The cooling fluctuation events during Holocene in the tropical zone of China

Forty-eight samples are chosen to discuss the distribution in space and time of the cooling fluctuation events during HoloCene in the tropical zone of China in this paper. The authors consider that the Neoglaciations II and III (or Cooling Event ①) have a widespread impact on the drop in temperature of 1-2 oC or less than 2 oC. The YD Event was dated at 11,300-10,200 a BP in the tropical mainland and its dating is 11,400-10,500 a BP in the sea area with a drop in temperature of 4-6 oC. The distribution of Event B and Neoglaciation I is taking a position of north, with a drop in temperature of 2.5-3.0 oC. The Cooling Event ② shows the temporality in time. The Cooling Event ③ shows the limitation of regional distribution with a drop in temperature of less than 1.5oC. The more recent the cooling event is, the smaller the drop amplitude in temperature will be. In the eastern part of tropical zone seven events are complete in all varieties but the cooling fluctuation is weaker in the western part. In Hainan Island and South China Sea the appearance of cooling fluctuations is synchronous with each other.     

Climatological characteristics of the tropics in China： climate classification schemes between German scientists and Huang Bingwei

Reviewing some important German scientists who have developed climatic regionalization schemes either on a global or Chinese scale, their various definitions of the tropical climate characteristics in China are discussed and compared with Huang Bingwei‘s climate classification scheme and the identification of the tropical climate therein. It can be seen that, due to different methodological approaches of the climatic regionalization schemes, the definitions of the tropics vary and hence also their spatial distribution in China. However, it is found that the tropical climate type occupies only a peripheral part of southern China, though it firmly represents a distinctive type of climate that is subsequently associated with a great economic importance for China. As such, the tropical climate type was mostly identified with its agro-climatological significance, that is by giving favourable growing conditions all-year round for perennial crops with a great heat demand. Tropical climate is, hence, conventionally regarded to be governed by all-year round summer conditions “where winter never comes“.     

Environmental geography in China: retrospect and prospect

1FromchemicalgeographytoenvironmentalgeographyThe growth of environmental geography in China can be traced back to the early 1960s when a group of geographers and soil scientists initiated a chemical geography program in China following the speciality created by Russian geographers. The main fields of studies conducted during the mid-1950s to the early 1970s involved aquatic, terrestrial and atmospheric chemistry of major elements, which focused on geochemical taxonomy of inorganic elements i…     

中国热带珊瑚礁的第四纪气候记录

The coral reef in China’s tropics can be divided into three regions, namely, the South China Sea Islands, Hainan Island and the Leizhou Peninsula as well as Taiwan Island. There are 34 islands of coral reef which are named in the South China Sea Islands …     

1950-2000年中国北方干旱气候变化

Based on China‘s monthly precipitation data of 629 stations during 1950-2000, we calculated Z indices and separated them into seven Dryness and Wemess grades. Further, a drought area index was proposed to study changes in drought severity in northern China. The results revealed that the different severity of droughts all showed expanding trends in northern China‘s main agricultural area. Moreover, the area coverage of droughts in different seasons and different regions disolaved different trends.     

China＇s economic development stage and its spatiotemporal evolution： A prefectural-level analysis

As important mechanisms of regional strategy and policy,prefecture-level regions have played an increasingly significant role in the development of China’s economy.However,little research has grasped the essence of the economic development stage and the spatio-temporal evolution process at the prefecture level;this may lead to biased policies and their ineffective implementations.Based on Chenery’s economic development theory,this paper identifies China’s economic development stages at both national and prefectural levels.Both the Global Moran I index and the Getis-Ord Gi* index are employed to investigate the spatio-temporal evolution of China’s economic development from 1990 to 2010.Major conclusions can be drawn as follows.(1) China’s economic development is generally in the state of agglomeration.It entered the Primary Production Stage in 1990,and the Middle Industrialized Stage in 2010,with a ’balanced-unbalanced-gradually rebalanced’ pattern in the process.(2) China’s rapid economic growth experienced a spatial shift from the coastal areas to the the inland areas.Most advanced cities in mid-western China can be roughly categorized into regional hub cities and resource-dependent cities.(3) Hot spots in China’s economy moved northward and westward.The interactions between cities and prefectures became weaker in Eastern China,while cities and prefectures in Central and Western China were still at the stage of individual development,with limited effect on the surrounding cities.(4) While the overall growth rate of China’s economy has gradually slowed down during the past two decades,the growth rate of cities and prefectures in Central and Western China was much faster than those in coastal areas.(5) Areas rich in resources,such as Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia,have become the new hot spots of economic growth in recent years.For these regions,however,more attention needs to be paid to their unbalanced industrial structures and the lagging social development against the backdrop of the rapid economic growth,driven predominantly by the exploitation of resources.     

