Historical desertification of the Mu Us Desert, Northern China: A multidisciplinary study

Abstract

The problem of historical desertification of the Mu Us desert, northern China has been paid considerable attention during the past several decades. Through the analysis of stratigraphic evidence, historical records and archaeological discoveries, this paper studied the problem using a multidisciplinary approach. The results show that two phases of serious desertification occurred during the last two millennia, one is during the mid-to-late Tang dynasty (about A.D. 800) and the other during the late Ming dynasty (about A.D. 1500–1600). Further investigation of the cause of each phase of desertification demonstrates that the former phase of desertification is closely related to abrupt climate change occurring in the mid-eighth century, but the latter, which started during the Ming dynasty and stopped at late 1980s, is not consistent with climatic causation. Therefore, we suggest that human activities contributed to the development of the latter phase of desertification.