Potential refugium on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau revealed by the chloroplast DNA phylogeography of the alpine species Metagentiana striata (Gentianaceae)

Metagentiana striata is an alpine annual herbaceous plant endemic to the east of the Qinghai-Tibet (Q-T) Plateau and adjacent areas. The phylogeography of M. striata was studied by sequencing the chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) trnS-trnG intergenic spacer. Ten haplotypes were identified from an investigation of 232 individuals of M. striata from 14 populations covering the entire geographical range of this species. The level of differentiation amongst populations was very high (G(ST) = 0.746; N-ST = 0.774) and a significant phylogeographical structure was observed (P < 0.05). An analysis of molecular variance found a high variation amongst populations (76%), with F-ST = 0.762 (highly significant, P < 0.001), indicating that little gene flow occurred amongst the different regions; this was explained by the isolation of populations by high mountains along the Q-T Plateau and adjacent areas (N-m = 0.156). Only one ancestral haplotype (A) was common and widespread throughout the distributional range of M. striata. The populations of the Hengduan Mountains region of the south-eastern Q-T Plateau showed high diversity and uniqueness of haplotypes. It is suggested that this region was the potential refugium of M. striata during the Quaternary glaciation, and that interglacial and postglacial range expansion occurred from this refugium. This scenario was in good agreement with the results of nested clade analysis, which inferred that the current spatial distribution of cpDNA haplotypes and populations resulted from range expansion, together with past allopatric fragmentation events. (c) 2008 The Linnean Society of London.

Altitudinal differences in the leaf fitness of juvenile and mature alpine spruce trees (Picea crassifolia)

In many plant species, leaf morphology varies with altitude, an effect that has been attributed to temperature. It remains uncertain whether such a trend applies equally to juvenile and mature trees across altitudinal gradients in semi-arid mountain regions. We examined altitude-related differences in a variety of needle characteristics of juvenile (2-m tall) and mature (5-m tall) alpine spruce (Picea crassifolia Kom.) trees growing at altitudes between 2501 and 3450 m in the Qilian Mountains of northwest China. We found that stable carbon isotope composition (delta C-13), area- and mass-based leaf nitrogen concentration (N-a, N-m), number of stomata per gram of nitrogen (St/N), number of stomata per unit leaf mass (St/LM), projected leaf area per 100 needles (LA) and leaf mass per unit area (LMA) varied nonlinearly with altitude for both juvenile and mature trees, with a relationship reversal point at about 3 100 m. Stomatal density (SD) of juvenile trees remained unchanged with altitude, whereas SD and stomatal number per unit length (SNL) of mature spruce initially increased with altitude, but subsequently decreased. Although several measured indices were generally found to be higher in mature trees than in juvenile trees, N-m, leaf carbon concentration (C.), leaf water concentration. (LWC), St/N, LA and St/LM showed inconsistent differences between trees of different ages along the altitudinal gradient. In both juvenile and mature trees, VC correlated significantly with LMA, N-m, N-a, SNL, St/LM and St/N. Stomatal density, LWC and LA were only significantly correlated with delta C-13 in mature trees. These findings suggest that there are distinct ecophysiological differences between the needles of juvenile and mature trees that determine their response to changes in altitude in semi-arid mountainous regions. Variations in the fitness of forests of different ages may have important implications for modeling forest responses to changes in environmental conditions, such as predicted future temperature increases in high attitude areas associated with climate change.

Effects of altitude on plant-species diversity and productivity in an alpine meadow, Qinghai-Tibetan plateau

During the growing seasons of 2002 and 2003, biomass productivity and diversity were examined along an altitudinal transect on the south-western slope of Beishan Mountain, Maqin County (33 degrees 43'-35 degrees 16'N, 98 degrees 48'-100 degrees 55'E), Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Six altitudes were selected, between 3840 and 4435 m. Soil organic matter, soil available N and P and environmental factors significantly affected plant-species diversity and productivity of the alpine meadows. Aboveground biomass declined significantly with increasing altitude (P < 0.05) and it was positively and linearly related to late summer soil-surface temperature. Belowground biomass (0 - 10-cm depth) was significantly greater at the lowest and highest altitudes than at intermediate locations, associated with water and nutrient availabilities. At each site, the maximum belowground biomass values occurred at the beginning and the end of the growing seasons (P < 0.05). Soil organic matter content, and available N and P were negatively and closely related to plant diversity (species richness, Shannon-Wiener diversity index, and Pielou evenness index).