云南东北部拱王山末次冰期

1 Introduction The Gongwang mountains constitute one of the few high m ountains of irrefutable late Pleistocene glaciation in eastern China. This area is one of the m ost extensively studied Quaternary geologicallocationsin eastern China and the interpret…     

Determination of long-term strength of frozen loess after numerous freeze-thaw cycles

In order to determine the changing rule of long-term frozen soil strength and elucidate the connection between long-term strength and soil physical properties,frozen loess was subjected to 4,6,8,10,and 50 freeze-thaw cycles,under closed-state conditions in a constant-temperature box.The frozen samples were tested on a spherical template indenter,and the results show that under the effect of repeated freeze-thaw cycles,the long-term strength of frozen loess decreased; changes in the mechanical property indices were highly unstable during the first 10 cycles; the soil strength and density were the greatest at the eighth cycle while the void ratio was the smallest; and after eight cycles all of the indices had less fluctuation and certain rising or falling tendencies.By converting the number of freeze-thaw cycles into elapsed time in the tests,three different forecasting methods of long-term soil strength could be assessed and the soil equivalent cohesive force after 10 years,20 years,or 30 years could be estimated.     

GIS and DEM based analysis of incision and drainage reorganization of the Buyuan River basin in the upper Lancang-Mekong of China since the Late Pleistocene

River incision and drainage reorganization have an important impact on the site selection of many major projects including city,road and others,and are the key issues of Quaternary environmental changes.Studies of river incision and river-network adjustment have traditionally been based on extensive field evidence,such as sediment age and beheaded river system.The Buyuan River basin is a large sub-basin of the upper Lancang-Mekong,with high mountains and extremely active erosion.The latter affects the preservation of the Quaternary period sediments leading to difficulties in understanding the main evolution characteristics of the basin.This study investigates differences in the equilibrium state of the longitudinal profile,infers incision rates,and evaluates drainage divide migration timelines using the stream-power incision model,the latest morphological dating,and Chi-plots(χ–z) based on digital elevation models(DEMs) on the GIS software platform.The final results show that two significant erosion base-level decreases occurred in the Late Pleistocene at least.The incision rate of the mainstream might have been 0–2.99 mm/yr since 100 ka BP and 0–3.28 mm/yr since 46 ka BP.The Chi-values across the divides suggest that space limited(or constrained) river reorganization and that there is no severe reorganization in the basin;the imbalance of traceable erosion only exists in local areas.The main driving force for the geomorphologic evolution of the Buyuan River basin is likely climate fluctuations rather than strong tectonic uplift since the Late Pleistocene.     

Cenozoic Ephedraceae adaptation to global cooling in northwestern China

Ephedraceae has been applied largely as a drought indicator to reconstruct Cenozoic paleoenvironment and paleoclimate. However, temperature indication of Ephedraceae has been largely ignored. Here, we provide a record of Ephedraceae percentage spanning from the Early Eocene to Middle Miocene (52–17 Myr B.P.) in the Xining Basin, northeastern Tibetan Plateau. This record is comparable to a compiled Cenozoic Ephedraceae record from five other basins in northwestern China. Both records show Ephedraceae percentages were high during the Early Eocene, and decreased gradually from the Middle Eocene to Late Oligocene, then maintained a stable level since the Late Oligocene. By comparing these two Ephedraceae records with the marine oxygen isotope record, we discuss the variation of Ephedraceae percentage in Middle Cenozoic in response to global temperature change. Ephedraceae percentage was high in the Early Paleogene, associated with subtropical or tropical vegetation types in a global greenhouse climate, and decreased in Early Oligocene, associated with global cooling, suggesting that Ephedraceae is warm-tolerant during the Paleogene. The low Ephedraceae percentages in the Late Oligocene and Miocene were uncoupled with global warming, which may imply that Ephedraceae began to adapt to a eurythermic climate in the inland desert environment of western China. Such adaptation may be a response to the high topography of the Tibetan Plateau.     

The Quaternary faunas and climatic fluctuation in the tropical zone of China

About 70 examples of Quaternary fauna in China's tropics are enumerated in this paper. Of which about 40% of the examples can be found even in cooling stages, showing the smaller amplitude of climatic fluctuation during Quaternary. According to the temporal and spatial distribution of tropical faunas, the following characters of climate variation can be evidenced: two main cycles in Early Pleistocene, three main cycles in Middle Pleistocene, two main cycles in Late Pleistocene and Holocene Megathermal. The drop in temperature during the Latest Glacial Period and Neoglaciation has not endangered the existence of tropical faunas. With influence of cooling fluctuation during historical period, some faunas have removed southwards progressively, but disappearance of these animals in China's tropics was mainly the result of artificial factors.     

