Lacustrine strata sedimentology and lake-level history in ancient Zhuyeze Lake since the Last Deglaciation

Abstract

The ancient Zhuyeze Lake lies in the east Hexi corridor of Northwest China and it is the interacting belt of the East Asian summer monsoon and the westerly line. The research on paleoclimate of the lake facilitates the understanding of the processes and mechanism of climate change in Northwest China since the Last Deglaciation. Related researches of this area started in the 1960s, and the research on environment changes has become the “hotspot” during the last 10 years. This paper focuses on four sections (Qingtuhu Section, Xiqu Section, Shakengjing Section, Jiutuoliang Section) in ancient Zhuyeze Lake. Much work was done in spot investigation, section strata comparison, geophysical analyses, geochemical analyses and dependable ¹⁴C dating in order to retrieve the dry-wet history of climate changes in ancient Zhuyeze Lake since the Last Deglaciation. The main conclusions are as follows: (1) the highest terminal lake level was 1313–1315 m. In Holocene, the highest lake level was 1308–1309 m occurring between 6700–5800 a B.P.. (2) After geophysical and geochemical analyses, high-resolution records of the climate change since the Last Deglaciation were revealed as follows: cold and dry during 15800–13000 a B.P.; cool and wet during 13000–9500 a B.P.; warm and dry during 9500–6700 a B.P.; warm and wet during 6700–4300 a B.P.; cool and wet during 4300–2700 a B.P.; and at last dry during 2700–0 a B.P..

Keywords

ancient Zhuyeze Lake / lacustrine strata sedimentology / environment changes