Journal
GEOMORPHOLOGY
Volume 110, Issue 3-4, Pages 108-117Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/j.geomorph.2009.03.020
Keywords
Mu Us desert; Historical desertification; Historical records; Stratigraphic record; Archaeological discoveries
Funding
- Ministry of Education of China [107107]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [50879033, 40661014]
- Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education [200807301031]
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The problem of historical desertification of the Mu Us desert, northern China has been paid considerable attention during the past several decades. Through the analysis of stratigraphic evidence, historical records and archaeological discoveries, this paper studied the problem using a multidisciplinary approach. The results show that two phases of serious desertification occurred during the last two millennia, one is during the mid-to-late Tang dynasty (about A.D. 800) and the other during the late Ming dynasty (about A.D. 1500-1600). Further investigation of the cause of each phase of desertification demonstrates that the former phase of desertification is closely related to abrupt climate change occurring in the mid-eighth century, but the latter, which started during the Ming dynasty and stopped at late 1980s, is not consistent with climatic causation. Therefore, we suggest that human activities contributed to the development of the latter phase of desertification. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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