Adv Search
Volume 28 Issue 5
. 
Turn off MathJax
Article Contents
Article Navigation >  Chinese Geographical Science  > 2018  >  28(5): 773-783

ZHOU Jianchao, WU Jinglu, ZENG Haiao. Extreme Flood Events over the Past 300 Years Inferred from Lake Sedimentary Grain Sizes in the Altay Mountains, Northwestern China[J]. Chinese Geographical Science, 2018, 28(5): 773-783. doi: 10.1007/s11769-018-0968-0
Citation: ZHOU Jianchao, WU Jinglu, ZENG Haiao. Extreme Flood Events over the Past 300 Years Inferred from Lake Sedimentary Grain Sizes in the Altay Mountains, Northwestern China[J]. Chinese Geographical Science, 2018, 28(5): 773-783. doi: 10.1007/s11769-018-0968-0
shu

Extreme Flood Events over the Past 300 Years Inferred from Lake Sedimentary Grain Sizes in the Altay Mountains, Northwestern China

doi: 10.1007/s11769-018-0968-0
  • 1.

    State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China;

  • 2.

    University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;

  • 3.

    Research Center for Ecology and Environment of Central Asia, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ürümqi 830011, China

Funds:  Under the auspices of National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2017YFA0603400), National Science Foundation of China (No. 41671200, U1603242)
More Information
  • Corresponding author: WU Jinglu. E-mail:w.jinglu@niglas.ac.cn
  • Received Date: 2017-05-12
  • Rev Recd Date: 2017-09-05
  • Publish Date: 2018-10-27
  • Understanding the temporal variations of extreme floods that occur in response to climate change is essential to anticipate the trends in flood magnitude and frequency in the context of global warming. However, long-term records of paleofloods in arid regions are scarce, thus preventing a thorough understanding of such events. In this study, a reconstruction of paleofloods over the past 300 years was conducted through an analysis of grain sizes from the sediments of Kanas Lake in the Altay Mountains of northwestern China. Results showed that grain parameters and frequency distributions can be used to infer possible abrupt environmental events within the lake sedimentary sequence, and two extreme flood events corresponding to ca. 1736-1765 AD and ca. 1890 AD were further identified based on canonical discriminant analysis (CDA) and coarse percentile versus median grain size (C-M) pattern analysis, both of which occurred during warmer and wetter climate conditions by referring to tree-ring records. These two flood events are also evidenced by lake sedimentary records in the Altay and Tianshan mountains. Furthermore, through a comparison with other records, the flood event from ca. 1736-1765 AD in the study region seems to have occurred in both the arid central Asia and the Alps in Europe, and thus may have been associated with changes in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index.
  • [1] Aizen V B, Aizen E M, Melack J M et al., 1997. Climate and hydrologic change in the Tien Shan, Central Asia. Journal of Climate, 10(6):1393-140. doi:10.1175/1520-0442(1997)010< 1393:CAHCIT>2.0.CO;2
    [2] Amann B, Szidat S, Grosjean M, 2015. A millennial-long record of warm season precipitation and flood frequency for the North-western Alps inferred from varved lake sediments:im-plications for the future. Quaternary Science Reviews, 115:89-100. doi:  10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.03.002
    [3] Appleby P G, Oldfield F, 1978. The calculation of lead-210 dates assuming a constant rate of supply of unsupported 210Pb to the sediment. Catena, 5(1):1-8. doi:10.1016/S0341-8162(78) 80002-2
    [4] Appleby P G, 2008. Three decades of dating recent sediments by fallout radionuclides:a review. The Holocene, 18(1):83-93. doi: 10.1177/0959683607085598
    [5] Arnaud F, Poulenard J, Giguet-Covex C et al., 2016. Erosion under climate and human pressures:an alpine lake sediment perspective. Quaternary Science Reviews, 152:1-18. doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.09.018
    [6] Boomer I, Wünnemann B, Mackay A W et al., 2009. Advances in understanding the late Holocene history of the Aral Sea region. Quaternary International, 194(1):79-90. doi:10.1016/j. quaint.2008.03.007
    [7] Chen F H, Chen J H, Holmes J et al., 2010. Moisture changes over the last millennium in arid central Asia:a review, synthesis and comparison with monsoon region. Quaternary Science Reviews, 29(7-8):1055-1068. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2010. 01.005
