Late Quaternary environments in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia: Vegetation, hydrological, and palaeoclimate evolution

Yu, Kaifeng; Lehmkuhl, Frank; Schlütz, Frank; Diekmann, Bernhard; Mischke, Steffen; Grünert, Jörg; Murad, Waheed; Nottebaum, Veit; Stauch, Georg; Zeeden, Christian

doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.10.004

Cited by 23 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 70 publications

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“…8), four humid pulses are interpreted. Like dating from many other lake sediments in Mongolia and arid Asia, the 14 C ages exhibit the well-known phenomenon of not being free from inconsistencies, most probably relating to reservoir effects (Yan et al, 2011;Felauer et al, 2012;Wang et al, 2017;Yu et al, 2019). The 14 C reservoir ages of water plants taken over a few years from the same site can vary up to 1 ka and are dependent on precipitation (Philippsen and Heinemeier, 2013).…”

Section: Palynological Results From Ekhen Nuur and Munkh Khairkhanmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In contrast, the plants of Nitraria , Atraphaxis , Calligonum , and the Limonium -type are insect pollinated. Of these taxa, only the Nitraria has pollen reported with some regularity from Mongolian paleo-archives (Felauer et al, 2012; Sun et al, 2013; Yu et al, 2019). Nitraria , Atraphaxis , and Calligonum are typical shrubs or semishrubs of the desert steppes and especially of the Mongolian full deserts (Hilbig, 1995).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For the Tsetseg Nuur Basin (22) in the southern Mongolian Altai, Klinge and Lehmkuhl (2013) reported a low lake level around 33 ka, which was indicated by the accumulation of eolian sand in the basin and interpreted as a dry period. For the period between 45 and 24 ka, Yu et al (2019) reported higher lake levels at Orog Nuur (21) in the Gobi Desert, which they related to increased precipitation, interrupted by lake desiccations at ~43 and ~36 ka. For the Bayan Nuur (23) in the east of the Uvs Nuur, Naumann (1999) and Grunert et al (2000) reported a high lake level around 50 ka.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Based on the OSL dating of eolian sands from Zavkhan Gol, which drains the Khangai Mountains to the west, and from Bayan Tukhumiin Nuur, a desiccated lake in the Gobi, a dry phase was reported by Lehmkuhl et al (2018) for the MIS 2. After 24 ka, the Orog Nuur desiccated and remained a shallow saline lake until 11 ka (Yu et al, 2019).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Late Pleistocene lake level, glaciation and climate change in the Mongolian Altai deduced from sedimentological and palynological archives

et al. 2020

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Glacial and lacustrine sediments from the Mongolian Altai provide paleoclimatic information for the late Pleistocene in Mongolia, for which only a few sufficiently studied archives exist. Glacial stages referred to global cooling events are reported for the last glacial maximum (27–21 ka) and the late glacial period (18–16 ka). Sedimentary archives from the first part of the last glacial period are infrequent. We present proxy data for this period from two different archives (88–63 and 57–30 ka). Due to the limitation of effective moisture, an increase of precipitation is discussed as one trigger for glacier development in the cold-arid regions of central Asia. Our pollen analysis from periods of high paleolake levels in small catchments indicate that the vegetation was sparse and of dry desert type between 42–29 and 17–11 ka. This apparent contradiction between high lake levels and dry landscape conditions, the latter supported by intensified eolian processes, points to lower temperatures and cooler conditions causing reduced evaporation to be the main trigger for the high lake levels during glacier advances. Rising temperatures that cause melting of glacier and permafrost ice and geomorphological processes play a role in paleolake conditions. Interpreting lake-level changes as regional or global paleoclimate signals requires detailed investigation of geomorphological settings and mountain–basin relationships.

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Section: Palynological Results From Ekhen Nuur and Munkh Khairkhanmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Late Pleistocene lake level, glaciation and climate change in the Mongolian Altai deduced from sedimentological and palynological archives

et al. 2020

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“…Specifically, the gravitational effect of an Earth approximating ellipsoid is reflected in the satellite altimetry measurements, which well correlate with gravity anomalies caused by the deficit of the topographic masses in the depressions and the increase of the land masses in the mountain areas. The examples of such integrated approaches exist (Badarch et al 2002;Badarch and Tomurtogoo, 2001;Yu et al 2019).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gobi Altai, Khangai and Khentii Mountains mapped by a mixed-method cartographic approach for comparative geophysical analysis

Lemenkova

2021

Mong. geosci.