Effect of burrowing activity of root vole (Microtus oeconomus Pallas) on plant diversity in alpine meadow

Herbivory and burrowing activity of mammals may influence the species composition and diversity of plant communities. The effect of corridors and holes systems constructed by root vole (Microtus oeconomus Pallas) on the plant species diversity was studied in the habitat of high - mountain meadow (3250 in a.s.l in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China). By using grid method, these disturbances were studied on 16 plots (100 cm x 100 cm) distributed in 4 transects in studied area, in August 2000 and 2001. The disturbance intensity index, D, was calculated as the percent of the ground surface disturbed by voles in the study area. Plant species were identified and counted on the same plots. In total 46 plant species were identified - 39% of this number was considered as sensitive to the vole disturbances as their occurrence and/or abundance decreased along the disturbance intensity. Generally, a significantly negative correlation (r = - 0.911 P < 0.01) between vole aboveground disturbances and plant species diversity (H') was found. The results suggest that root vole ground disturbances, especially in the form of actively utilized holes and corridors have significantly negative influence on plant species diversity in high-mountain grassland habitat.

Assessing the potential of VEGETATION sensor data for mapping snow and ice cover: a Normalized Difference Snow and Ice Index

The VEGETATION (VGT) sensor in SPOT 4 has four spectral bands that are equivalent to Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) bands (blue, red, near-infrared and mid-infrared spectral bands) and provides daily images of the global land surface at a 1-km spatial resolution. We propose a new index for identifying and mapping of snow ice cover, namely the Normalized Difference Snow/Ice Index (NDSII), which uses reflectance values of red and mid-infrared spectral bands of Landsat TM and VGT. For Landsat TM data, NDSII is calculated as NDSIITM =(TM3 -TM5)/(TM3 +TM5); for VGT data, NDSII is calculated as NDSIIVGT =(B2- MIR)/(B2 + MIR). As a case study we used a Landsat TM image that covers the eastern part of the Qilian mountain range in the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibetan) plateau of China. NDSIITM gave similar estimates of the area and spatial distribution of snow/ice cover to the Normalized Difference Snow Index (NDSI=(TM2-TM5)/(TM2+TM5)) which has been proposed by Hall et al. The results indicated that the VGT sensor might have the potential for operational monitoring and mapping of snow/ice cover from regional to global scales, when using NDSIIVGT.

Molecular systematics of pikas (genus Ochotona) inferred from mitochondrial DNA sequences

The phylogenetic relationships among worldwide species of genus Ochotona were investigated by sequencing mitochondrial cytochrome b and ND4 genes. Parsimony and neighbor-joining analyses of the sequence data yielded congruent results that strongly indicated three major clusters: the shrub-steppe group, the northern group, and the mountain group. The subgeneric classification of Ochotona species needs to be revised because each of the two subgenera in the present classification contains species from the mountain group. To solve this taxonomic problem so that each taxon is monophyletic, i.e., represents a natural clade, Ochotona could be divided into three subgenera, one for the shrub-steppe species, a second for the northern species, and a third for the mountain species. The inferred tree suggests that the differentiation of this genus in the Palearctic Region was closely related to the gradual uplifting of the Tibet (Qinghai-Xizang) Plateau, as hypothesized previously, and that vicariance might have played a major role in the differentiation of this genus on the Plateau, On the other hand, the North American species, O. princeps, is most likely a dispersal event, which might have happened during the Pliocene through the opening of the Bering Strait. The phylogenetic relationships within the shrub-steppe group are worth noting in that instead of a monophyletic shrub-dwelling group, shrub dwellers and steppe dwellers are intermingled with each other. Moreover, the sequence divergence within the sister tars of one steppe? dweller and one shrub dweller is very low. These findings support the hypothesis that pikes have entered the steppe environment several times and that morphological similarities within steppe dwellers were due to convergent evolution. (C) 2000 Academic Press.

