Xiangzhong Li

Yunnan University

Carbon dioxide (CO2) stands as the primary driver of Earth's greenhouse effect, and it's suggested that the global contribution of CO2 emissions from lakes cannot be ignored. Despite the numerous estimations of CO2 fluxes from lakes, limited focus has been directed towards the carbon isotopes (δ13C) of dissolved CO2 in lake water. Particularly, the...

Lakes are important sources of methane (CH4), and understanding the influence of environmental factors on CH4 concentration in lake water is crucial for accurately assessing CH4 emission from lakes. In this study, we investigated CH4 concentration in two connected Tibetan Plateau lakes, Lake Keluke (an open freshwater lake) and Lake Tuosu (a closed...

The stable carbon isotope composition of total organic matter (δ13Corg) has been utilized in aeolian sediments, serving as an indicator for reconstructing terrestrial paleoenvironments. The Qinghai Lake (QHL) Basin is a climate-sensitive region of significant importance in paleoclimatic reconstruction. However, the reconstructed climatic variations...

The Tibetan Plateau, often referred to as the "Asian Water Tower", holds immense significance as a critical water source for billions of people in surrounding regions. Its unique location and extreme environmental conditions contribute to the formation of some of the world largest lakes, crucial components of the regional water cycle. These lakes n...

Increasing global demand for natural rubber has resulted in rapid expansion of rubber plantations and subsequent environmental issues in the tropics. Diversified rubber agroforestry (i.e. mixed planting of rubber with various crops) are proposed to counteract negative effects induced by rubber monoculture (RM). However, little is known about the ch...

In southern Africa, the Okavango Delta is a large alluvial fan sustaining a unique wetlands ecosystem in the heart of the Kalahari desert. The Delta is fed by an annual flood that brings water from the Angolan plateaus to the north, down to the Okavango region. The fan is characterized by vegetated, permanent or seasonal floodplains, dotted with th...

Zinc isotopic ratios serve as powerful tools for tracing biochemical cycling of metals at Earth's surface, including the distribution, transportation, and enrichment of zinc (Zn) in soil. To conduct such studies and enable inter-laboratory comparisons, high-precision Zn isotopic measurements require the use of soil reference materials (RMs). Howeve...

The Okavango Delta in North Botswana is a hot‐spot of biodiversity within the semi‐arid central part of the South African plateau. This endorheic ecosystem is highly dependent on the annual flood that brings freshwater from the highlands of Angola to the North. However, in many places, the groundwater of the Delta is saline and contains very high c...

There is a general agreement that Northern Hemisphere temperatures have cooled over the past two millennia, culminating in the Little Ice Age. However, this understanding partly relies on the compilation of existing proxy records, the majority of which carry a warm season bias such that there is an underrepresentation of cold-season temperatures. H...

Paleolatitude evolution could provide a general paleo-location framework for explaining the paleoclimate change and tectonic deformation in geological time. Strengthening the paleolatitude study of the Tuotuohe Basin is important for understanding the history and mechanism of the tectonic uplift process in the north-central Tibetan Plateau. In this...

The Tibetan Plateau (TP) hosts the largest alpine ecosystem in the world, and aeolian loess is an essential component of this ecosystem and landscape. However, little is known of loess distribution and fate, owing to the climate and landscape varying dramatically between Quaternary glacial and interglacial cycles. Recent research suggests that the...

The Asian summer monsoon (ASM) and the Westerlies confront one another along the eastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) in the mid-latitude Asia, resulting in a semi-arid transition zone. Potential expansion of aridity in the region will increase dust sources and threaten the densely populated east. Predicting regional hydroclimate cha...

The human society is facing growing flood risks due to the rapidly-changing global climate. Understanding how early human coped with flooding will shed light on the increase of contemporary social resilience to projected intensified extreme climate change. However, assessment of such ancient human response to hydrological changes remains difficult...

Documenting spatiotemporal patterns of the Holocene Optimum (HO) at the climatically sensitive East Asian monsoon (EAM) margin are essential for understanding monsoon climate dynamics. However, the timing of the onset of the HO at the EAM margin is still debated and progress has been partly hindered by age uncertainties in different proxy records....

It has been proposed that the northeastern Tibetan Plateau (NETP) was the most recent plateau sub-region to gain elevation, leading to profound environmental changes in northern East Asia around the mid-Pliocene (ca. 3.6 Ma). Alternatively, environmental changes in the region have been linked to ongoing global cooling and glacial intensification af...

