Grain size characteristics of aeolian sands and their implications for the aeolian dynamics of dunefields within a river valley on the southern Tibet Plateau: A case study from the Yarlung Zangbo river valley

Zhou, Na; Li, Qing; Zhang, Chunlai; Huang, Chi‐hua; Wu, Youlong; Zhu, Bingqi; Cen, Songbo; Huang, Xiaoqi

doi:10.1016/j.catena.2020.104794

Cited by 19 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Additionally, the sediment loads are much higher, at 735 M metric tons, than those of Tibet (Ghosh et al, 2016). In China, the YZR is located in South Tibet, and specifically is present from the southern part of the Qinhai-Tibetan Plateau to the northern Himalaya Mountains, which lies between 28 00 0 N and 31 16 0 N and between 82 00 0 E and 97 07 0 E (Zhou et al, 2021).…”

Section: Geology and Geomorphologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Provenance, source weathering, and tectonics of the Yarlung Zangbo River overbank sediments in Tibetan Plateau, China, using major, trace, and rare earth elements

Huyan¹,

Yao²,

Xie³

et al. 2021

Geological Journal

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This paper studies the major, trace, and rare earth elements (REEs) in fluvial sediments from the Yarlung Zangbo River (YZR) on the Tibetan Plateau, China, with the aim of investigating their provenances, sediment maturity, weathering conditions, and tectonic settings. All samples and analytical techniques are based on Environmental Geochemical Monitoring Networks, which are a crucial part of IGCP259/360 (Global Geochemical Baseline). The results show that the YZR sediments consist of greywacke and litharenite with low-moderate maturities of textures and minerals. The chemical index of alteration (CIA) (49-71), plagioclase index of alteration (49-77), and index of compositional variability (ICV) values (0.82-1.54) indicate that both mature and immature sediments are present in the YZR and have experienced weak to moderate weathering with little intense weathering in the source area, which is also confirmed by the ICV-CIA, A-CN-K, A-CNK-FM, and MFW plots. Moreover, the provenance discrimination diagrams suggest that the YZR sediments are predominantly derived from felsic rocks that are close to the upper continental crust and from acid intermediates, and the tectonic settings of the YZR source rocks were associated with active continental margins and continental island arcs. The overall sediment types, weathering conditions, and tectonics of the YZR were consistent with those of the Brahmaputra River and Meghna River during the Himalayan-Tibetan orogeny, while the sediments of the Brahmaputra River are characterized by recycled-quartzose sources when compared with the other two Himalayan rivers due to the contributions of quartzolithic composition.

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Section: Geology and Geomorphologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Provenance, source weathering, and tectonics of the Yarlung Zangbo River overbank sediments in Tibetan Plateau, China, using major, trace, and rare earth elements

Huyan¹,

Yao²,

Xie³

et al. 2021

Geological Journal

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“…Research relating to modern aeolian deposits has focused mainly on revealing granulometric characteristics that show drastic variations among different valleys (Jin et al, 2000;Kaiser et al, 2010;Lu, Xiang, Jiang, Liu, & Zeng, 2008;Sun et al, 2007;Zhang, Zhang, Li, & Pan, 2019;Zheng et al, 2009;Zhou et al, 2021;Zhou, Zhang, & Liu, 2012), besides which, grain size decreases with elevation for each climbing dune (Zhou et al, 2021). In the Zhongba valley, grain size ranges between 250 and 177 μm (Zhou et al, 2021). In the Xigaze valley, sand dunes at mountain flanks have finer populations of 250-50 μm, whereas dunes on mountain foots have coarser populations between 500-250 μm (Liu, Liu, Zhang, Wan, & Chen, 1997).…”

Section: Aeolian Processes Along the Yarlung Rivermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the Xigaze valley, sand dunes at mountain flanks have finer populations of 250-50 μm, whereas dunes on mountain foots have coarser populations between 500-250 μm (Liu, Liu, Zhang, Wan, & Chen, 1997). In the Shannan valley, grain size becomes finer, 300-200 μm (Zhou et al, 2021). Along the Lhasa River, a major tributary of the Yarlung River at the north of the Shannan valley, stable dunes have finer populations of <125 μm, whereas movable dunes have coarser populations 250 and 1,000 μm (Chang et al, 2006).…”

