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OSL chronology reveals Late Pleistocene floods and their impact on landform evolution in the lower reaches of the Keriya River in the Taklimakan Desert

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Abstract

The impacts of climate change on the relationship between fluvial processes and dune landform evolution have been studied. However, the chronology data used to examine this relationship are deficient. The Keriya River has a glacial origin in the Kunlun Mountains on the south margin of the Tarim Basin. The river flows into the Taklimakan Desert, the second largest shifting-dune desert in the world. The dry channels and shifting dunes in this area provide an ideal opportunity to investigate fluvial and aeolian landform evolution processes and their relationship with climate change. We investigated this area during 2008–2011 and obtained 18 fluvial sediment samples from 16 sections for optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. The results show that the ages ranged from 3.4–44.1 ka. Most of the samples (13) were Holocene in age, around 11 ka, 8–9 ka, 5–6.5 ka, 4.6 ka, and 3.4–3.7 ka and were distributed along ancient river channels around sites of Yuansha and Karadun. Two samples close to the Hotan River (38–47 ka) fall within the Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS3). Three samples (from one section) were located near ancient channels flowing towards the Yuansha Site and had ages of around 14.5 ka, i.e., during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The analyses of the sediment samples and OSL ages suggest that the Keriya River flooded in the Holocene, the LGM, and MIS3. Fluvial sediments provided the source material for the dunes, and fluvial processes affected the landform evolution in the lower Keriya River. Our results suggest that most of the dunes covered in fluvial sediments in the lower reaches and the area west of the Keriya River developed since the Holocene. This differs from the results of previous studies, which suggested that they developed since the Han (202BC–220AD) and Tang (618–907AD) dynasties. The OSL ages of the fluvial sediments are consistent with the reported deglaciation (after glacial advance) ages in the alpine mountains surrounding the Tarim Basin. This suggests that climate fluctuations may have affected the occurrence of floods and the formation of dunes in the Taklimakan Desert.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Professor Yang Xiaoping of Zhejiang University and Professor Zhou Xingjia of the Xinjiang Institute of Biology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, for their suggestions. The authors thank Professor Zhao Hui of the Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Professor Zhao Hua and Engineer Wang Chengmin of the Institute of Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, for the determination and analysis of the optically stimulated luminescence age samples.

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.U1503381, No.40701188, No.41161034; National Science & Technology Infrastructure Center of China, No.2017FY101004; The Tianshan Cedar Project of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, No.2017XS21

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  1. College of Geography and Remote Sensing Sciences, Xinjiang Key Laboratory of Oasis Ecology, Xinjiang University, Urumqi, 830046, China

    Feng Zhang, Jiao Wang, Li Ma & Dilibaier Tuersun

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  1. Feng Zhang
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Correspondence to Feng Zhang.

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Zhang Feng (1973–), PhD and Professor, specialized in Quaternary environmental change.

This paper is initially published in Acta Geographica Sinica (Chinese edition), 2021, 76(9): 2240–2252.

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Zhang, F., Wang, J., Ma, L. et al. OSL chronology reveals Late Pleistocene floods and their impact on landform evolution in the lower reaches of the Keriya River in the Taklimakan Desert. J. Geogr. Sci. 33, 945–960 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-023-2114-x

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