    [8] Chen Jingan, Wan Guoqiang, Zhang D D et al., 2004. Environ-mental records of lacustrine sediments in different time scales:Sediment grain size as an example. Science in China:Series D:Earth Sciences, 47(10):954-960. doi: 10.1360/03yd0160
    [9] Chen J H, Chen F H, Feng S et al., 2015. Hydroclimatic changes in China and surroundings during the Medieval Climate Anomaly and Little Ice Age:spatial patterns and possible mechanisms. Quaternary Science Reviews, 107:98-111. doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.10.012
    [10] Chiba T, Endo K, Sugai T et al., 2016. Reconstruction of Lake Balkhash levels and precipitation/evaporation changes during the last 2000 years from fossil diatom assemblages. Quaternary International, 397:330-341. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015. 08.009
    [11] Christiansen B, Ljungqvist F C, 2012. The extra-tropical Northern Hemisphere temperature in the last two millennia:reconstruc-tions of low-frequency variability. Climate of the Past, 8(2):765-786. doi: 10.5194/cp-8-765-2012
    [12] Corella J P, Benito G, Rodriguez-Lloveras X et al., 2014. Annual-ly-resolved lake record of extreme hydro-meteorological events since AD 1347 in NE Iberian Peninsula. Quaternary Science Reviews, 93:77-90. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2014. 03.020
    [13] Davi N K, Jacoby G C, Curtis A E et al., 2006. Extension of Drought Records for Central Asia Using Tree Rings:west-central Mongolia. Journal of Climate, 19(2):288-299. doi: 10.1175/JCLI3621.1
    [14] Easterling D R, Meehl G A, Parmesan C et al., 2000. Climate extremes:observations, modeling, and impacts. Science, 289(5487): 2068-2074. doi: 10.1126/science.29.5487.2068
    [15] Feng Min, 1993. Landform and origin of Hanas Lake, Altay Mountains. Journal of Glaciology and Geocryology, 15(4):559-565. (in Chinese)
    [16] Garcia-Orellana J, Sanchez-Cabeza JA, Masqué P et al., 2006. Atmospheric fluxes of 210Pb to the western Mediterranean Sea and the Saharan dust influence. Journal of Geophysical Re-search:Atmospheres, 111(D15):D15305. doi:10.1029/2005 JD006660
    [17] Glur L, Wirth S B, Büntgen U et al., 2013. Frequent floods in the European Alps coincide with cooler periods of the past 2500 years. Scientific Reports, 3:2770. doi: 10.1038/srep02770
    [18] Hu Yicheng, Yuan Yujiang, Wei Weishou et al., 2012. Tree-ring reconstruction of mean June-July temperature during 1613-2006 in east Altay, Xinjiang of China. Journal of Desert Re-search, 32(4):1003-1009. (in Chinese)
    [19] Huang Xiaozhong, Chen Fahu, Xiao Sun et al., 2008. Primary study on the environmental significances of grain-size changes of the Lake Bosten sediments. Journal of Lake Sciences, 20(3):291-297. doi:10.18307/2008.0305. (in Chinese)
    [20] IPCC, 2013. Climate change 2013:the physical science basis. In:Stocker T F et al. (eds). Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA:Cambridge University Press.
    [21] Li J B, Gou X H, Cook E R et al., 2006. Tree-ring based drought reconstruction for the central Tien Shan area in northwest China. Geophysical Research Letters, 33(7):L07715. doi:10. 1029/2006GL025803
    [22] Li Y F, Guo Y, Yu G. 2013. An analysis of extreme flood events during the past 400 years at Taihu lake, China. Journal of Hy-drology, 500:217-225. doi: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.02.028
    [23] Li Y, Qiang M R, Zhang J W et al., 2016. Hydroclimatic changes over the past 900 years documented by the sediments of Tiewaike Lake, Altai Mountains, northwestern China. Qua-ternary International, 452:91-101. doi:10.1016/j.quaint. 2016.07.053
    [24] Liu C T, Zipser E J, 2015. The global distribution of largest, deepest, and most intense precipitation systems. Geophysical Research Letters, 42(9):3591-3595. doi:10.1002/2015GL 063776
    [25] López-Merino L, Leroy S A G, Eshel A et al., 2016. Using paly-nology to re-assess the Dead Sea laminated sediments:indeed varves? Quaternary Science Reviews, 140:49-66. doi:10. 1016/j.quascirev.2016.03.024
    [26] Ma L, Wu J L, Abuduwaili J et al., 2015. Aeolian particle transport inferred using a~150-year sediment record from Sayram Lake, arid northwest China. Journal of Limnology, 74(3):584-593. doi: 10.4081/jlimnol.2015.1208
