Abstract
It is well known that the Gobi Desert is the dominant source area of the Badain Jaran Desert (BJD) and the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP). However, due to the absence of quantitative analyses, there are nearly no exact assessments of its actual contribution. Combinations of field investigations, wind tunnel experiments, and wind field analyses revealed that the potential erosion depth on modern Gobi Desert varied between 0.41 and 0.89 mm a−1. Results indicated it would take an average theoretical time of 80.8 ka and 4,475.9 ka to form the current dimensions of the BJD and CLP, respectively, which means the Gobi Desert may provide substantial sand sources to the modern BJD, while its contribution to the loess of modern CLP might be overestimated despite it was the key sources of the CLP in Quaternary.
Highlights
The Gobi Desert, Badain Jaran Desert (BJD), and the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP, Fig. 1), located in northwestern China and southern Mongolia, are known as the key areas of dust emissions in Central Asia[1], regions owning the highest sand dunes in the world[2], and the cradle of Chinese civilization[3], respectively
The primordial underlying landforms of gobi deserts are alluvial fans, playas, and wadis, and the dominant sediment sources are the adjacent Gobi Altai Mountains, the Heihe River, and the highlands of southern Mongolia, which are transported by intermittent floods from the upper Pleistocene to the early Holocene21,22. 15 intact gobi surface samples were collected for further wind tunnel experiments, and more details of sampling strategies are provided in Supplementary Information S3
When considering the proportions of the fine fractions emitted from the source regions and settled in situ again (Supplementary Information S7), and considering the areas of the upwind Gobi which have potential effects on the BJD and the CLP (Supplementary Information S8), the results showed that the average annual sand and loess-sized transports from 1960 to 2015 were 0.16 and 0.34 km[3] a−1, 0.0029 and 0.0062 km[3] a−1 in Ejin and Guaizihu, respectively (Table 1)
Summary
The Gobi Desert, Badain Jaran Desert (BJD), and the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP, Fig. 1), located in northwestern China and southern Mongolia, are known as the key areas of dust emissions in Central Asia[1], regions owning the highest sand dunes in the world[2], and the cradle of Chinese civilization[3], respectively. Some studies[9,12] believed that the sand sources of the BJD were originated primarily from lacustrine and fluvial processes, the main sources of which are the weathered and denuded products of the underlying Mesozoic and Cenozoic sandstones, sandy conglomerate, and clastic rocks. Based on the studies so far, the potential loess sources of the CLP were mainly originated from the mountains and sandy deserts[16], Mongolian gobi desert[17], the Yellow River sediments[18,19], and the northern Tibetan Plateau[20]. According to previous studies (Supplementary Information S2), it is clear that under the modern circulations the Gobi Desert is the key provider of the sand sources of the BJD and the potential loess sources of the CLP. Rates on the Gobi Desert varied between 0.41 and 0.89 mm a−1, which were potential sand sources for the BJD formation with relatively low contributions to the loess of the CLP
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