Geochemical and isotopic (U, Th) variations in lake waters in the Qinghai Lake Basin, Northeast Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China: origin and paleoenvironmental implications

Zhang, Pu; Cheng, Hai; Liu, Weiguo; Mo, Lingtong; Li, Xiangzhong; Ning, Youfeng; Ji, Ming; Zong, Baoyun; Zhao, Chen

doi:10.1007/s12517-019-4255-x

Cited by 10 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…The samples were collected in three batches. The analysis of the first batch of samples showed no significant differences in the horizontal or vertical distribution of aqueous 238 U within the same lake, indicating a homogenous distribution of 238 U in the water column, such kind of phenomenon has also been showed in the published Qinghai Lake data [25]. Based on this feature, we suggest that one single sample was deemed representative of the whole water column.…”

Section: Sampling Design and Methodssupporting

confidence: 71%

“…Based on the current data, we only could show that there are big differences of [ 234 U/ 238 U] AR in the sampled different lakes located in the same regional background, but show consistent [ 234 U/ 238 U] AR in vary sites and depths in any one lake. Further, the [ 234 U/ 238 U] AR in all sampled saline lakes is above 1.5 which is higher than the reported average value (1.17) of river from the world [58], lower than the reported value (~2.5) of lakes in Namshi-Nur and Tsagan-Tyrm [64] and that of rivers in same region [25]. These results mean that the [ 234 U/ 238 U] AR of these saline lakes may be related to the input water and the water-rock interaction during the evolution stage, metamorphous degree, and hydrochemistry type.…”

Section: Ghcontrasting

confidence: 63%

“…Zhang [22] found that, in the mining of lithium, boron, potassium, and magnesium from the Qaidam Basin, both uranium and thorium could be enriched, meaning that uranium enrichment is one of the basic characteristics of the saline lakes of northwestern China. The concentration of uranium of soda lakes in Mongolia is 57~15,000 µg/L [23], 320 µg/L in Gasikule salt lake in Qaidam Basin [24], and 13.4 µg/L in Qinghai Lake [25]. The potential mechanism of high uranium content in a saline lake has also been explored.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Distribution Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Uranium Isotopes in Saline Lake Waters in the Northeast of Qaidam Basin

Zhao

Zhang

et al. 2020

Minerals

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Four saline lakes in the northeast of Qaidam Basin were selected to explore the distribution characteristics and influencing factors of uranium isotopes in lake waters with high evaporation background. The 238U concentration and the activity ratios of 234U/238U ([234U/238U]AR) showed that there was no significant change in the same lake, but there was a certain degree of difference in the distribution between different lakes. We found that aqueous 238U concentration within a certain range increased with an increase in TDS (total dissolved solid) and salinity, as was also the case with pH. As in natural waters, the pH affects the speciation of 238U, but TDS and salinity affect the adsorption process of aqueous 238U. Further, the replenishment of water will also affect the uranium isotope concentration for lakes, but it is not the main influencing factor for saline lakes. Therefore, we suggest that pH is the dominant factor affecting changes in aqueous 238U concentration of the sampled saline lakes. The [234U/238U]AR in these saline lakes are closely related to the input water and the associated water–rock interactions involving sediments, atmosphere dust, and organic material, etc. during the evolution stage, metamorphous degree, and hydrochemistry of the saline lakes. Lake water samples collected in the maximum and minimum discharge water period, were used to evaluate the seasonal distribution characteristics of aqueous 238U, and we found that 238U concentration did not show an evident change with the seasons in these saline lakes. If the 238U concentration and [234U/238U]AR can remain consistent during a period of time, then the sediment ages and/or sedimentation rates could be determined by lake sediment and/or biogenic carbonate in future, thus allowing for the accurate reconstruction of the paleoclimate and paleoenvironment.