中国热带第四纪动物群与气候波动

中国热带第四纪动物群的70多个实例约有40%出现在冷期,反映气候波动幅度较小.动物群的时空分布可以佐证早更新世气候波动的2个主旋回、中更新世的3个主旋回、晚更新世的2个主旋回和全新世大暖期.末次冰期和新冰期未曾危及热带动物群的生存.历史时期的冷波动使动物逐步南迁,但其绝迹主要是受人为因素影响.     

中国热带珊瑚礁的第四纪气候记录

珊瑚礁剖面的氧碳同位素、地球化学、造礁珊瑚生长带等分析结果表明,珊瑚礁记录了第四纪气候波动的基本轮廓.早更新世总体趋暖,但至少有4个旋回.中更新世总体趋冷,但至少有7个旋回.晚更新世气候剧烈波动,但总体变化为两个前暖后冷的旋回.全新世为回暖-升温-降温的波动.历史时期约1 700 a来有4个前冷后暖的旋回.近200 a的气候波动表现为前百年正距平,后百年以负距平为主,但总体趋暖.     

The Quaternary climate records of coral reef in the tropical zone of China

The analysis results of oxygen isotopes, carbon isotopes, geochemistry and the growth belt of reef coral etc. for some profiles of coral reef show that the basic pattern of climatic fluctuation during the Quaternary period can be reflected by coral reef. The trend of climate change was from cooling to warming during the Early Pleistocene with at least four cycles, and from warming to cooling with at least seven cycles during the Middle Pleistocene. The late Pleistocene is a period of the Quaternary which shows the most frequent variation of climate but generally two main cycles of warming–cooling can be seen. During the Holocene the climate went through a process of warming-rise in temperature-drop in temperature. During the historical period there were four cycles of cooling-warming at 1700 a BP. During the last 200 years climate change is characterized by two stages; a positive deviation in the former 100 years, and a negative deviation in the latter 100 years with general warming trend.     

Geomorphological effects of plate movement during Quaternary in China'' s tropics

China'stropicsliesintheregionsouthofabout24oN,occupyinganareaofabout51.85×104km2(5.4%ofChina).InChina,thistropicalregionisquiteclosetotheeasternandwesternconvergentboundariesbetweentwoplatessothatthegeomorphologicaleffectsofplatetectonicsaremoreobviousthanthoseinnorthernChina.Thisstudywillpresentsevenexamplesofappearanceofplatemovementingeomorphology.1ThesourceoftectonicforceTheregionofChina'stropicsundergoesconvergingattackfromeasternandwestern"fronts"ofplatemovement.Thewesternfrontofther…     

中国热带西部历史时期气候波动

夏代至清代约4000 a的历史时期,中国热带西部的气候波动比热带东部微弱。东部的5个冷期之中,周、战国至西汉、晋、唐末至南宋冷期,在西部仅有个别冷波动的实例,反而可以举出较多的暖波动现象。明清小冰期东、西部基本同步。东部的3个暖期(汉、唐、元明)在西部也有相应的表现。中国热带历史时期的冷波动与太阳活动的平静期有一定的相关。热带东、西部气候波动的差异,主要是由于东部受东亚季风的影响,而西部则受南亚季风的影响。     

Geomorphological effects of plate movement during Quaternary in China’s tropics

The eastern and western fronts of plate movement in Taiwan Island and Tibetan Plateau respectively are the two major sources of tectonic force for the morphogensis during Quaternary in China’s tropics. Seven examples of geomorphological effects of plate movement are enumerated to discuss the differentiation of tectonic landforms in space and time during Quaternary. The tectonic movement tends to be more active since middle Pleistocene. Some phenomena such as the arc-shape mountain systems, volcanism and crustal deformation imply that the juncture zone of eastern and western tectonic forces is located at about 110oE.     

Geomorphological effects of plate movemen during Quaternary in China＇s tropics

The eastern and western fronts of plate movement in Taiwan Island and Tibetan Plateau respectively are the two major sources of tectonic force for the morphogensis during Quaternary in China’s tropics. Seven examples of geomorphological effects of plate movement are enumerated to discuss the differentiation of tectonic landforms in space and time during Quaternary. The tectonic movement tends to be more active since middle Pleistocene. Some phenomena such as the arc-shape mountain systems, volcanism and crustal deformation imply that the juncture zone of eastern and western tectonic forces is located at about 110°E.     

中国热带第四纪板块运动的地貌效应

The eastern and western fronts of plate movement in Taiwan Island and Tibetan Plateau respectively are the two major sources of tectonic force for the morphogensis during Quaternary in China′s tropics. Seven examples of geomorphological effects of plate movement are enumerated to discuss the differentiation of tectonic landforms in space and time during Quaternary. The tectonic movement tends to be more active since middle Pleistocene. Some phenomena such as the arc-shape mountain systems, volcanism and crustal deformation imply that the juncture zone of eastern and western tectonic forces is located at about 1 1O°E.