The article presents the composition and current state of poisonous plants distributed on the Ustyurt plateau. Ustyurt is one of the largest deserts in Central Asia, differing from other deserts of the world in geogra...The article presents the composition and current state of poisonous plants distributed on the Ustyurt plateau. Ustyurt is one of the largest deserts in Central Asia, differing from other deserts of the world in geographical location, relief, flora and fauna and other features. The territory of Ustyurt occupies 21.3 million hectares, of which the Karakalpak part accounts for 7.2 million hectares. Poisonous alkaloid-bearing plants of the Karakalpak part of the Ustyurt plateau Anabasis aphylla, Atriplex flabellum, Kalidium capsicum, Salsola arbusculaeformis, Salsola foliosa, Aellenia subaphylla, Anabasis brachiata, Rheum tataricum, Capparis spinosa, Glycyrrhiza aspera. Alkaloid-bearing plants that are not eaten or poorly eaten by cattle Ephedra distachya, Delphinium songaricum, Anabasis salsa, alkaloid-bearing plants eaten by animals without harm Carex physodes, Eremopyrum orientale, Agrophyllum repens, Astragalus amodendron, Astragalus villosissimus, species of the genera Calligonum, Salsola. Poisonous plants of the Karakalpak part of the Ustyurt plateau. An analysis of the pasture flora of the Karakalpak part of the Ustyurt plateau shows that 62 species of wild poisonous plants belonging to 49 genera and 19 families grow here. Although these plants are considered poisonous, but in modern pharmaceutics and medicine, they are used as medicinal.展开更多
Most remote sensing studies assess the desertification using vegetation monitoring method. But it has the insufficient precision of vegetation monitoring for the limited vegetation cover of the desertification region....Most remote sensing studies assess the desertification using vegetation monitoring method. But it has the insufficient precision of vegetation monitoring for the limited vegetation cover of the desertification region. Therefore, it offers an alternative approach for the desertificafon research to assess sand dune and sandy land change using remote sensing in the desertification region. In this study, the indices derived from the well-known tasseled cap transformation （TCT）, tasseled cap angle （TCA）, disturbance index （DI）, process indicator （PI）, and topsoil grain size index （TGSI） were integrated to monitor and assess the desertification at the thirteen study sites including sand dunes and sandy lands distributed in the Mongolian Plateau （MP） from 2000 to 2015. A decision tree was used to classify the desertification on a regional scale. The average overall accuracy of 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015 desertification classification was higher than 90%. Results from this study indicated that integration of the advantages of TCA, DI and TGSI could better assess the desertification. During the last 16 years, Badain Jaran Desert, Tengger Desert, and Ulan Buh Desert showed a relative stabilization. Otindag Sandy Land and the deserts of Khar Nuur, Ereen Nuur, Tsagan Nuur, Khongoryn Els, Hobq, and Mu Us showed a slow increasing of desertification, whereas Bayan Gobi, Horqin and Hulun Buir sandy lands showed a slow decreasing of desertification. Compared with the other 11 sites, the fine sand dunes occupied the majority of the Tengger Desert, and the coarse sandy land occupied the majority of the Horqin Sandy Land. Our findings on a three or four years＇ periodical fluctuated changes in the desertification may possibly reflect changing precipitation and soil moisture in the MR Further work to link the TCA, DI, TGSI, and PI values with the desertification characteristics is recommended to set the thresholds and improve the assessment accuracy with field investigation.展开更多