Strongly deformed footwall rocks exposed in metamorphic core complexes (MCC) of the North American Cordillera were exhumed via ductile attenuation, mylonitic shearing, and detachment faulting. Whether these structures accommodated diapiric upwelling or regional extension via low‐angle normal faulting is debated. The Ruby Mountains‐East Humboldt Ran...

Investigations of the evolution of naturally and anthropogenically driven hydrology in arid regions are of great significance for hydrological forecasts. Here, we built the past ∼500-year history of lake area and discharge of Lake Tuosu in the northeastern Qaidam Basin. We found that the lake area and inflow variations were sensitive to westerly-fo...

In the last decade, the 232Th–230Th system has gained popularity as a tracer to quantify lithogenic sources of trace elements to the marine environment. Thorium (Th) isotopes were utilized to quantify the supply of lithogenic inputs to Keluke Lake and Tuosu Lake in Qaidam Basin, China. A total of 33 water samples were collected from Keluke Lake, Tu...

Limnocythere inopinata (Baird, 1843) is a widely distributed ostracod in modern non-marine waters and Quaternary sediments. Based on its morphological variation (the number and position of its nodes), different phenotypes have been identified. However, the factors controlling its morphological variation are currently open to debate, which hinders p...

Thorium (Th) isotopes were applied to quantify the contributions of lithogenic inputs to the Qinghai Lake (QHH). Concentrations of dissolved ²³²Th and ²³⁰Th were measured in 59 water samples collected from Qinghai Lake and its exogenous recharge rivers. There are significant differences in the concentration of ²³²Th of the sampled water in QHH that...

Estimates of the permafrost-climate feedback vary in magnitude and sign, partly because permafrost carbon stability in warmer-than-present conditions is not well constrained. Here we use a Plio-Pleistocene lacustrine reconstruction of mean annual air temperature (MAAT) from the Tibetan Plateau, the largest alpine permafrost region on the Earth, to...

Paleo-elevation estimates based on the oxygen and hydrogen isotopes of meteoric waters are commonly unreliable in hydrologically complex settings such as the northern Tibetan Plateau (TP), an area of confluence of the East Asian monsoon and mid-latitude Westerlies. Here, we explore a novel application of carbonate clumped-isotope thermometry for es...

The Tibetan Plateau (TP) has essential impacts on the climate in Asia and even in the Northern Hemisphere. It serves as the headwaters for at least ten large rivers that provide sustaining waters for >1 billion people, and is a dust source for downwind areas from the Chinese Loess Plateau to the Pacific Ocean and Greenland. Over the last few decade...

Dust raised from Arid Central Asia (ACA) affects the global climate, global biogeochemical cycles, and human health. Studies on the ACA dust activities thus are crucial for understanding dust forcing mechanisms and the mitigation of hazardous storms. Located at the downwind margin of the ACA, the Lake Qinghai basin is an ideal trap for dust activit...

Petroleum contamination in terrestrial environments caused by industrial activities is a significant problem that has received considerable attention. Carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions (δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N) effectively describe the behavior of plants and soils under petroleum contamination stress. To better understand plant and soil responses to...

The dissolved uranium (U) content in the water column of saline lakes varies little between ice-free seasons throughout the whole water column. Such uniformity allows for the potential absolute dating and/or paleohydrologic interpretations of lake sediments and biogenic shell materials using U isotopes. Before using these methods in cold regions, h...

Plain Language Summary As the mother river of China, the Yellow River serves the wellbeing of millions. Over one third of the river streamflow can be traced to the source area of the Yellow River (SAYR). Thus, an understanding of the causes of the changes in the wet and dry conditions in the SAYR is important for policy makers to better manage wate...

We analyze 31 surface-sediment samples from the depths of 2–33 m in the large fresh-water Lake Ngoring on the northeastern Tibet–Qinghai Plateau to provide depth-preference information of ostracods valuable for palaeo-bathymetric reconstruction. Among the nine species discovered, Tonnacypris estonica and Ilyocypris echinata show clear preferences t...

Paleoclimatic reconstructions on the arid/semi-arid northern Tibetan Plateau are important for understanding the complex interactions between the mid-latitude westerly and subtropical Asian monsoon circulations. The development of paleoclimatic reconstructions largely relies on the invention and application of proper quantitative/semi-quantitative...