    [27] Min S K, Zhang X B, Zwiers F W et al., 2011. Human contribu-tion to more-intense precipitation extremes. Nature, 470(7334):378-381. doi: 10.1038/nature09763
    [28] Nuerlan Hazaizi, Shen Yongping, 2014. Flood characteristics of Altay area, Xinjiang. Journal of China Hydrology, 34(4):74-81. (in Chinese)
    [29] Oldfield F, 2005. Environmental Change:Key Issues and Alter-native Approaches. Cambridge, UK:Cambridge University Press.
    [30] Pall P, Aina T, Stone D A et al., 2011. Anthropogenic greenhouse gas contribution to flood risk in England and Wales in autumn 2000. Nature, 470(7334):382-385. doi: 10.1038/nature09762
    [31] Purkait B, Majumdar D D, 2014. Distinguishing different sedi-mentary facies in a deltaic system. Sedimentary Geology, 308(7):53-62. doi: 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2014.05.001
    [32] Schillereff D N, Chiverrell R C, Macdonald N et al., 2014. Flood stratigraphies in lake sediments:a review. Earth-Science Re-views, 135:17-37. doi: 10.1016/j.earscirev.2014.03.011
    [33] Shi Yafeng, Shen Yongping, Li Dongliang et al., 2003. Discussion on the present climate change from warm-dry to warm-wet in northwest china. Quaternary Sciences, 23(2):152-164. (in Chinese)
    [34] Shi Y F, Shen Y K, Kang E S et al., 2007. Recent and Future Cli-mate Change in Northwest China. Climatic Change, 80(3-4):379-393. doi: 10.1007/s10584-006-9121-7
    [35] Trouet V, Esper J, Graham N E et al., 2009. Persistent positive North Atlantic oscillation mode dominated the medieval climate anomaly. Science, 324(5923):78-80. doi:10.1126/science. 1166349
    [36] Wang Hao, Liu Guohua, Li Zongshan et al., 2016. Impacts of Climate Change on Net Primary Productivity in Arid and Semiarid Regions of China. Chinese Geographical Science, 26(1):35-47. doi: 10.1007/s11769-015-0762-1
    [37] Wen Kegang, Shi Yuguang, 2006. China Meteorological Disasters Books:Xinjiang Volume. Beijing:China Meteorological Press, 75-146. (in Chinese)
    [38] Wilhelm B, Arnaud F, Enters D et al., 2012. Does global warming favour the occurrence of extreme floods in European Alps? First evidences from a NW Alps proglacial lake sediment record. Climatic Change, 113(3-4):563-581. doi:10.1007/s 10584-011-0376-2
    [39] Wilhelm B, Arnaud F, Sabatier P et al., 2013. Palaeoflood activity and climate change over the last 1400 years recorded by lake sediments in the north-west European Alps. Journal of Qua-ternary Science, 28(2):189-199. doi: 10.1002/jqs.2609
    [40] Wu J L, Liu W, Zeng H A et al., 2014. Water Quantity and Quality of Six Lakes in the Arid Xinjiang Region, NW China. Envi-ronmental Processes, 1(2):115-125. doi: 10.1007/s40710-014-0007-9
    [41] Xiao J L, Chang Z G, Wen R L et al., 2009. Holocene weak mon-soon intervals indicated by low lake levels at Hulun Lake in the monsoonal margin region of northeastern Inner Mongolia, China. The Holocene, 19(6):899-908. doi:10.1177/09596836 09336574
    [42] Yin Zhiqiang, Qin Xiaoguang, Wu Jinshui et al., 2008. Multimodal grain-size distribution characteristics and formation mechanism of lake sediments. Quaternary Sciences, 28(2):345-353. (in Chinese)
    [43] Zhang M, Chen Y N, Shen Y J et al., 2017. Changes of precipita-tion extremes in arid Central Asia. Quaternary International, 436:16-27. doi: 10.1016/j.quaint.2016.12.024
    [44] Zhang Tongwen, Yuan Yujiang, Yu Shulong et al., 2008a. Recon-structed mean temperature series from May to September with tree-ring in the western region of Altay near the recent 365 a. Arid Zone Research, 25(2):288-294. (in Chinese)
    [45] Zhang Tongwen, Yuan Yujiang, Yu Shulong et al., 2008b. June to September precipitation series of 1481-2004 reconstructed from tree-ring in the western region of Altay Prefecture, Xinjiang. Journal of Glaciology and Geocryology, 30(4):659-657. (in Chinese)
    [46] Zhang Tongwen, Yuan Yujiang, Wei Wenshou et al., 2010. Re-constructed number of snow cover depth ≥ 0 cm days changes in the western Altai Prefecture, using tree-ring width chronol-ogies. Desert and Oasis Meteorology, 4(3):6-11. (in Chinese)
    [47] Zhang Wei, Fu Yanjing, Liu Beibei et al., 2015. Geomorphological process of late Quaternary glaciers in Kanas river valley of the Altay Mountains. Acta Geographic Sinica, 70(5):739-750. (in Chinese)
  • 加载中
通讯作者: 陈斌, bchen63@163.com
  • 1. 