The Badain Jaran Desert is the third largest desert in China,covering an area of 50000 km2.It lies in Northwest China,where the arid and rainless natural environment has a great impact on the climate,environment,and h...The Badain Jaran Desert is the third largest desert in China,covering an area of 50000 km2.It lies in Northwest China,where the arid and rainless natural environment has a great impact on the climate,environment,and human living conditions.Based on the results of 1∶250000 regional hydrogeological surveys and previous researches,this study systematically investigates the circulation characteristics and resource properties of the groundwater as well as the evolution of the climate and ecological environment since the Quaternary in the Badain Jaran Desert by means of geophysical exploration,hydrogeological drilling,hydrogeochemistry,and isotopic tracing.The results are as follows.(1)The groundwater in the Badain Jaran Desert is mainly recharged through the infiltration of local precipitation and has poor renewability.The groundwater recharge in the desert was calculated to be 1.8684×10^(8)m^(3)/a using the water balance method.(2)The Badain Jaran Desert has experienced four humid stages since the Quaternary,namely MIS 13-15,MIS 5,MIS 3,and the Early‒Middle Holocene,but the climate in the desert has shown a trend towards aridity overall.The average annual temperature in the Badain Jaran Desert has significantly increased in the past 50 years.In detail,it has increased by about 2.5℃,with a higher rate in the south than in the north.Meanwhile,the precipitation amount has shown high spatial variability and the climate has shown a warming-drying trend in the past 50 years.(3)The lakes in the hinterland of the Badain Jaran Desert continuously shrank during 1973‒2015.However,the vegetation communities maintained a highly natural distribution during 2000‒2016,with the vegetation cover has increased overall.Accordingly,the Badain Jaran Desert did not show any notable expansion in that period.This study deepens the understanding of groundwater circulation and the climate and ecological evolution in the Badain Jaran Desert.It will provide a scientific basis for the rational exploitation of the groundwater resources and the ecological protection and restoration in the Badain Jaran Desert.展开更多
Monitoring rock desert formation caused by two different origins(ice-snow melting and drying)through remote sensing is crucial to our understanding of the interaction between the underlying surface of different rock d...Monitoring rock desert formation caused by two different origins(ice-snow melting and drying)through remote sensing is crucial to our understanding of the interaction between the underlying surface of different rock desert and land-atmosphere types,as well as the relationship between bare land and soil erosion.A number of achievements have been made in remote sensing monitoring of desert areas,but there is a lack of accurate classification and remote sensing identification of rock desert types based on formation mechanism.In this study,the north and south sides of the eastern Kunlun Mountains in the northern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of China were taken as the study areas.Landsat operational landscape imager,digital elevation model,and precipitation and temperature grid data were used as data sources.By identifying the bare areas based on the normalized difference vegetation index(NDVI),we used the multi-element fusion method of contours,isotherms,and isohyets to identify the rock desert types in the ice-snow melting and dry areas.The results showed that:(1)the rock desert areas identified by remote sensing based on topographic and meteorological elements were highly accurate,with an overall accuracy of 88.45%and kappa coefficient of 0.77.The multi-element fusion method of contours,isotherms,and isohyets could effectively identify the rock desert types in the ice-snow melting and dry areas;(2)the optimal segmentation range of the ice-snow melting and dry areas was 3600 m contour,-2°C-2°C isotherms,and 100-130 mm isohyets.The areas with elevation less than 3600 m,annual average temperature higher than 2°C,and average annual precipitation less than 100 mm were rock desert in the dry areas.The range of-2°C-2°C isotherms and 100-130 mm isohyets was the transition area between the ice-snow melting and dry areas.The areas with elevation higher than 3600 m,annual average temperature less than-2°C,and average annual precipitation higher than 130 mm were rock desert in the ice-snow melting areas;and(3)the identification accuracy of the bare areas based on the NDVI method was better,specifically,the identification accuracy of plain bare areas was generally better than that of mountain bare areas.The remote sensing identification method considers not only the topographic factors that have great influence on the spatial distribution of the two types of rock desert areas,but also the meteorological factors,which can provide a scientific reference for the effective identification of the two types of rock desert areas.展开更多
