| Desert and Desertification |
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| Grain-size Weibull Composition of Surface Dust Deposits and Atmospheric Dustfall, and Their Environmental Implications in Qaidam Basin, China |
| XIAO Shun1,2,3, ZHOU Ai-feng1, HUANG Xiao-zhong1, JIN Ming1, SUN Dong-huai1, CHEN Fa-hu1 |
1.MOE Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems/Research School of Arid Environment and Climate Change, Lanzhou 730000, China;
2.State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xian 710075, China;
3.Climate Center of Shaanxi Meteorological Bureau, Xian 710014, China |
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Abstract Global warming has been proved by many observational data from all over the world. The role of aeolian dust in climate system has been especially paid much attention to due to its potential in cooling the Earth. Arid northwestern China is a main dust source region in the Northern Hemisphere. The fine grain and clay fraction particles in these areas can be uplifted into upper level air flow by westerly circulation and dispersed over a wide altitudinal range, and may deposit far from the source areas. Consequently, the fine and ultrafine components, equivalent to fine silt and clay fractions, have the global connections with aeolian dust, climate and ocean biogeochemistry. In comparison, the coarse grains are generally transported by surface wind in short-duration suspension episodes, and they accumulate in the adjacent downwind areas to form loess. In the paper, we summarize the grain-size distribution patterns of aeolian dust deposits from different sedimentary environments. Results show that there are lower content of fine and ultrafine components in surface deposits, higher content of coarse component in dust storm samples, and high content of fine component in dust-trapped lake ice column from the Sugan Lake in northern Qaidam Basin. There are similar grain-size distribution patterns in annual dustfall, seasonal dustfall and dustfall during duststorm events, which indicate that annual dustfall and seasonal dustfall are mainly contributed by regional duststorm events. In summer, the content of fine component in dustfall is slightly higher, which should be due to more precipitation. Detailed examination on the fine and the ultrafine components of annual dustfall, seasonal dustfall and duststorm samples suggests that dust particles originate not only from dustfall during duststorm events, but also from atmospheric dust loadings associated with westerly circulation. In addition, the fine component of dust trapped in lake ice column can be regarded a paleoclimatic proxy for winter wind regime responding to Siberian-Mongolian High Pressure System.
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Received: 16 February 2012
Published: 20 September 2012
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Cite this article:
XIAO Shun, ZHOU Ai-feng, HUANG Xiao-zhong, JIN Ming, SUN Dong-huai, CHEN Fa-hu. Grain-size Weibull Composition of Surface Dust Deposits and Atmospheric Dustfall, and Their Environmental Implications in Qaidam Basin, China. JOURNAL OF DESERT RESEARCH, 2012, 32(5): 1193-1200.
URL:
http://www.desert.ac.cn/EN/ OR http://www.desert.ac.cn/EN/Y2012/V32/I5/1193
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2012, Vol. 32 