    沈阳化工大学材料科学与工程学院 沈阳 110142

  1. 本站搜索
  2. 百度学术搜索
  3. 万方数据库搜索
  4. CNKI搜索
Get Citation
PDF
XML

Article Metrics

Article views(343) PDF downloads(409) Cited by()

Proportional views
Related

Extreme Flood Events over the Past 300 Years Inferred from Lake Sedimentary Grain Sizes in the Altay Mountains, Northwestern China

doi: 10.1007/s11769-018-0968-0
  • 1. State Key Laboratory of Lake Science and Environment, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China;
  • 2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;
  • 3. Research Center for Ecology and Environment of Central Asia, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ürümqi 830011, China
Funds:  Under the auspices of National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2017YFA0603400), National Science Foundation of China (No. 41671200, U1603242)
    Corresponding author: WU Jinglu. E-mail:w.jinglu@niglas.ac.cn
  • Received Date: 2017-05-12
  • Rev Recd Date: 2017-09-05
  • Publish Date: 2018-10-27

Abstract: Understanding the temporal variations of extreme floods that occur in response to climate change is essential to anticipate the trends in flood magnitude and frequency in the context of global warming. However, long-term records of paleofloods in arid regions are scarce, thus preventing a thorough understanding of such events. In this study, a reconstruction of paleofloods over the past 300 years was conducted through an analysis of grain sizes from the sediments of Kanas Lake in the Altay Mountains of northwestern China. Results showed that grain parameters and frequency distributions can be used to infer possible abrupt environmental events within the lake sedimentary sequence, and two extreme flood events corresponding to ca. 1736-1765 AD and ca. 1890 AD were further identified based on canonical discriminant analysis (CDA) and coarse percentile versus median grain size (C-M) pattern analysis, both of which occurred during warmer and wetter climate conditions by referring to tree-ring records. These two flood events are also evidenced by lake sedimentary records in the Altay and Tianshan mountains. Furthermore, through a comparison with other records, the flood event from ca. 1736-1765 AD in the study region seems to have occurred in both the arid central Asia and the Alps in Europe, and thus may have been associated with changes in the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) index.

ZHOU Jianchao, WU Jinglu, ZENG Haiao. Extreme Flood Events over the Past 300 Years Inferred from Lake Sedimentary Grain Sizes in the Altay Mountains, Northwestern China[J]. Chinese Geographical Science, 2018, 28(5): 773-783. doi: 10.1007/s11769-018-0968-0
Citation: ZHOU Jianchao, WU Jinglu, ZENG Haiao. Extreme Flood Events over the Past 300 Years Inferred from Lake Sedimentary Grain Sizes in the Altay Mountains, Northwestern China[J]. Chinese Geographical Science, 2018, 28(5): 773-783. doi: 10.1007/s11769-018-0968-0
shu

    HTML

Reference (47)

Catalog

    Copyright © Editorial office of Chinese Geographical Science

    Tel: +86-0431-85542219   Email: egeoscien@neigae.ac.cn  

    /

    DownLoad:  Full-Size Img  PowerPoint
    Return
    Return