Section: Aeolian Processes Along the Yarlung Rivermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Along the Lhasa River, a major tributary of the Yarlung River at the north of the Shannan valley, stable dunes have finer populations of <125 μm, whereas movable dunes have coarser populations 250 and 1,000 μm (Chang et al, 2006). In the Langxian-Linzhi valley, climbing dunes present systematic variations in the grain size becoming finer with increased elevation and spanned mainly between 76 and 240 μm (Zhou et al, 2012(Zhou et al, , 2021.…”

Section: Aeolian Processes Along the Yarlung Rivermentioning

confidence: 99%

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Aeolian sand dunes alongside the Yarlung River in southern Tibet: A provenance perspective

et al. 2020

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The potential interactions between aeolian and fluvial systems are critical in understanding environmental change. Whether aeolian products originated from the river depends on the river characteristics and wind regimes. In southern Tibet, aeolian sand dunes are widespread along the Yarlung River, and thus provide an ideal example to explore the relationships between large fluvial systems and aeolian products.Although previous studies postulated that those aeolian products were originated from the Yarlung River, few empirical data actually exist to support this idea. We analysed the spatial pattern, sand transportation directions, and granulometric characteristics of the sand dunes to evaluate the potential influence of the Yarlung River on the aeolian processes. Comparison of the dune field distribution against channel width and longitudinal profile of the Yarlung River shows that sand dunes are clustered at the wide and flat segments of the river. Analyses of >4,600 sand dune orientations using Google Earth imagery show that the dunes located at the southern and northern sides of the Yarlung River demonstrate opposite sand transportation directions that generally point against the river. This suggests that the sand grains probably originated from the river. Grain size distributions from dune samples show unimodal or unimodal-like patterns. This means that each sand dune field was dominantly fed by a simple transportation process rather than by compound processes from smaller-level fluvial systems, which in turn implies that the Yarlung River was the most possible candidate for the provenance of these aeolian deposits. This study provides new constraints to demonstrate that the Yarlung River provides both accommodation space and sorted fluvial sand for the aeolian sand dunes along the river.

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“…However, research into the grain size characteristics of loose soils in dry lake beds in aeolian environments in semi-arid regions is still unclear. This is very important because particle size analysis can be used to distinguish depositional environments and to identify water or wind conditions that formed the depositional environment [22][23][24]. They can be used to define the depositional environment based on the frequency of each particle size class in a log-log plot [25] or using a two-dimensional scatter plot by various statistical parameters of the particle size distribution [26].…”

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confidence: 99%

Grain Size Characteristics from Dry Playa Chagan Nur in northern China

Li¹,

Meng²,

Dang³

et al. 2022

Pol. J. Environ. Stud.

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Large salt lakes account for 44% of the volume and 23% of the area of all lakes on Earth. Most salt lakes are located in inland basins in arid and semi-arid regions and are diverse [1,2]. They are found in North America [3,4], the Mexican highlands [5], Iran [6], and northern China [7,8]. Lakes in arid and semi-arid regions have different hydrology and ecology compared to lakes in humid regions. This determines their sensitivity to climate change and human activity, and they are often affected by riverine, lacustrine and wind processes simultaneously. Lakes in arid and semi-arid regions, as an essential part of the regional water cycle, have evolved over time as a unique sink continuously recharged by surface water and groundwater. However,

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Grain size characteristics of aeolian sands and their implications for the aeolian dynamics of dunefields within a river valley on the southern Tibet Plateau: A case study from the Yarlung Zangbo river valley

Cited by 19 publications

References 41 publications

Provenance, source weathering, and tectonics of the Yarlung Zangbo River overbank sediments in Tibetan Plateau, China, using major, trace, and rare earth elements

Provenance, source weathering, and tectonics of the Yarlung Zangbo River overbank sediments in Tibetan Plateau, China, using major, trace, and rare earth elements

Aeolian sand dunes alongside the Yarlung River in southern Tibet: A provenance perspective

Grain Size Characteristics from Dry Playa Chagan Nur in northern China

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