problems of the whereabouts of Lap Nor and the configuration of the then unexplored northern plateau of Tibet; and in botany it produced some species new to science. The party reached Indo-China in 1890. In 1895, having organised an expedition better equipped for topographical survey and for investigations in the fields of natural history and ethnography, Prince Henri set out from Hanoi with the intention of exploring the Mekong through the Chinese province of Yunnan. After proceeding up the left bank of the Salween for a brief part of its course and then alternating between the right and left banks of the Mekong as far up as Tzeku, the party found it advisable to enter Tibet in a north westerly direction through the province of Chamdo and instead crossed the south eastern extremity of the country, the Zayul, by a difficult track which led them to the country of the Hkamti Shans in present day Upper Burma, and thence to India completing a journey of 2000 miles, "1500 of which had been previously untrodden" (Prince Henri). West of the Mekong, the journey established that the Salween, which some geographers had claimed took its rise in or near north western Yunnan, in fact rose well north in Tibet, and that, contrary to previous opinions, the principal headwater of the Irrawaddy rose no further north than latitude 28°30'. Botanical collections were confined to Yunnan, where the tracks permitted mule transport, and they produced a number of species new to science and extended the range of distribution of species already known.

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