Runoff Responses to Climate Change in Arid Region of Northwestern China During 1960-2010

Based on runoff, air temperature, and precipitation data from 1960 to 2010, the effects of climate change on water resources in the arid region of the northwestern China were investigated. The long-term trends of hydroclimatic variables were studied by using both Mann-Kendall test and distributed-free cumulative sum （CUSUM） chart test. Results indicate that the mean annual air temperature increases significantly from 1960 to 2010. The annual precipitation exhibits an increasing trend, especially in the south slope of the Tianshan Mountains and the North Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang in the study period. Step changes occur in 1988 in the mean annual air temperature time series and in 1991 in the precipitation time series. The runoff in different basins shows different trends, i.e., significantly increasing in the Kaidu River, the Aksu River and the Shule River, and decreasing in the Shiyang River. Correlation analy- sis reveals that the runoff in the North Xinjiang （i.e., the Weigan River, the Heihe River, and the Shiyang River） has a strong positive relationship with rainfall, while that in the south slope of the Tianshan Mountains, the middle section of the north slope of the Tianshan Mountains and the Shule River has a strong positive relationship with air temperature. The trends of rtmoff have strong negative correla- tions with glacier coverage and the proportion of glacier water in runoff. From the late 1980s, the climate has become warm and wet in the arid region of the northwestern China. The change in runoff is interacted with air temperature, precipitation and glacier coverage. The results show that streamflow in the arid region of the northwestern China is sensitive to climate change, which can be used as a reference for regional water resource assessment and management.

Zircon SHRIMP U-Pb geochronology of the Neoproterozoic Chengjiang Formation in central Yunnan Province(SW China) and its geological significance

The Chengjiang Formation is the earliest continental clastic deposit after the Jinning Orogeny in central Yunnan Province,and therefore its accurate depositional age is significant for understanding the formation and evolution of the Neoproterozoic rift basins in southern China.However,hampered by accuracy of the dating technique,the existing age data for the Chengjiang Formation are not very reliable.A large number of magmatic zircons were obtained from the tuff interbed in the lower part of the Chengjiang Formation in Jinyang area and the bottom part of the Chengjiang Formation in Dongchuan area,central Yunnan Province,and high-precision SHRIMP U-Pb dating was carried out on these zircons.The results show that the weighted mean 206 Pb/238 U ages are 797.8±8.2 and 803.1±8.7 Ma respectively.In combination with related geological evidence,it has been demonstrated that the bottom boundary age of the Chengjiang Formation should be 800±5 Ma,whereas the top boundary age could be ca 725 Ma.By synthetically analyzing the latest age data for the relevant strata,it has been confirmed that the Chengjiang Formation should be correlated with the Suxiong Formation and the Kaijianqiao Formation in western Sichuan Province,the Liantuo Formation in the middle and lower Yangtze,the Hongchicun Formation and the Shangshu Formation in northern Zhejiang Province,the Puling Formation in southern Anhui Province,the Luokedong Formation and the Majianqiao Formation in northwestern Jiangxi Province,the Wuqiangxi Formation in northwestern Hunan Province,the Fanzhao Formation and the Qingshuijiang Formation in southeastern Guizhou Province,and the Sanmenjie Formation and the Gongdong Formation in northern Guangxi Province.Sedimentary cycle analysis shows that the sedimentary filling sequence of the Neoproterozoic rift basins in southern China can be divided into four cycles.Among them,Cycle II began at ca.800 Ma,accompanied by intensive tectonic-thermal events.The zircon U-Pb ages from the bottom of the Chengjiang Formation reported in this paper indicate that the Neoproterozoic Kangdian rift subbasin probably started to develop at ca.800 Ma and therefore missed Cycle I of the Neoproterozoic sedimentary filling sequence in southern China.