Two new species of Leymus (Poaceae : Triticeae) from Qinghai, China

Two new species of Leymus, L. pendulus and L. obvipodus, are described and illustrated. These two species are endemic to Qinghai province, China, occurring at the margins of woodlands, wastelands, mountain valleys, and the bases of walls, at 2280-2400 m elevation. Leymus pendulus is unusual in its lax, long, pendent spikes. It is closely related to L. flexus, but differs from that species by pendent spikes, longer rachis internodes, and shorter glumes and lemmas. Leymus obvipodus is unique in the genus in having all spikelets pedicellate. It resembles both L. divaricatus (Drobow) Tzvelev and L. aristiglumus L. B. Cai but differs from the former by lanceolate glumes with 1 to 3 nerves, longer spike-like panicles, taller culms, and lanceolate lemmas with 5 obscure nerves and pubescent margins, and from the latter by lax, longer spike-like panicles, pedicellate spikelets with 4 to 8 florets, narrower glumes, and longer, lustrous lemmas.

渤海湾地区前第三系构造特征及其演化研究

Based on fine structural interpretation on seismic profiles of buried-hills in Huanghua depression, structural interpretation and balanced cross-section restoration of regional seismic profiles, drawing structural maps of main seismic interfaces, residual strata distribution of different ages in the Bohai Bay region and structural survey in the western Shandong uplifted area and the intracontinental orogeny of Yanshan mountain, the paper has studied pre-tertiary structural styles and tectonic evolution of the Bohai Bay region. There mainly develop 5 types of pre-tertiary structural style that are extension structure, compression structure, strike-slip structure, negative inversion structure and sliding structure in the Bohai Bay region. Among these 5 types of structural style, extension structure develops detachment fault and its controlling fault terrain structure and fault break slop; compression structure develops reverted fold, fault propagation fold, fault bent fold, imbricate thrust structure and triangle zone; strike-slip structure develops positive flower structure, negative flower structure, en-echelon structure and brush structure; negative reversion structure develops Indosinian compression and Yanshanian extension negative reversion structure, late Yanshanian compression and Cenozoic extension negative reversion structure; sliding structure develops interlayer sliding structure and detachment structure. According to Cangdong fault of SN direction, Zhangjiakou – Penglai fault and Qihe – Guangrao fault of NWW direction, the Bohai Bay region can be divided into 6 sub-regions in which structural direction and style is different from each other. Structural maps of bottom boundary of Cenozoic and upper Paleozoic manifest that main NNE structural direction is formed from late Yanshanian to Himalayan movement and minor NWW structural direction and a string of area more than 8000m are mainly suggest that Indosinian tectonic pattern strongly influence on Yanshanian and Himalayan movement. Residual strata distribution characteristics of middle to upper Neoproterozoic in the Bohai Bay region manifest that middle- to neo- aulacogen position may be corresponding to late Mesozoic uplifted zone. Residual Paleozoic distribution characteristics of main ENN suggest that structural alteration should be resulted from late Yanshanian to Himalayan movement while which of minor NWW structures suggest that deeper structure should restrict shallower structure. Structural patterns of main EW fold direction in the Bohai Bay region and thrust structure in eastern part are formed late Triassic in studied area. Granite magma intrusion of early to middle Jurassic mainly develops Yanshan mountain zone. Late Mesozoic rifting basins of NEE direction are widely distributed in the Bohai Bay region and granite magma intrusions are mainly distributed in Tancheng – Rongcheng zone. Mesozoic structural evolution in the Bohai Bay region is related to scissor convergent from east to west between North China plate and Yangtze plate and gradually reinforcing of the west circum-pacific tectonic tract while basin and range province of late Jurassic and early Cretaceous may be mainly related to lithospheric thinning of North China craton in late Mesozoic.