Because the shell substance of an ostracod is derived entirely from the water body where it lives, its chemical compositions are sensitive to aquatic environment and thus have been used to reconstruct past climatic and environmental changes. However, there is controversy about the controlling factors for the different compositions of ostracod shell...

A critical problem in the study of global climate change is how to identify “missing” carbon sinks. The carbon sink resulting from the weathering of carbonate and silicate minerals may make a major contribution, and it is often coupled with aquatic photosynthesis (the biological carbon pump effect - ‘BCP’). However, the lack of relevant field studi...

This study investigated a series of dammed lakes and downstream-adjacent alluvial fans in the upstream to middle reaches of the Golmud River in the eastern Kunlun Mountain, on the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP). An optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) chronology shows the sediments of five dammed lakes developed from c. 45–40, 30–25,...

As the largest depression in the Tibetan plateau, the Qaidam basin preserves over 10 km thick of Cenozoic sediments. Those sediments represent a unique archive of the evolution of the northern part of the Tibetan plateau and of intracontinental deformation in general. Yet, several critical issues associated with the evolution of the Qaidam basin re...

Land snails are widely distributed animals whose clumped isotope (∆47) in shell carbonates can serve as a proxy for temperature in terrestrial environments. However, it is unclear whether the ∆47 values of snail shells are affected by biological processes known as “vital effects.” Here, we report ∆47 values of whole Achatina fulica snail shells cul...

Plain Language Summary The Tibetan plateau is Earth’s highest and largest plateau and has a protracted growth history closely related to Cenozoic convergence between India and Asia. Resolving its paleoelevation in the early Cenozoic is instructive to understand its growth history and Asian climate changes. Although paleoaltimetry studies have provi...

Understanding of nitrogen stable isotope variation in maize hybrids might help obtaining information on nitrogen absorption and distribution in different maize hybrids. In this study, we examined the nitrogen isotopic composition of different parts of maize hybrids under a laboratory culture experiment. The results showed that the δ15N values of di...

Existing models of intracontinental deformation have focused on plate-like rigid-body motion versus viscous-flow-like distributed deformation. To elucidate how plate convergence is accommodated by intracontinental strike-slip faulting and block rotation within a fold-thrust belt, we examine the Cenozoic structural framework of the central Qilian Sh...

Eolian dust activity studies on the arid Central Asia (ACA), one of the world's largest dust sources, are of great importance to the global climatic system. Grain size distributions (GSDs) can provide information on sediment sources, transport processes and sedimentary environments. As a result, GSD is the most frequently applied proxy in reconstru...

Environmental conditions on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) during the last glacial maximum (LGM) are poorly known. Existing studies of environmental proxies and climate model simulations are contradictory, with interpretations varying between cold-dry and cold-wet environmental conditions which differentially influenced lake volumes, loess deposition and...

The oxygen isotopic composition of sedimentary carbonate (δ¹⁸Ocarb) provides information on the regional water balance between precipitation and evaporation in a lacustrine system. A volume effect was proposed to explain the abnormally low δ¹⁸Ocarb values in Lake Qinghai on the northern Tibetan Plateau, under the conditions of high evaporation and...

The environmental history of the source region of the Yellow River (SRYR) is vital for understanding its hydrological response to climate processes in the alpine northeastern Tibetan Plateau (TP). In this study, we present the first sediment core record from Lake Gyaring, one of the largest fresh lakes in SRYR, using proxies of total organic carbon...

As a transitional region between arid and semi-arid areas, and the climatic junction where the Asian summer monsoon and the Westerlies interact strongly, the climatic pattern of northeastern Tibetan Plateau has always been the focus of paleoclimate research. In this study, the changes in the lake depth of Lake Qinghai on the northeastern Tibetan Pl...

Four saline lakes in the northeast of Qaidam Basin were selected to explore the distribution characteristics and influencing factors of uranium isotopes in lake waters with high evaporation background. The 238U concentration and the activity ratios of 234U/238U ([234U/238U]AR) showed that there was no significant change in the same lake, but there...

The pre‐Cenozoic structural pattern of Asia has had a strong impact on the localization and propagation of the Cenozoic deformation that gave birth to the Tibetan Plateau. Northern Tibet represents a key area to decipher the structural and kinematic links between the Mesozoic and Cenozoic evolution of Tibet. Nonetheless, the Mesozoic tectonic setti...