According to the field investigation, observation by an electronic microscope and x-ray identification and chemical analysis, desert-steppe migration in the Loess Plateau at about 450 kaBP was studied. The data show t...According to the field investigation, observation by an electronic microscope and x-ray identification and chemical analysis, desert-steppe migration in the Loess Plateau at about 450 kaBP was studied. The data show that gypsum illuvial horizon indicating the desert-steppe environment developed in the early stage of the formation of the fifth layer loess in Shaoling tableland in Chang'an and Bailu tableland in Xi'an of Shaanxi are situated in the southern Loess Plateau. This indicates that remarkable drying occurred, a large-scope migration of desert steppe took place toward south and the climate zone migrated 5 degrees in latitude to south which is the largest migration range indicated by geochemical indexes. The desert-steppe and more wild environment distributed widely on the Loess Plateau at that time. The development of gypsum also indicates that the climate changed at 450 kaBP from monsoon climate to nonmonsoon climate in the Loess Plateau, and the region was not affected by summer monsoon and was in the cold and dry environment of nonmonsoon climate. Annual mean precipitation was about 200 mm, 400 mm less at that time than at present.展开更多
In Middle December,Plateau Desert Area Strategic Mineral Exploration and Development Technology Innovation Center of Ministry of Natural Resources was officially opened in Xining,Qinghai.The Center was co-applied and ...In Middle December,Plateau Desert Area Strategic Mineral Exploration and Development Technology Innovation Center of Ministry of Natural Resources was officially opened in Xining,Qinghai.The Center was co-applied and co-constructed by Qinghai Provincial Geological Survey Bureau,Qinghai Salt Lake Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences,and Qinghai Yellow River Mining Co.,Ltd.As the first Technology Innovation Center of the Ministry of Natural Resources approved by Qinghai Provincial Natural Resources System,the Center aims to provide scientific basis for comprehensively promoting the implementation of a new round of breakthrough strategy in mineral exploration.展开更多
Calc-sintersdistributed in the middle of lakes and rhizoconcretions scattered at the slopes of sand dunes were observed during three explorations to the Badain Jaran Desert in the past two years. Wet sands were also f...Calc-sintersdistributed in the middle of lakes and rhizoconcretions scattered at the slopes of sand dunes were observed during three explorations to the Badain Jaran Desert in the past two years. Wet sands were also found underneath the dry surface sand layers of about 20-50 cm in thickness. The geochemical parameters were measured on minerals and water samples collected from the Badain Jaran Desert and neighboring areas. The results show that the water system in the desert may be recharged from the groundwater originating from the precipitation of the Qilian Mountains and/or the Tibetan Plateau rather than the local rainfalls.展开更多
The seasonal dynamics of soil respiration in steppe （S. bungeana）, desert shrub （A. ordosica）, and shrubperennial （A. ordosica ＋C. komarovii） communities were investigated during the growth season （May to Octo...The seasonal dynamics of soil respiration in steppe （S. bungeana）, desert shrub （A. ordosica）, and shrubperennial （A. ordosica ＋C. komarovii） communities were investigated during the growth season （May to October） in 2006; their environmental driving factors were also analyzed. In the three communities, soil respiration showed similar characteristics in their growth seasons, with peak respiration values in July and August owing to suitable temperature and soil moisture conditions during this period. Meanwhile, changes in soil respiration were greatly influenced by temperatures and surface soil moistures. Soil water content at a depth of 0 to 10 cm was identified as the key environmental factor affecting the variation in soil respiration in the steppe. In contrast, in desert shrub and shrub-perennial communities, the dynamics of soil respiration was significantly influenced by air temperature. Similarly, the various responses of soil respiration to environmental factors may be attributed to the different soil textures and distribution patterns of plant roots. In desert ecosystems, precipitation results in soil respiration pulses. Soil carbon dioxide （CO2） effluxes greatly increased after rainfall rewetting in all of the ecosystems under study. However, the precipitation pulse effect differed across the ecosystem. We propose that this may be a result of a reverse effect from the soil texture.展开更多
