Collaborative Research: Quaternary Environmental History of the Lake Qinghai Basin, Northeastern Tibet

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This project aims to document the Quaternary fluvial, glacial, periglacial, eolian, and lacustrine history of the Lake Qinghai watershed, thereby constraining the timing and amplitude of environmental response to Quaternary climate variability and the relevant climate forcing mechanisms. It compliments the scientific drilling of Lake Qinghai (funded by the International Continental Drilling Program). By correlating the high-resolution paleoclimatic reconstructions gained from the Lake Qinghai drill cores with the record preserved in the glacial, fluvial, eolian, and shoreline deposits in the surrounding watershed, a detailed environmental history of the basin is being developed and important questions about the response of terrestrial systems to climatic change are being answered. To meet the project goals, glacial, eolian, fluvial, and lake-shore deposits that can be correlated with lake-core sediments are being mapped and dated. Also, a basin-wide history of Quaternary deposition and erosion (sediment aggradation and terracing) is being developed by studying the sedimentology and geomorphology of the basin's largest river systems and of the glacial and eolian deposits in and adjacent to the Qinghai Nan Shan on the south side of the lake. The research is being conducted in close cooperation with scientists from the Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology in the Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IEECAS), Xi'an, China, and from Peking University (Bejing). Together, the project scientists are documenting the environmental impact of past climate changes in this important part of the global climate system - an effort that is improving the overall understanding of climate dynamics, leading to a better understanding of how landscape evolution is related to climatic change and how landscape evolution impacts human inhabitants of the region, and helping assess the potential impacts of future climate changes on society.