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Climate change and soil erosion in a small alpine lake basin on the Loess Plateau, China
Author(s) -
Yu Keke,
Xu Hai,
Lan Jianghu,
Sheng Enguo,
Liu Bin,
Wu Huixian,
Tan Liangcheng,
Yeager Kevin M.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
earth surface processes and landforms
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.294
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1096-9837
pISSN - 0197-9337
DOI - 10.1002/esp.4071
Subject(s) - loess plateau , erosion , flood myth , hydrology (agriculture) , sediment , loess , vegetation (pathology) , precipitation , environmental science , physical geography , vegetation cover , drainage basin , structural basin , climate change , china , geology , plateau (mathematics) , land use , geomorphology , soil science , geography , oceanography , ecology , medicine , mathematical analysis , geotechnical engineering , archaeology , cartography , pathology , mathematics , meteorology , biology
Multi‐proxy indices retrieved from sediments in Lake Chaonaqiu, an alpine lake on the western Loess Plateau (LP) of China, were used to reconstruct a precipitation history over the last ~300 years. The results correlate well with records from tree rings and historical documents in neighboring regions. We show that the lake oscillated between two states, i.e. wetter climatic conditions, which favored denser vegetation cover, and promoted weaker catchment soil erosion; and drier climatic conditions, which lead to less vegetation coverage, correlate with stronger surface soil erosion. Several intensive soil erosion events were identified in the sediment cores, and most of these occurred during decadal/multi‐decadal dry periods, and correlate well with flood events documented in historical literature. The results of this study show that soil erosion by flood events is particularly intense during dry periods, and further highlights the role of vegetation cover in the conservation of water and soil in small lake basins on the Chinese LP. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.