The global climatic change study is a hot point today.As the pattern of the general circulation of the atmosphere is the key factor for climate,the reconstruction of the pattern of the past general circulation of the ...The global climatic change study is a hot point today.As the pattern of the general circulation of the atmosphere is the key factor for climate,the reconstruction of the pattern of the past general circulation of the atmosphere has become important part of the global climatic change study.The paleowind belts are the comprising part of the past general circulation of the atmosphere and also the records of the circulation,therefore,their reconstruction will be helpful to the reconstruction of the general circulation of the atmosphere.In present years,the pattern of the general circulation of the atmosphere has attracted great concern from scientists.For example,Zhang Linyuan and Liu Dongsheng, based on the existence and inexistence of the Tibetan Plateau and paleogeography,divide the evolution of the general circulation of the atmosphere in eastern asia into two stages:the planetary wind stage before the uplift of the plateau and the monsoon stage after the uplift of the plateau which is subdivided into ancient monsoon and modern monsoon stages.While Dong Guangrong et al., Jiang Xinsheng et al. and Cooke et al, based on the latitudinal distribution of the Cretaceous and Tertiary deserts and the generation of arid climate,suggest that there was a subtropical high pressure zone across the eastern asia and was a planetary wind system,but have not found any direct record of the circulation.It is true that before the Early Tertiary,not only organism, but also inorganism,i.e.,biogeography and lithogeography, show strong zonal distribution.It can only indicate that zonal climate was evident at that time.Of course, as the climate is the result of the influences on the ground by zones of the circulation,it is reasonable to deduce the existence of zonal circulation,i.e. the the existence of the planetary wind system,from the zonal climate.But it would be much better if direct record of planetary wind system were found.Prevailing winds are the main geological agent for a desert which must leave deep stamps on the desert.The stamps on modern desert are reflected by dune migrating directions and on paleodesert by foreset dip directions..It is the most direct geological record for reconstructing paleowind belts and has been extensively used to reconstruct paleowind belts,paleogeography,paleoclimate and even to check the paleolatitude determined by paleomagnetism (for example, Opdyke and Runcorn, 1960; Creer, 1958; Pook, 1962; Bigarella and Salamuni,1961).展开更多
文摘The article presents the composition and current state of poisonous plants distributed on the Ustyurt plateau. Ustyurt is one of the largest deserts in Central Asia, differing from other deserts of the world in geographical location, relief, flora and fauna and other features. The territory of Ustyurt occupies 21.3 million hectares, of which the Karakalpak part accounts for 7.2 million hectares. Poisonous alkaloid-bearing plants of the Karakalpak part of the Ustyurt plateau Anabasis aphylla, Atriplex flabellum, Kalidium capsicum, Salsola arbusculaeformis, Salsola foliosa, Aellenia subaphylla, Anabasis brachiata, Rheum tataricum, Capparis spinosa, Glycyrrhiza aspera. Alkaloid-bearing plants that are not eaten or poorly eaten by cattle Ephedra distachya, Delphinium songaricum, Anabasis salsa, alkaloid-bearing plants eaten by animals without harm Carex physodes, Eremopyrum orientale, Agrophyllum repens, Astragalus amodendron, Astragalus villosissimus, species of the genera Calligonum, Salsola. Poisonous plants of the Karakalpak part of the Ustyurt plateau. An analysis of the pasture flora of the Karakalpak part of the Ustyurt plateau shows that 62 species of wild poisonous plants belonging to 49 genera and 19 families grow here. Although these plants are considered poisonous, but in modern pharmaceutics and medicine, they are used as medicinal.