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Section: Sampling Design and Methodssupporting

confidence: 71%

Section: Ghcontrasting

confidence: 63%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Distribution Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Uranium Isotopes in Saline Lake Waters in the Northeast of Qaidam Basin

Zhao

Zhang

et al. 2020

Minerals

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“…There have been a few research projects carried out on Qinghai Lake, for example, "Comprehensive survey of Qinghai Lake, 1979" (Lanzhou Institute of Geology CAS, et al, 1979) and "Qinghai Lake Environmental Drilling, 2003" (An, 2003). The basement structures, the geochemical and mineral compositions of the drilled core and bottom sediments, and water chemical ions of Qinghai Lake were investigated (Zhang et al, 1994;Liu et al, 2002;Jin et al, 2009Jin et al, , 2015Xiao et al, 2012;Zhang et al, 2019;Song et al, 2020). And the hydroclimate changes were reconstructed in Qinghai Lake since the last glacial period (Jin et al, 2009(Jin et al, , 2015Song et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geochemistry and Petrography of the Sediments From the Marginal Areas of Qinghai Lake, Northern Tibet Plateau, China: Implications for Weathering and Provenance

Tao

Hao

et al. 2021

Front. Earth Sci.

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The provenance study of the sediments from Qinghai Lake is of great significance for the understanding of geological and climatic evolution processes of the Tibet Plateau on the one hand and for evaluating the controlling factors of the sediment components on the other hand. The samples were collected from five rivers, foreshore, beach, beach bar, and aeolian sand dune in the Qinghai Lake. The bulk geochemical composition, petrography, and mineralogy features of the samples are analyzed. The results show that: 1) Qinghai Lake sediments experienced low-intensity chemical weathering from the source areas to the deposition sites and were affected by some recycled detrital materials and 2) the source rocks for the sediments include felsic rocks (granite, granodiorite, and felsic volcanic rocks), carbonate, metamorphic rocks (marble and meta-volcanic rocks), and clastic rocks with the felsic source rocks to have the most important impact on the chemical compositions of the sediments. The geochemical indicator of Al2O3/TiO2 reflects that the provenance of fine-grained sediments from the center of Qinghai Lake is more mafic than the coarse-grained sediments from the margin of the Qinghai Lake, suggesting that the hydraulic sorting of grain size probably plays an important role in the geochemical compositions of the sediments. The mafic elements were probably preferentially enriched in muds.

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“…The QTP has a unique ecological environment in the world, known as the world's third pole (Peng et al, 2012). Given its geographical location and climatic conditions, studies published on stream water age within the QTP tend to be compared local areas and used data collected over a short period (Zhang, Cheng, et al, 2019). In the QTP, there are significant spatial variations in topographic, geologic and climatic conditions that lead to regional differences in stream transit time (Peng et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A preliminary estimate of how stream water age is influenced by changing runoff sources in the Nagqu river water shed, Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau

Yang

Weng

Yan

et al. 2021

Hydrological Processes

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Stream water age is an essential indicator of stream water renewal and pollutant transport rates. Recently, the concept of young water fractions, calculated using stable isotopic data, was proposed as a measure of stream water age. However, the current calculation methods do not classify stream water fractions with annual cycles (365 days), which are helpful to understand the sources of runoff and the water renewal rate in the watershed. In this study, we took the Nagqu River Watershed (NRW, with an area of 16 900 km 2 ) as an example and proposed the concept of middle-aged water to solve this problem. We used two time thresholds τ yw and τ ow to divide the stream water age into young water, middle-aged water and old water in runoff and calculated middle-aged water using a distributed hydrological model. The results revealed that in the NRW, an average of 23% of the runoff was less than 51.6 days old, whereas an average of 55% of the runoff had ages ranging from 51.6 to 365 days. The spatial change in stream water age is significantly influenced by the sources of streamflow, evaporation, air temperature and soil moisture. The annual average change in old water storage values were À0.33 km 3 , suggesting that the mean of old water in the NRW decreased from 2016 to 2019. The results of this study are helpful for the study of sources of streamflow and stream water fractions, as well as providing a more effective understanding of the internal hydrological process in a depopulated alpine zone under the impacts of climate change.

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Geochemical and isotopic (U, Th) variations in lake waters in the Qinghai Lake Basin, Northeast Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China: origin and paleoenvironmental implications

Cited by 10 publications

References 41 publications

Distribution Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Uranium Isotopes in Saline Lake Waters in the Northeast of Qaidam Basin

Distribution Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Uranium Isotopes in Saline Lake Waters in the Northeast of Qaidam Basin

Geochemistry and Petrography of the Sediments From the Marginal Areas of Qinghai Lake, Northern Tibet Plateau, China: Implications for Weathering and Provenance

A preliminary estimate of how stream water age is influenced by changing runoff sources in the Nagqu river water shed, Qinghai‐Tibet Plateau

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