末次冰盛期以来中国东部沙地空间分布特征及环境记录

The latest two extreme scenarios of last glacial maximum and Holocene climatic optimum marked extreme situations in China. This paper aims to reconstruct the fossil extensions and paleoclimate of deserts in eastern China during this typical period. Aeolian sequence responds the climate change by virtue of alternation of aeolian sand layer and sandy soil layer, which correspond aridity and humidity, respectively. There is a set of contrastive deposits made up of loose sand layer and overlying dark sandy soil below land surface. This developed soil and underlying deep aeolian sand respond to H.O. and late last glacial, i.e. LGM. The typical bottom sand layers of about 50 profiles of Hulun Buir Desert, Horqin Desert and Otindag Desert were dated using OSL to confirm that they did deposid in LGM. Based on the locations of these LGM sand, distrution of gobi-desert-loess and landform control, the distribution in LGM of the three deserts were reconstructed. For the block of eastern mountain, the extreme eastern boundary of Hulun Buir Desert and Otindag Desert are not just functioned by climate background. The east of Horqin Desert is plain, hence eastern boundary of this desert is maily controlled by climate. It is considered that quite a lot of aeolian sand of LGM origined from fluvial deposit by observing regional distribution of river and SEM of sand grains. The environment alternation of of LGM-H.O. is featured by extensive expanse of active dune in LGM and grassland in H.O. Combined grain-size, susceptibility, TOC, colour and SEM measurement, the OSL chronology of relatively continued profiles since LGM of the three deserts are divided into four periods: eolian sand (15-10ka)- sandy soil (10-5ka)- alternation of black sand and yellow sand- reworking of LGM sand as destroy of soil.

大兴安岭北段晚中生代火山岩地球化学特征及其地质意义

This thesis mainly concentrates on the geochronology, prtrology, elemental geochemistry and Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf isotopic geochemistry of the volcanic rocks in north Da’Hinggan Mountain. By analyzing the data obtained in this study and data from other people, this thesis explored the age distribution, petrology and mineralogy and geochemistry characteristics of the volcanic rocks in north Da’Hinggan Mountain. Furthermore, this thesis speculated upon the source characteristics of these volcanic rocks and their implications for the tectonic evolution and crust accretion. According to the twenty Ar-Ar ages, four zircon U-Pb SHRIMP ages and two Zircon U-Pb LA-ICP-MS ages, the duration of the eruption of the Late Mesozoic volcanic rocks in north Da’Hing Mountain was about 160Ma-106Ma. Most of these volcanic rocks belong to early Cretaceous and the late Jurassic volcanic rocks are only restricted in Manzhouli. The bulk of the late Mesozoic volcanic rocks are high-K calc-alkaline rocks. Only a small portion of these volcanic rocks are shoshonites. These rocks are mainly intermediate or acid and the basic rocks usually have higher alkaline contents. Rock types are very complex in this region. These volcanic rocks have a large TiO2 variation and the Al2O3 and alkaline contents are high. From the point of mineralogy, the plagioclases in these volcanic rocks are oligoclases, andesines and labradorites, and the labradorites are more common. Most pyroxenes in these volcanic rocks are augites which belong to clinopyroxene. The source of the Late Mesozoic volcanic rocks was an enriched lithospheric mantle. When the magma en route to the surface it was contaminated by crust material slightly and had some fractional crystallization. These rocks which mainly belong to high-K calc-alkaline series were one of the results of postorogenic tectonic-magmatic activities. The upwelling in late Mesozoic supplied heat to melt the enriched lithospheric mantle which was resulted from the subduction of paleo-Asian Ocean and/or Mengol-Okhotsk ocean. These late Mesozoic volcanic rocks are also important to the upper crustal accretion of north Da’Hinggan Mountain since the late Mesozoic. These volcanics and the contemporary emplacement of granites and the basaltic underplating in combination fulfilled the crust accretion history in north Da’Hinggan Mountain in Late Mesozoic.