基金supported by the Innovation Project of State Key of Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System (O88RA20CYA)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41671422)+1 种基金the International Cooperation in Science and Technology Special Project (2013DFA91700)the National Science-Technology Support Plan Project (2013BAD05B03)
文摘Most remote sensing studies assess the desertification using vegetation monitoring method. But it has the insufficient precision of vegetation monitoring for the limited vegetation cover of the desertification region. Therefore, it offers an alternative approach for the desertificafon research to assess sand dune and sandy land change using remote sensing in the desertification region. In this study, the indices derived from the well-known tasseled cap transformation （TCT）, tasseled cap angle （TCA）, disturbance index （DI）, process indicator （PI）, and topsoil grain size index （TGSI） were integrated to monitor and assess the desertification at the thirteen study sites including sand dunes and sandy lands distributed in the Mongolian Plateau （MP） from 2000 to 2015. A decision tree was used to classify the desertification on a regional scale. The average overall accuracy of 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015 desertification classification was higher than 90%. Results from this study indicated that integration of the advantages of TCA, DI and TGSI could better assess the desertification. During the last 16 years, Badain Jaran Desert, Tengger Desert, and Ulan Buh Desert showed a relative stabilization. Otindag Sandy Land and the deserts of Khar Nuur, Ereen Nuur, Tsagan Nuur, Khongoryn Els, Hobq, and Mu Us showed a slow increasing of desertification, whereas Bayan Gobi, Horqin and Hulun Buir sandy lands showed a slow decreasing of desertification. Compared with the other 11 sites, the fine sand dunes occupied the majority of the Tengger Desert, and the coarse sandy land occupied the majority of the Horqin Sandy Land. Our findings on a three or four years＇ periodical fluctuated changes in the desertification may possibly reflect changing precipitation and soil moisture in the MR Further work to link the TCA, DI, TGSI, and PI values with the desertification characteristics is recommended to set the thresholds and improve the assessment accuracy with field investigation.
基金This research was funded by projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China(41702285)the National Geological Survey Project(121201106000150093)+1 种基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China(41807214)the Fundamental Scientific Research Funds from the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences(No.SK202011).
文摘The Badain Jaran Desert is the third largest desert in China,covering an area of 50000 km2.It lies in Northwest China,where the arid and rainless natural environment has a great impact on the climate,environment,and human living conditions.Based on the results of 1∶250000 regional hydrogeological surveys and previous researches,this study systematically investigates the circulation characteristics and resource properties of the groundwater as well as the evolution of the climate and ecological environment since the Quaternary in the Badain Jaran Desert by means of geophysical exploration,hydrogeological drilling,hydrogeochemistry,and isotopic tracing.The results are as follows.(1)The groundwater in the Badain Jaran Desert is mainly recharged through the infiltration of local precipitation and has poor renewability.The groundwater recharge in the desert was calculated to be 1.8684×10^(8)m^(3)/a using the water balance method.(2)The Badain Jaran Desert has experienced four humid stages since the Quaternary,namely MIS 13-15,MIS 5,MIS 3,and the Early‒Middle Holocene,but the climate in the desert has shown a trend towards aridity overall.The average annual temperature in the Badain Jaran Desert has significantly increased in the past 50 years.In detail,it has increased by about 2.5℃,with a higher rate in the south than in the north.Meanwhile,the precipitation amount has shown high spatial variability and the climate has shown a warming-drying trend in the past 50 years.(3)The lakes in the hinterland of the Badain Jaran Desert continuously shrank during 1973‒2015.However,the vegetation communities maintained a highly natural distribution during 2000‒2016,with the vegetation cover has increased overall.Accordingly,the Badain Jaran Desert did not show any notable expansion in that period.This study deepens the understanding of groundwater circulation and the climate and ecological evolution in the Badain Jaran Desert.It will provide a scientific basis for the rational exploitation of the groundwater resources and the ecological protection and restoration in the Badain Jaran Desert.
基金the Natural Science Foundation of Qinghai Province of China(2021-ZJ-905)the Second Qinghai-Tibet Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program of China(2019QZKK0606).