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Geologic and geophysical mapping has been so far limited to the traditional single-method GIS-based mapping. A new approach combining integrated analysis of data on geology, gravity, topography and geomorphology is presented for regional characterization of the geophysical setting in Mongolia: the Gobi Altai Mountains, the Khangai Mountains and Khentii Mountains with surrounding areas. Nine new maps have been produced from the high-resolution datasets: GEBCO, gravity raster, USGS geological data and SRTM-90 DEM geomorphological grid. Methodology includes three tools for cartographic data visualization: i) Generic Mapping Tools (GMT), ii) R programming language (‘raster’ and ‘tmap’ libraries); iii) QGIS. The results demonstrated strong agreement between the estimated values in gravity and topography grids, distribution of geological units and provinces over the country and geomorphological landforms with respect to the mountain ranges: Altai, Khangai and Khentii Mountains. The highest values in the gravity anomalies correspond to the mountain ranges in the Altai Mountains and Khangai Mountains (<80 mGal); high values correspond to the Khentii Mountains (20–60 mGal). Contrariwise, the basins of the Uvs Nuur and Khyargas Nuur show negative values (<-80 mGal). The NE- to NNE-oriented faulting and rift basins are clearly visible in the geophysical grids and geologic maps. The geomorphometric analysis performed based on the SRTM-90 DEM using R scripting demonstrated (1) slope, (2) aspect, (3) hillshade and (4) elevation models of Mongolia supported by histograms of data distribution and frequency. The study contributed to the cartographic methods and regional geological studies of Mongolia.

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Late Quaternary landscape evolution and paleoenvironmental implications from multiple geomorphic dryland systems, Orog Nuur Basin, Mongolia

Nottebaum

Stauch

Wal

et al. 2021

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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This study investigates the late Quaternary development of the sedimentary system of Orog Nuur Basin in southern Mongolia. Geomorphological archives (lacustrine sediments and beach ridges, alluvial fans, aeolian deposits, peat) recorded palaeoenvironmental change from marine isotope stage (MIS) 7 to the late Holocene. Synthesizing the variety of archives allows a better understanding of geomorphological interactions in arid regions and palaeoenvironmental implications for the area. By performing palaeoshoreline mapping and dating, we identified eight palaeolake levels resulting in a refined lake level history of Orog Nuur. The highest reliably dated shoreline is about 56 m higher than today's lake level and provides evidence for a late MIS 5 lake level between 100 and 75 thousand years (ka). Reconstructions yield a minimum volume estimate of 24.5 km3, delineating a lake that is 153 times larger than that of today (0.16 km3). Massive lake extensions occurred also during MIS 3 and the Holocene. The geomorphological investigation reveals late MIS 5 and MIS 3 lake expansions were of similar magnitude. The palaeoenvironmental reconstruction from early Holocene archives indicates that lake expansion was caused by an increase in precipitation and meltwater inflow from the surrounding mountain systems. Afterwards, lake levels declined with some intermittent highstands during the mid‐Holocene (7–5 ka), indicating a general trend towards a lower water inflow throughout the Holocene. Palynological reconstructions of the alpine vegetation development reveal that mid‐Holocene highstands (c. 6.5 ka and 5.5 ka) were fed by higher precipitation in the nearby Gurvan Bogd range. Mountain silts, basin silty sands, and Holocene dune deposits provide further evidence for paleoenvironmental change. As controlling factors of the sedimentary system, we identified changes in effective moisture, higher precipitation values and the contribution of meltwater. Orog Nuur Basin archives are valuable for landscape and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions and for comparisons in supraregional reconstruction approaches.

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Late Quaternary environments in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia: Vegetation, hydrological, and palaeoclimate evolution

Cited by 23 publications

References 70 publications

Late Pleistocene lake level, glaciation and climate change in the Mongolian Altai deduced from sedimentological and palynological archives

Late Pleistocene lake level, glaciation and climate change in the Mongolian Altai deduced from sedimentological and palynological archives

Gobi Altai, Khangai and Khentii Mountains mapped by a mixed-method cartographic approach for comparative geophysical analysis

Late Quaternary landscape evolution and paleoenvironmental implications from multiple geomorphic dryland systems, Orog Nuur Basin, Mongolia

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