Methods Development for the Optical Determination of the Black Carbon Content of Loess Samples

We evaluate the applicability of an optical transmission measurement method commonly used for the analysis of the Black Carbon (BC) content of aerosol sample, to determine the BC content of loess sediments. A number of different sample pretreatment procedures are developed and compared, leading to an optimum preparation process. The results include: 1) Subtraction of the optical attenuation values before and after heating of the sample filters (“ΔATN”) varies linearly with the sample mass. The slope of the regression line provides the best determination of BC concentration. 2) When the sample mass is small, (NaPO3)6 pretreatment is best for BC measurement, and the BC concentration results are given by the slope of the regression between ΔATN and sample mass, for a series of samples of varying mass. 3) HF pretreatment accompanied by centrifugation and rinsing may produce a negative bias on the result. 4) Replicate measurements of BC for loess samples showed a maximum deviation less than 5.6%, suggesting that measurements of the BC concentration of a sequence of loess samples could determine variations to this degree of significance. 5) The overall trends of BC concentration in loess section sequences were similar for all chemical pretreatments. The BC concentration result for replicate samples is comparable when pretreated by the same procedure.

Relationship between the rise and fall of Loulan ancient city and centennial-scale climate events and cycles

The discovery of Loulan ancient city(LA)in the early 20th century has important significance for understanding the history of Western regions and the Silk Road civilization.The current academic community still has disputes on whether LA was the capital of Loulan Kingdom,the time of its rise,peak and decline,and the process,rate and driving mechanism of human activity change.This study uses the radio carbon dates(^(14)C)database of LA to reconstruct the history of the rise and fall of human activity,and finds that LA experienced more than~500 years from its rise to its peak and then to its decline:1)the city rose rapidly,and the population increased rapidly from~A.D.0 to 230;2)the city was prosperous and flourishing,and the intensity of human activity reached its peak from~A.D.160 to 340,especially in~A.D.230,when the population reached its peak;3)the city accelerated its decline,and the intensity of human activity decreased significantly,and the population shrank rapidly from~A.D.230 to 500;4)LA was completely abandoned after~A.D.560.The results of the ^(14)C dating database do not support that LA was the early capital of the Loulan Kingdom.By comparing the human activity record of LA with the existing high-resolution palaeoclimate records in the surrounding mountainous areas of the Tarim Basin and South Asia,it is found that the superposition of centennial-scale westerly circulation strength events and the~500-year cycle of the Indian monsoon jointly controlled the precipitation and meltwater(snow)supply of the mountains in the Tarim Basin,affecting the changes of surface runoff and oasis area in the basin,which is one of the important factors causing the rise and fall of LA.

Bioptical microcycles of laminated speleothems from China and their chronological significance

Interfaces of microlayers, in most stalagmites from China, consist of opaque and organic materials. Observed with microscope, the interfaces seem dark under transmitted light and luminiferous under reflected fluorescent light. Stalagmites in which the two optical characters are unified spatially would be most suitable for cross-dating use, and can play an important role in the study on speleochronology and speleoclimatology.

Distribution Characteristics of Geohazards Induced by the Lushan Earthquake and Their Comparisons with the Wenchuan Earthquake

The Lushan Earthquake induced a large number of geohazards. They are widely distributed and caused serious damages. The basic characteristics, formation mechanisms and typical cases of geohazards induced by Lushan Earthquake are described, and compares to the relationships of Lushan and Wenchuan earthquakes between geohazards and earthquake magnitude, geomorphology, slope angle, elevation and seismic intensity in the most affected areas in the article.（1） The numbers and volumes of landslides and rockslides differ significantly between the two earthquakes due to their differing magnitudes. The Lushan Earthquake is associated with fewer and smaller-magnitude geohazards, within the immediate area, which mainly consist of small-and medium-sized shallow landslides and rockslides, and occur on steep slopes and mountain valleys. The largest landslide induced by Lushan Earthquake is the Gangoutou Landslide debris flow with a residual volume of about 2.48×106 m3. The most dangerous debris flow is at Lengmugou gulley in Baoxing County, which has similar geomorphological features and disaster modes as a previous disaster in Zhouqu County, Gansu Province.（2） Geohazards induced by the Lushan Earthquake show four mechanisms： cracking-rockslides-collision- scraping and then debris flows, cracking-rockslides, vibration-rainfall-rockslides-landslide and then debris flow, vibration-throwing or scrolling.（3） There are significant similarities and differences between the geohazards induced by these two earthquakes. The types of geohazards are the same but the volume, quantity and other factors differ： geohazards are concentrated on slope angles of 10°-40° in the Lushan Earthquake area, especially within 10°-20°, and at absolute elevation of 500-2000 m above sea level（a.s.l.）. Geohazards within the Wenchuan Earthquake area are concentrated on steeper slope angles of 30°-40° at higher absolute elevations of 1500-2000 m.s.l..

Human activity during the late Pleistocene in the Lop Nur region, northwest China： Evidence from a buried stone artifact

The Lop Nur region, in the east part of Tarim Basin, was an important transportation junction between west and east,north and south Eurasia. However, previous studies on prehistoric human activity have concentrated mostly on the Bronze Age,whereas that during the Stone Age remains largely unresearched. Here, we present a new direct evidence of human activity in the late Pleistocene, recorded on a grinding stone buried in a lacustrine sediment section of the Lop Nur region. The grain size distribution of the sediment section indicates that the site was probably in the center of a lake with weak hydrodynamic environment. Therefore, the stone artifact can only be carried to here by people instead of river and it was never move as soon as left here. Results of radiocarbon dating, the evident stratigraphic relations between the stone artifact and the sedimentary formation, indicate that the human activity could extend to approximately 13 ka BP. Furthermore, the results of starch-grain and use-wear analyses suggest that ancient humans gathered seeds of Triticeae, roots, and tubers and used the grinding stone to simply process selected plant as plant foodstuffs during this period. It implies that the environmental conditions in the river delta of the Lop Nur were inhabitable during the late Pleistocene.

Preliminary study on climatic signals of stable isotopes from Holocene speleothems under monsoon condition

Within the East Asian monsoon zone the change in oxygen isotope of Holocene stalagmite is mainly related to monsoon rain rather than to temperature. And carbon isotope can be taken as a comprehensive signal which contains the natural information and the information of anthropogenic activity. Isotopic analysis is also compared with the annual layer records.