We report stable (δ¹³C_(shell), δ¹⁸O_(shell)) and clumped isotope (Δ₄₇) compositions of modern and last glacial fossil snail shell carbonates from the Luochuan and Weinan sections on the central and southern Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP). Our study reveals that the average Δ₄₇ temperature (T₄₇) of modern snails is consistent with monitored temperatur...

The topographic growth of a region may alter circulation and potential vorticity of air masses crossing elevated terrain, which may change weathering rates, increase aridification and availability of sediments for wind to entrain. It is hypothesized that these processes may have occurred in the Qilian Shan-Nan Shan thrust belt (QS belt) region, loc...

Mountains grow upward and outward when the accretion of material outpaces its removal. Mountain building is synergistically influenced by geodynamics, internal structures (crustal and lithospheric), and climate. The northward growth of the Qilian Shan, which occupies a transition zone between the ~4500 m high central Tibetan plateau and the adjacen...

In recent years, the sedimentary δ¹³Corg values have been recognized to be indicative of lake-level changes in lakes on the Tibetan Plateau (TP). However, the sensitivity of sedimentary δ¹³Corg to lake-level changes and the potential relationship between lake-level variations and climatic forces are still unknown in this particular region. Here, we...

Lake Qinghai, the largest inland brackish lake in China, is located on the northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau and is affected by both the Asian Monsoon and Westerlies climate systems. It is very sensitive to climate and environmental changes. Moreover, its sediments accumulated over the Cenozoic Era and contain abundant information about pa...

A uranium (U) geochemical study of lake water samples from Qinghai Lake, Northeast Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China, was undertaken to assess the primary controls on lake water chemistry. The ²³⁴U/²³⁸U activity ratios of lake water exhibited limited spatial and vertical variations and were relatively high compared to the values measured in rivers world...

Our limited knowledge of Mesozoic tectonism in the Tibetan Plateau has hindered understanding of its geologic evolution. This study uses zircon U-Pb geochronology to refine regional chronostratigraphy and infer the Jurassic sedimentary-tectonic evolution of the Bangong suture and the south-central Qiangtang terrane in the central plateau. During th...

The Qinghai basin is located in the southeastern part of the Qilian ShanNan Shan orogenic belt, Northeastern Tibetan Plateau (NETP), and contains the largest lake in China, the Qinghai Lake (QL, elevation of 3200 m.a.s.l). The modern basin formed after the growth of Qinghai Nanshan mountain to its south, whereas the lake formed at ~4.6 Ma, as indic...

The stable carbon isotope composition (δ¹³C) of lacustrine sediments, which can record changes in past environmental conditions such as the C4/C3 terrestrial vegetation composition, has been widely used for the reconstruction of terrestrial ecosystems and global climate changes. It has also been widely used in paleolimnological studies in arid nort...

Abstract Holocene climatic and environmental changes on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau (TP) have been widely discussed based on the climatic records from sedimentary cores. However, differences in the reconstructed climatic history from various studies in this region still exist, probably due to influence of climatic proxies from multiple factors...

We used ostracod species assemblages and their δ18O values in a 32-m sediment core from Lake Qinghai, China, along with information from cores collected at other sites in the lake, to infer lake evolution and hydroclimate changes since the last glacial. Dominant ostracod species Ilyocypris bradyi and its low δ18O values showed that Lake Qinghai was...

Total organic carbon (TOC) in lake sediments and its stable carbon isotope (δ13Corg) are widely applied to investigate paleoenvironmental changes even though their implications are complicated and multi-explanatory. Organic geochemistry studies of lake sediments from Qinghai Lake have been investigated, but some interpretations are controversial. I...

We measured selected podomeres, setae and claws in different ostracods and calculated the between-specimen morphological difference, which is expressed as a Canberra dissimilarity index. Our data indicate that morphological differences between ostracods increase with their taxonomic distance. Cluster analyses of ostracod specimens based on Canberra...

Lake Poyang, the largest freshwater lake of China, is well known for its ecological and hydrological importance as a dynamic wetland and lake system. The climatic change and its effect on ecological and hydrological system of the lake has aroused considerable interest in recent years. So, a sediment core from Lake Poyang was analyzed for δ13C total...

Heinrich event 1 (H1) is an important millennial climate event during the last deglaciation. The substantial decreasing of monsoon strength in the East Asian monsoon region during the H1, as shown by stalagmite δ18O records, has been attributed to the southward shift of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ), which is caused by the slowdown/coll...