文摘Monitoring rock desert formation caused by two different origins(ice-snow melting and drying)through remote sensing is crucial to our understanding of the interaction between the underlying surface of different rock desert and land-atmosphere types,as well as the relationship between bare land and soil erosion.A number of achievements have been made in remote sensing monitoring of desert areas,but there is a lack of accurate classification and remote sensing identification of rock desert types based on formation mechanism.In this study,the north and south sides of the eastern Kunlun Mountains in the northern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of China were taken as the study areas.Landsat operational landscape imager,digital elevation model,and precipitation and temperature grid data were used as data sources.By identifying the bare areas based on the normalized difference vegetation index(NDVI),we used the multi-element fusion method of contours,isotherms,and isohyets to identify the rock desert types in the ice-snow melting and dry areas.The results showed that:(1)the rock desert areas identified by remote sensing based on topographic and meteorological elements were highly accurate,with an overall accuracy of 88.45%and kappa coefficient of 0.77.The multi-element fusion method of contours,isotherms,and isohyets could effectively identify the rock desert types in the ice-snow melting and dry areas;(2)the optimal segmentation range of the ice-snow melting and dry areas was 3600 m contour,-2°C-2°C isotherms,and 100-130 mm isohyets.The areas with elevation less than 3600 m,annual average temperature higher than 2°C,and average annual precipitation less than 100 mm were rock desert in the dry areas.The range of-2°C-2°C isotherms and 100-130 mm isohyets was the transition area between the ice-snow melting and dry areas.The areas with elevation higher than 3600 m,annual average temperature less than-2°C,and average annual precipitation higher than 130 mm were rock desert in the ice-snow melting areas;and(3)the identification accuracy of the bare areas based on the NDVI method was better,specifically,the identification accuracy of plain bare areas was generally better than that of mountain bare areas.The remote sensing identification method considers not only the topographic factors that have great influence on the spatial distribution of the two types of rock desert areas,but also the meteorological factors,which can provide a scientific reference for the effective identification of the two types of rock desert areas.
基金State Key Discipline Project of Shaanxi Normal University No.SNNUHG04007+1 种基金 Key Project of the Educational Ministry No.01JAZJD770014
文摘According to the field investigation, observation by an electronic microscope and x-ray identification and chemical analysis, desert-steppe migration in the Loess Plateau at about 450 kaBP was studied. The data show that gypsum illuvial horizon indicating the desert-steppe environment developed in the early stage of the formation of the fifth layer loess in Shaoling tableland in Chang'an and Bailu tableland in Xi'an of Shaanxi are situated in the southern Loess Plateau. This indicates that remarkable drying occurred, a large-scope migration of desert steppe took place toward south and the climate zone migrated 5 degrees in latitude to south which is the largest migration range indicated by geochemical indexes. The desert-steppe and more wild environment distributed widely on the Loess Plateau at that time. The development of gypsum also indicates that the climate changed at 450 kaBP from monsoon climate to nonmonsoon climate in the Loess Plateau, and the region was not affected by summer monsoon and was in the cold and dry environment of nonmonsoon climate. Annual mean precipitation was about 200 mm, 400 mm less at that time than at present.
文摘In Middle December,Plateau Desert Area Strategic Mineral Exploration and Development Technology Innovation Center of Ministry of Natural Resources was officially opened in Xining,Qinghai.The Center was co-applied and co-constructed by Qinghai Provincial Geological Survey Bureau,Qinghai Salt Lake Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Sciences,and Qinghai Yellow River Mining Co.,Ltd.As the first Technology Innovation Center of the Ministry of Natural Resources approved by Qinghai Provincial Natural Resources System,the Center aims to provide scientific basis for comprehensively promoting the implementation of a new round of breakthrough strategy in mineral exploration.
基金This work is jointly supported by the TC item of LAEA(CPR/8/015)Academician Foundation of Hohai University(2002/05)as.well as the National Natural Science Foundation of China(40442001).