利用台阵面波资料研究华北克拉通北缘燕山褶皱带及其邻区的地壳与上地幔结构

The continent of eastern China, especially the North China Craton (NCC), has endured intensive tectonic renovation during Mesozoic and Cenozoic, with the presence of widespread magmatism, high heat flow and development of large sedimentary basins and mountain ranges. The cratonic lithosphere of the region has been destroyed remarkably, which is characterized by not only a significant reduction in thickness but also complex modifications in physical and chemical properties of the lithosphere. As for the tectonic regime controlling the evolution of the NCC, various models have been put forward, including the impingement of mantle plumes (“mushroom cloud” model), the collision of south China block and north China block, the subduction of the Pacific plate, etc. Lithosphere delamination and thermal erosion were proposed as the two end-member mechanisms of the lithospheric thinning. However, given the paucity of the data, deep structural evidence is currently still scarce for distinguishing and testifying these models. To better understand the deep structure of the NCC, from 2000 to the present, temporary seismic array observations have been conducted in the NCC by the Seismological Laboratory of the Institute of the Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences under the North China Interior Structure Project (NCISP). Many arrays extend from the North China Craton and the off-craton regions, and traverse a lot of main tectonic boundaries. A total of more than 300 broadband seismic stations have been deployed along several profiles that traversed the major tectonic units within the craton’s interior, at the boundary areas and in the neighboring off-craton regions. These stations recorded abundant high-quality data, which provides an unprecedented opportunity for us to unravel the deep structural features of the NCC using seismological methods. Among all the seismological methods, the surface wave method appears to be an efficient and widely adopted technique in studying the crustal and upper mantle structures. In particular, it can provide the absolute values of S-wave velocity that are difficult to obtain with other methods. Benefiting from the deployment of dense seismic arrays, progresses have been made in improving the spatial resolution of surface wave imaging, which makes it possible to resolve the fine-scale velocity structures of the crust and upper mantle based on surface wave analysis. Meanwhile, the differences in the S-wave velocities derived from Rayleigh and Love wave data can provide information on the radial anisotropy beneath the seismic arrays. In this thesis, using the NCISP-III broadband data and based on phase velocity dispersion analysis and inversion of fundamental mode Rayleigh and Love waves, I investigated the lateral variations in the S-wave velocity structure of the crust and uppermost mantle beneath the Yanshan Belt and adjacent regions at the northeastern boundary of the NCC. Based on the constructed structural images, I discussed possible deep processes of the craton destruction in the study region.

利用接收函数方位变化研究地壳各向异性

Because of its sensitivity to the velocity discontinuity of the earth, receiver function technique has become a routine procedure used to probe interior structure of the earth. Receiver functions contain anisotropic information of the earth’s interior, however, traditional receiver function techniques such as migration imaging and waveform inversion method, which are based on isotropic media assumption, can not effectively extract the anisotropy information contained in the azimuth variation pattern. Only by using the anisotropic media, e.g. a model with symmetric axis of arbitrary orientation, computing the response, can we obtain the detailed anisotropy information hidden in the radial and transversal receiver function. Focusing on the receiver function variation pattern changing wtih different back azimuths, we introduced different kinds of symmetric systems of seismic anisotropy used often, and summarized some possible causes of anisotropy formation. We show details about how to calculate the response of a stratified anisotropy model with symmetric axis of arbitrary orientation. We also simulated receiver functions among different models and analyzed how the changing of anisotropic parameters influence the azimuth variation pattern of receiver functions. The anisotropy study by receiver function analysis was applied to Taihang Mountain Range (TMR) in North China in this thesis. The maximum entropy spectrum deconvolution technique was used to extract radial and transversal receiver functions from the waveforms of 20 portable seismic stations deployed in TMR. Considering the signal-to-noise ratio and the azimuth coverage, we got the variation pattern of receiver functions for 11 stations. After carefully analyzing the pattern of the receiver functions that we got, we obtained the reliable evidence on the existence of anisotropy in the shallow crust in TMR. Our results show that, although the thickness of the upper crustal layer is only about 1 km, the layer shows a strong anisotropy with magnitude of 8~15%; in the deeper of crust, the magnitudes of anisotropy is about 3%~5%, showing a pattern with fast-symmetric-axis. The crust anisotropy beneath TMR in North China obtained in this study also shows a significant difference in both the lateral and vertical scale, which might imply a regional anisotropy characteristic in the studied region.

