Intermittent saltation drives Mars-like aeolian activity on Titan

Aeolian sediments hold key information on aeolian history and past environmental changes. Aeolian desertification and extensive land degradation have seriously affected the eco-environment in the Gannan region on the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Understanding the history of aeolian activities can deepen our understanding of the impacts of climatic changes on aeolian activities in the future. This study uses a detailed chronology and multiple proxy analyses of a typical aeolian section in Maqu to reconstruct aeolian activities in the region during the Holocene. Our results showed that aeolian activities have occurred in the eastern Tibetan Plateau since the early Holocene. Magnetic susceptibility, grain size records, and paleosols formation indicated a trend of stepwise weakening in aeolian activities from the early Holocene to the present. The weakening of aeolian activities was divided into three stages: ∼10.0–8.0 ka BP, ∼8.0–4.0 ka BP, and ∼4.0 ka BP to the present. Paleosols were primarily formed after ∼8.0 ka BP, and episodically interrupted aeolian activities processes in the Gannan region. Aeolian activity may increase in the Gannan region as the climate gradually warms. Climatic changes and local hydrological conditions have jointly affected the history of aeolian activities in this region.

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Aeolian activity during Late Glacial time, with an example from Mongo, Indiana, USA

Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences ◽

10.1139/cjes-2018-0127 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 56 (2) ◽

pp. 175-182

Author(s):

Timothy G. Fisher ◽

Jennifer Horton ◽

Kenneth Lepper ◽

Henry Loope

Keyword(s):

Sand Dunes ◽

Ice Core ◽

Late Glacial ◽

Optically Stimulated Luminescence ◽

Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽

Great Lakes Region ◽

Aeolian Activity ◽

Minimum Age ◽

Channel Bottom ◽

Glacial Time

The last aeolian activity of a significant number of inland sand dunes in the southern Great Lakes region (SGLR) was several thousands of years after deglaciation. At Mongo, Indiana, a field of parabolic sand dunes with a variety of morphologies are within the channel bottom of the Pigeon River meltwater channel, with some dunes having climbed up the channel wall onto the adjacent upland surface. The optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) samples from the channel-bottom dunes have a mean age of 14.2 ± 1.6 ka (n = 2) and the OSL samples from upland dunes have a mean age of 12.3 ± 1.6 ka (n = 4). Dunes and outwash ages and geomorphic setting constrain both the position of the Huron-Erie and Saginaw lobes. The oldest dune age is also a minimum age for cessation of local meltwater flow from the Huron-Erie Lobe of the Laurentide Ice Sheet and formation of the adjacent Sturgis Moraine of the Saginaw Lobe. The final activity of the dunes is coincident with late glacial stadial and interstadial events as recorded in the Greenland ice core records, a similar finding to all other studies of dunes in the SGLR. It is now well recognized that many dunes were last active before, during, and after the Younger Dryas stadial, presumably in response to a climate that was windier and less favorable for vegetation.

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Aeolian activity in the south margin of the Tengger Desert in northern China since the Late Glacial Period revealed by luminescence chronology

Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology ◽

10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.06.028 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 457 ◽

pp. 330-341 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Jun Peng ◽

Zhibao Dong ◽

Fengqing Han ◽

Lei Gao

Keyword(s):

Northern China ◽

Late Glacial ◽

Glacial Period ◽

Tengger Desert ◽

The South ◽

Late Glacial Period ◽

Aeolian Activity ◽

The Tengger Desert

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Holocene History of Desertification along the Woodland-Steppe Border in Northern China

Quaternary Research ◽

10.1006/qres.2001.2310 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 57 (2) ◽

pp. 259-270 ◽

Cited By ~ 77

Author(s):

Hongyan Liu ◽

Lihong Xu ◽

Haiting Cui

Keyword(s):

Northern China ◽

Mongolian Plateau ◽

Dry Period ◽

Physical Chemical ◽

The Pacific ◽

Aeolian Activity ◽

Winter Temperatures ◽

History Of ◽

Moisture Conditions ◽

Humid Period

AbstractThe woodland-steppe ecotone of the southeastern Inner Mongolian Plateau in northern China is located at the northwestern limit of the Pacific monsoon influence, where the landscape may have been a sensitive recorder of past climatic changes. Physical, chemical, and biological analyses of AMS 14C-dated sediment sequences from two lakes of this region were used to reconstruct the Holocene vegetation and desertification history and distinguish four periods: (1) a cold and humid period from 10000 to 8000 14C yr B.P., (2) a warm and humid period from 8000 to 5900 14C yr B.P., (3) a warm and dry period from 5900 to 2900 14C yr B.P., and (4) a cool and dry period from 2900 14C yr B.P. to the present. The increased aridity during the middle Holocene was likely caused by increased winter temperatures and enhanced winter evaporation. The transition from a humid to an arid climate after ∼5900 14C yr B.P. coincided with enhanced aeolian activity, and deciduous woodlands were replaced by pine woodlands and then by steppes in response to the climatic deterioration. These transitions led to the present desertification. The records suggest that a simple association of thermal and moisture conditions, such as warm/wet or cold/dry, may be misleading.

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Holocene dune activity and environmental change in the prairie parki and and boreal forest, central Saskatchewan, Canada

The Holocene ◽

10.1191/0959683606hl903rp ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 17-29 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

Stephen A. Wolfe ◽

Jeff Ollerhead ◽

David J. Huntley ◽

Olav B. Lian

Keyword(s):

Environmental Change ◽

Boreal Forest ◽

Great Plains ◽

Late Holocene ◽

Early Holocene ◽

Aeolian Activity ◽

Landscape Response ◽

Response To Environmental Change ◽

Holocene Activity ◽

Dune Activity

Past aeolian activity was reconstructed at four dunefields in the prairie parkland and boreal forest of central Saskatchewan to elucidate landscape response to environmental change. Optical ages from stabilized dunes in the boreal transition ecoregion indicate two episodes of activity. The first, at about 11 ka, corresponds to a period of early-Holocene parkland and grassland cover following deglaciation and drainage after about 13.0 ka, and brief establishment of boreal forest. The second, between about 7.5 and 5 ka, corresponds to a period of mid-Holocene parkland-grassland cover. Optical ages from dunefields in the prairie parkland primarily record mid-Holocene activity, between about 7.5 and 4.7 ka, corresponding to a period of grassland cover, with some reworking continuing into the late Holocene. Although this area was deglaciated by about 13.5 ka, there is no evidence of early-Holocene dune activity, suggesting that mid-Holocene activity may have reworked earlier deposits here. Consequently, much of the morphology and stratigraphy observed in these dunefields are associated with mid-Holocene activity, likely associated with increased aridity and reduced vegetation cover at that time. This study provides the most northerly evidence of mid-Holocene dune reactivation on the Great Plains, lending support to the assertion that aeolian activity was widespread at that time.

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