文摘Calc-sintersdistributed in the middle of lakes and rhizoconcretions scattered at the slopes of sand dunes were observed during three explorations to the Badain Jaran Desert in the past two years. Wet sands were also found underneath the dry surface sand layers of about 20-50 cm in thickness. The geochemical parameters were measured on minerals and water samples collected from the Badain Jaran Desert and neighboring areas. The results show that the water system in the desert may be recharged from the groundwater originating from the precipitation of the Qilian Mountains and/or the Tibetan Plateau rather than the local rainfalls.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos. 40730105, 40501072, and 40673067)the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant Nos.2007BAC03A11 and 2002CB412503)+1 种基金The Knowledge Innovation Program of the Institute of Geographical SciencesNatural Resources Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (The effect of human activities on re-gional environmental quality, health risk, and environmen-tal remediation)
文摘The seasonal dynamics of soil respiration in steppe （S. bungeana）, desert shrub （A. ordosica）, and shrubperennial （A. ordosica ＋C. komarovii） communities were investigated during the growth season （May to October） in 2006; their environmental driving factors were also analyzed. In the three communities, soil respiration showed similar characteristics in their growth seasons, with peak respiration values in July and August owing to suitable temperature and soil moisture conditions during this period. Meanwhile, changes in soil respiration were greatly influenced by temperatures and surface soil moistures. Soil water content at a depth of 0 to 10 cm was identified as the key environmental factor affecting the variation in soil respiration in the steppe. In contrast, in desert shrub and shrub-perennial communities, the dynamics of soil respiration was significantly influenced by air temperature. Similarly, the various responses of soil respiration to environmental factors may be attributed to the different soil textures and distribution patterns of plant roots. In desert ecosystems, precipitation results in soil respiration pulses. Soil carbon dioxide （CO2） effluxes greatly increased after rainfall rewetting in all of the ecosystems under study. However, the precipitation pulse effect differed across the ecosystem. We propose that this may be a result of a reverse effect from the soil texture.
文摘The global climatic change study is a hot point today.As the pattern of the general circulation of the atmosphere is the key factor for climate,the reconstruction of the pattern of the past general circulation of the atmosphere has become important part of the global climatic change study.The paleowind belts are the comprising part of the past general circulation of the atmosphere and also the records of the circulation,therefore,their reconstruction will be helpful to the reconstruction of the general circulation of the atmosphere.In present years,the pattern of the general circulation of the atmosphere has attracted great concern from scientists.For example,Zhang Linyuan and Liu Dongsheng, based on the existence and inexistence of the Tibetan Plateau and paleogeography,divide the evolution of the general circulation of the atmosphere in eastern asia into two stages:the planetary wind stage before the uplift of the plateau and the monsoon stage after the uplift of the plateau which is subdivided into ancient monsoon and modern monsoon stages.While Dong Guangrong et al., Jiang Xinsheng et al. and Cooke et al, based on the latitudinal distribution of the Cretaceous and Tertiary deserts and the generation of arid climate,suggest that there was a subtropical high pressure zone across the eastern asia and was a planetary wind system,but have not found any direct record of the circulation.It is true that before the Early Tertiary,not only organism, but also inorganism,i.e.,biogeography and lithogeography, show strong zonal distribution.It can only indicate that zonal climate was evident at that time.Of course, as the climate is the result of the influences on the ground by zones of the circulation,it is reasonable to deduce the existence of zonal circulation,i.e. the the existence of the planetary wind system,from the zonal climate.But it would be much better if direct record of planetary wind system were found.Prevailing winds are the main geological agent for a desert which must leave deep stamps on the desert.The stamps on modern desert are reflected by dune migrating directions and on paleodesert by foreset dip directions..It is the most direct geological record for reconstructing paleowind belts and has been extensively used to reconstruct paleowind belts,paleogeography,paleoclimate and even to check the paleolatitude determined by paleomagnetism (for example, Opdyke and Runcorn, 1960; Creer, 1958; Pook, 1962; Bigarella and Salamuni,1961).