地震层析成像与天山地区的壳幔深部结构研究

The Tien Shan is the most prominent intracontinental mountain belt on the earth. The active crustal deformation and earthquake activities provide an excellent place to study the continental geodynamics of intracontinental mountain belt. The studies of deep structures in crust and upper mantle are significantly meaningful for understanding the geological evolution and geodynamics of global intracontinental mountain belts. This dissertation focuses on the deep structures and geodynamics in the crust and upper mantle in the Tien Shan mountain belt. With the arrival time data from permanent and temporal seismic stations located in the western and central Tien Shan, using seismic travel time tomographic method, we inversed the P-wave velocity and Vp/Vs structures in the crust and uppermost mantle, the Pn and Sn velocities and Pn anisotropic structures in the uppermost mantle, and the P-wave velocity structures in the crust and mantle deep to 690km depth beneath the Tien Shan. The tomographic results suggest that the deep structures and geodynamics have significant impacts not only on the deformations and earthquake activities in the crust, but also on the mountain building, collision, and dynamics of the whole Tien Shan mountain belt. With the strongly collision and deformations in the crust, the 3-D P-wave velocity and Vp/Vs ratio structures are highly complex. The Pn and Sn velocities in the uppermost mantle beneath the Tien Shan, specially beneath the central Tien Shan, are significantly lower than the seismic wavespeed beneath geological stable regions. We infer that the hot upper mantle from the small-scale convection could elevate the temperature in the lower crust and uppermost mantle, and partially melt the materials in the lower crust. The observations of low P-wave and S-wave velocities, high Vp/Vs ratios near the Moho and the absences of earthquake activities in the lower crust are consistent with this inference. Based on teleseismic tomography images of the upper mantle beneath the Tien Shan, we infer that the lithosphere beneath the Tarim basin has subducted under the Tien Shan to depths as great as 500 km. The lithosphere beneath the Kazakh shield may have subducted to similar depths in the opposite direction, but the limited resolution of this data set makes this inference less certain. These images support the plate boundary model of converge for the Tien Shan, as the lithospheres to the north and south of the range both appear to behave as plates.

北天山新生代构造演化与古环境演变

The Tianshan Mountains is located about 1000-2000 km north of the India-Asia suture and is the most outstanding topography in central Asia, with transmeridional length of nearly 2500 km, north-southern wideness of ~ 300-500 km, peaks exceeding 7000 m above sea level (asl.), and average altitude of over 4000 m asl. Much of the modern relief of the Tianshan Range is a result of contraction driven by the collision of the India subcontinent with the southern margin of Asia, which began in early Tertiary and continues today. Understanding where, when and how the deformation of the Tianshan Mountains occurred is essential to decipher the mechanism of intracontinental tectonics, the process of foreland basin evolution and mountain building, and the history of climate change in central Asia. In order to better constrain the Cenozoic building history of the Tianshan Mountains and the climate change in the southern margin of the Junggar Basin, we carried out multiple studies of magnetostratigraphy, sedimentology, and stable isotopes of paleosol carbonate at the Jingou River section, which is located at the Huoerguosi anticline, the westernest one of the second folds and thrust faults zone in the northern piedmont of the Tianshan Mountains. The Jingou River section with a thickness of about 4160 m is continuous in deposits according to the observed gradual change in sedimentary environments and can be divided into five formations: Anjihaihe, Shawan, Taxihe, Dushanzi and Xiyu in upward sequence. Characteristic remamences were isolated by progressive thermal demagnetization, generally between 300 and 680℃. A total of 1133 out of 1607 samples yielded well-defined ChRMs and were used to establish the magnetostratigraphic column of a 3270-m-thick section from the exposed base of the Anjihaihe Formation to the middle of the Xiyu Formation. Two vertebrate fossil sites and a good correlation with the CK95 geomagnetic polarity time scale suggest that the section was deposited from ~30.5 to ~4.6 Ma and the age of the top of the Xiyu formation is ~2.6 Ma based on an extrapolation of the sedimentation rates. A plot of magnetostratigraphic age vs. height at the Jingou River section shows that significant increases in sedimentation rates as well as notable changes in depositional environments occurred at ~26-22.5 Ma, ~13-11 Ma and ~7 Ma, which represent the initial uplift of the Tianshan Mountains and two subsequent rapid uplift events. In addition, changes in sedimentation rates display characteristic alternations between increases and decreases, which probably indicate that the uplift of the Tianshan Mountains was episodic. We discussed the history of C4 biomass and climatic conditions in the southern margin of the Junggur Basin using the stable carbon and oxygen isotope composition of paleosol carbonates from the Jingou River section during ~17.5-6.5 Ma. The δ13C values indicate that the proportion of C4 biomass was uniform and moderate (15-20 %) during the interval of ~17.5-6.5 Ma. We proposed three hypotheses for this pattern of C4 biomass: (1) counteraction of two opposed factors (global cooling since ~15 Ma and thereafter increased dry and seasonality in central Asia) controlling the growth of C4 grasses, (2) variability in abundance of C3 grasses relative to C3 trees and shrubs if vegetation had ever changed in ecosystems, and (3) the higher latitude of the studied region. The δ18O values show a stepwise negative trend since ~13 Ma which may be attributed to three factors: (1) the temperature decreasing gradually after the middle Miocene (~15 Ma), (2) the increasing contribution of the moistures carried by the polar air masses from the Arctic Ocean to precipitation, and (3) the gradual retreat westward and disappearance of the Paratethys Ocean. Among them, which one played a more important role will need further study of the paleoclimate in central Asia.

