Zhuye Lake () is the terminal lake of the Shiyang River, which is located in the east of the Hexi Corridor in Gansu Province, China. Zhuye Lake is located in the marginal area of the Asian monsoon and is affected by both the Asian monsoon system and the Westerly jet. By understanding the Holocene record in Zhuye Lake, the interaction of different climate systems during the Holocene can be studied. At the same time, the Asian monsoon system is climatically dynamic; changes in its sphere of influence can result in severe drought or flood over large, densely populated, regions. In addition, Zhuye Lake and the surrounding area in arid NW China are in ecological imbalance – a consequence of human impacts and climate. Understanding the environmental history here can assist climatological forecasting of the Asian monsoon system and ecosystem reconstruction.
Reference guide of the Late Quaternary climate change for Zhuye Lake and the Hexi Corridor Zhuye Lake and the Hexi Corridor are located in the northern edge of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, on the northern side of the Qilian Mountains, while in a transition zone between the Gobi Desert and highland. The area is in the northwest margin of the Asian summer monsoon. Some summer precipitation is from the summer monsoon moisture transport, while the area is mainly controlled by the mid-latitude westerly circulation, which is a key area for studies on the interactions between the summer monsoon and the westerlies. In recent years, scientists have made a lot of progress on the late Quaternary environmental changes in the area, and promoted the study of long-term monsoon and westerly winds changes, but there are still some controversies. A major problem is that there are a large volume of papers in the area that are related to the Quaternary science while various subjects are involved. That is not conducive for scholars to understand the late Quaternary conditions in the area. The reference guide is designed to organize literatures in relevant disciplines, which is good for scientists to understand the late Quaternary environments easily, while the guide also represents the research progress of Lanzhou University on the late Quaternary environments.
Millennial-scale environmental changes in Zhuye Lake, northwest China
Lake records from Zhuye Lake show that early Holocene was relatively humid and the mid-Holocene environment was characterized by an appropriate combination of precipitation and evaporation. An arid trend appeared during the late Holocene. There was a centennial-scale drought event during the mid-Holocene, which was recorded by sand layers in various locations of the lake basin. Environmental changes in Zhuye Lake are mainly affected by the evolution of the Asian summer monsoon, but also affected by the mid-latitude westerlies, reflecting the interaction of the two large circulation systems.
Millennial-scale environmental changes in Yanchi Lake, northwest China
The Yanchi Lake record is consistent with paleoclimate records from typical monsoon domain and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which indicates the lake expansion during the Late Glacial and early Holocene and a lake retreat during the late Holocene. This change shows the effects of the Asian summer monsoon on the millennial-scale and variations of the northern boundary of the Asian summer monsoon.
Millennial-scale environmental changes in Huahai Lake, northwest China
Millennium-scale environmental changes recorded in the sediments of Huahai Lake showed that basin-wide runoff was high while erosion and deposition processes were intense during the early Holocene. The effective moisture during the mid-Holocene was still high, then the late Holocene was relatively dry. This change in water conditions was related to the strong early-to-mid Holocene Asian summer monsoon that brings more rainfall to this area. As a result, the runoff was high and the erosion was intensive correspondingly. This changing pattern of Holocene moisture conditions were also affected by the mid-latitude westerlies to some extent.
Millennial-scale climate change cycles in Zhuye Lake
Paleoenvironmental proxies in lake sediments from Zhuye Lake show that there are distinct ~256 ~512 ~1024 climate cycles, which are consistent with millennial-scale and centennial-scale climate cycles in the typical Asian summer monsoon domain during the Holocene. Meanwhile, lake sediments in some sites of the lake basin also recorded the Holocene North Atlantic Ice Debris Events (Bond Events). These records from monsoon marginal zones reflected regional responses to global scale Holocene climate cycles.
