scholarly journals Environmental Change in the Agro-Pastoral Transitional Zone, Northern China: Patterns, Drivers, and Implications

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 165 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chong Jiang ◽  
Fei Wang
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Change ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Transitional Zone

Deposits and Soils of the Past 130,000 Years at the Desert–Loess Transition in Northern China

1998 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 148-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jimin Sun ◽  
Zhongli Ding
Keyword(s):  
Northern China ◽  
Loess Soil ◽  
Transitional Zone ◽  
Central China ◽  
Interglacial Period ◽  
Glacial Cycle ◽  
Last Interglacial ◽  
Last Glacial Period ◽  
North Central ◽  
Last Interglacial Period

The desert–loess transitional zone in north-central China has long been thought sensitive to Quaternary climatic change. However, reconstruction of Quaternary climates in this area has been hindered by incompleteness of geological sections. Here we report the analytical results of two recently found sand–loess–soil sections. Both sections have thick eolian deposits from the last interglacial–glacial cycle and can be correlated with one another. Field observations, thermoluminescence dating, and other laboratory analyses show that the last interglacial period produced three paleosols and two intercalated loess layers. Loess from the last glacial period is interbedded with three sand horizons that represent desert extension. The expansion and contraction of desert in northern China may have been forced by the east Asia monsoon.

Grass habitat analysis and phytolith-based quantitative reconstruction of Asian monsoon climate change in the sand-loess transitional zone, northern China

2019 ◽  
Vol 92 (2) ◽  
pp. 519-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanlin Wang ◽  
Huayu Lu ◽  
Hongyan Zhang ◽  
Shuangwen Yi ◽  
Yao Gu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Asian Monsoon ◽  
Asian Summer Monsoon ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Transitional Zone ◽  
Mean Annual Temperature ◽  
Quantitative Reconstruction ◽  
Climate Parameters ◽  
Habitat Analysis ◽  
Asian Summer

AbstractWe investigated climate niches of grasses at regional scales and quantitatively reconstruct Asian monsoon precipitation at the sand-loess transitional zone in northern China. Our results provide direct evidence that certain grass lineages have been specialized in specific habitats: Pooideae grasses stand out and occupy a much cooler environment than all other subfamilies; Pooideae, Aristidoideae, and Chloridoieae occupy dry environments. Pooideae grasses occupy the coldest and driest environments compared to all other subfamilies, with a mean annual temperature (MAT) and precipitation (MAP) of ~13.6 to ~15.3°C and 224 to ~1674 mm, respectively, at a regional scale. We built a database for grasses and their corresponding climate parameters. Based on this database, past climate parameters at the margin of the Asian summer monsoon since ~70 ka were quantitatively reconstructed by phytolith assemblages. They show that this area was dominated by cold- and dry-adapted grasses since ~70 ka with a MAT and MAP of ~3.3 to ~11.0 °C and ~442 to ~900 mm, respectively, generally consistent with the results of phytolith-based transfer function reconstructions and with the results of previous nearby pollen-based quantitative reconstructions. With the improvement of the species-climate and ecosystem dataset, our database-based method is a promising quantitative reconstruction approach to past climatic change in the monsoon region.

scholarly journals Integrating Spatial Continuous Wavelet Transform and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index to Map the Agro-Pastoral Transitional Zone in Northern China

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1928 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yinan Han ◽  
Jian Peng ◽  
Jeroen Meersmans ◽  
Yanxu Liu ◽  
Zhiqiang Zhao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Wavelet Transform ◽  
Spatial Pattern ◽  
Continuous Wavelet Transform ◽  
Vegetation Index ◽  
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Transitional Zone ◽  
Continuous Wavelet ◽  
The World

The agro-pastoral transitional zone (APTZ) in Northern China is one of the most important ecological barriers of the world. The commonly-used method to identify the spatial distribution of ATPZ is to apply a threshold rule on climatic or land use indicators. This approach is highly subjective, and the quantity standards vary among the studies. In this study, we adopted the spatial continuous wavelet transform (SCWT) technique to detect the spatial fluctuation in normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) sequences, and as such identify the APTZ. To carry out this analysis, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) NDVI 1-month data (MODND1M) covering the period 2006–2015 were used. Based on the spatial variation in NDVI, we identified two sub-regions within the APTZ. The temporal change of APTZ showed that although vegetation spatial pattern changed annually, certain areas appeared to be stable, while others showed higher sensitivity to environmental variance. Through correlation analysis between the dynamics of APTZ and precipitation, we found that the mean center of the APTZ moved toward the southeast during dry years and toward the northwest during humid years. By comparing the APTZ spatial pattern obtained in the present study with the outcome following the traditional approach based on mean annual precipitation data, it can be concluded that our study provides a reliable basis to advance the methodological framework to identify accurately transitional zones. The identification framework is of high importance to support decision-making in land use management in Northern China as well as other similar regions around the world.

Exploring the characteristics and sources of carbonaceous aerosols in the agro-pastoral transitional zone of Northern China

2019 ◽  
Vol 249 ◽  
pp. 589-597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yufang Hao ◽  
Xiangpeng Meng ◽  
Xuepu Yu ◽  
Mingli Lei ◽  
Wenjun Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Northern China ◽  
Transitional Zone ◽  
Carbonaceous Aerosols

Palaeoenvironmental implications of a Holocene sequence of lacustrine-peat sediments from the desert-loess transitional zone in Northern China

2018 ◽  
Vol 156 ◽  
pp. 167-173
Author(s):  
Feifei Jia ◽  
Ruijie Lu ◽  
Xiaokang Liu ◽  
Chao Zhao ◽  
Zhiqiang Lv ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Northern China ◽  
Transitional Zone

Changes in Sand Content of Loess Deposits along a North–South Transect of the Chinese Loess Plateau and the Implications for Desert Variations

1999 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhongli Ding ◽  
Jimin Sun ◽  
Nat W. Rutter ◽  
Dean Rokosh ◽  
Tungsheng Liu
Keyword(s):  
Grain Size ◽  
Loess Plateau ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Transitional Zone ◽  
Chinese Loess Plateau ◽  
Transitional Region ◽  
Sand Content ◽  
The Loess Plateau ◽  
Chinese Loess ◽  
Helan Mountains

Geological records have shown that the deserts east of the Helan Mountains in northern China were covered by grass during the Holocene Optimum, whereas during marine oxygen isotope stages 2 and 4 distribution of the deserts was almost the same as at present. The wide advance–retreat cycles of the deserts may have exerted an important control on grain-size changes in the loess of the Loess Plateau by altering the distance between the source and the accumulation zone of the loess. This challenges the widely accepted model that winter monsoon winds were the sole factor responsible for spatial and temporal changes in loess texture. To observe spatial changes in sedimentological characteristics of loess during the last glacial–interglacial cycle, the texture of loess was measured along a north–south transect of the Loess Plateau. This transect consists of nine loess sections, starting at Yulin in the transitional region between the Loess Plateau and the Mu Us Desert and ending at Weinan in the southernmost part of the Loess Plateau. Southward changes in sand (>63 μm) content along the transect suggest that variations in desert extent have indeed played a significant role in loess grain-size distributions, particularly in the northern part of the Loess Plateau. It is proposed that sand content (>63 μm%) of loess in the loess–desert transitional zone may be used as a proxy indicator for proximity to the desert margin.

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