巴丹吉林沙漠及其南缘地区的水化学和环境同位素特征与环境演变

The Badain Jaran Desert lies on the Alashan Plateau in western Inner Mongolia. Because of huge dunes, permanent lakes and on the northern fringe of the Asian summer monsoon, the Badain Jaran Desert has been drawing attentions of many experts. And they have made great progress in dune’s geomorphology, botany in desert, paleoclimate change and other study areas. We analyzed environmental isotope and ion chemistry in lakes and groundwater of the desert and southeastern area, and collected some other evidences from 14C dating, fossils and archeology. According to chemical analysis, we discuss the difference spatial character of ion chemistry and environmental isotope in lakes and groundwater of the desert and adjacent. Contrasting with ion chemistry and isotope results in other arid area, we argue origin of groundwater and lakes in the desert area, and get a preliminary understanding of desert lakes’ evolution during Holocene. Some main conclusions were drawn as follows: 1. It has a obvious difference in hydrophysical parameters between lakes and groundwater in the desert and margin. 2. The results of ion analysis show that Na+ and Cl- are dominant in most lakes of the desert. Meanwhile, Na+ 、Cl- and HCO3- are dominant in groundwater of the desert and adjacent, and alsoMg2+、Ca2+、and NO3- have more percentage than in lakes. 3. Owing to different solubilities, the conten of main ions in water varies with the content of TDS. Whereas the content of TDS is over 100 g/L, the content of SO42-、HCO3-、Mg2+and Ca2+ in lakes descend. 4. The result of isotope analyzing indicate the lakes and groundwater in southeast desert have a similar vaporing trend with the groundwater in the southeast margin of the desert. It imply there would have some kind of contact between groundwater in margin and lakes of southeast desert. 5. Contrasting with isotope results of groundwater in other arid area, it show that the groundwater in the desert and Yabulai area should be phreatic water which have a low water table. Therefore, we conclude that the groundwater in southeast part of the desert and southern margin mainly are recharged by precipitation of local abundant rainfall and groundwater of low mountain of southern area. 6. And all of these evidences, which are different from salinity, the content of CO32- and geological data, show that the bigger northern lake group and southeastern lake group in the desert have different groundwater replenishing system because a fold belt lie between of the two group lakes and obstruct them in landform. and HCO3- 7. The 14C dating results of fossil and lacustrine deposits show that there maybe have a wider range of shoreline during early and middle Holocene than today. 8. By the discovery and study of some pieces of pottery and fine stoneware, we preliminary conclude that there maybe have some certain amount of early human activities in the Badain Jaran Desert.