Recent data on the evolution of the inland lakes, loess-palaeosol sequences, and glacier variations in western China are briefly reviewed. The lake history shows three distinct stages in the Holocene, i.e., low water levels before 7500 BP, a stage of expansion during the climatic optimum between 7500 and 3500 BP, and contraction after 3500 BP. Three stages (wooded grassland, mixed woodland, wooded grassland becoming steppe) also appear indicated by the Holocene loess/palaeosol sequence in the Lanzhou region, the optimal period for soil development being between 7500 and 3500 BP. There were seven periods of glacier advance: the continental glaciers advanced at about 8300, 5700, 4000, and 400 BP in northwestern China and the maritime glaciers advanced at about 3000, 2000, 1000, and 200 BP. It is suggested that the climatic changes show two periodicities during the Holocene, namely at intervals of about 2500 and 1000 years.
Aerosol radionuclides ( 131 I, 134 Cs, 137 Cs) and gaseous radioactive xenon ( 133 Xe) were monitored at Xi'an, China following the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in March 2011. The additional annual effective dose attributable to the Fukushima emissions was much lower than the public annual effective dose from natural radiation, according to Chinese national standards. The monitoring results were compared with data from other countries as well as with the radionuclide concentrations observed in Xi'an after the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986. Possible transport pathways of the released radionuclides from Fukushima to Xi'an were investigated. The occurrence of an anticyclone in the Pacific Ocean region and the extended period over which the radionuclides were released made the determination transport pathways complex, but divergence in the plume and easterly flow evidently brought the initial suite of radionuclides to Xi'an.
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