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

本项目旨在记录青海湖流域第四纪河流、冰川、冰缘、风成和湖泊的历史，从而限制第四纪气候变率的环境响应的时间和幅度以及相关的气候强迫机制。这是对青海湖科学钻探（由国际大陆钻探计划资助）的赞扬。通过将青海湖岩心的高分辨率古气候重建结果与周边流域的冰川、河流、风成和岸线沉积物中保存的记录相结合，可以开发出详细的盆地环境史，并回答有关陆地系统对气候变化响应的重要问题。为了实现项目目标，可以与湖芯沉积物相关联的冰川、风成、河流和湖岸沉积物正在被绘制和确定年代。此外，通过研究盆地最大的河流系统的沉积学和地貌学，以及湖泊南侧青海南山及其邻近地区的冰川和风积沉积物，正在开发整个盆地的第四纪沉积和侵蚀（沉积物沉积和梯田）历史。这项研究是与中国科学院西安地球环境研究所黄土与第四纪地质实验室和北京大学的科学家密切合作进行的。该项目的科学家们正在共同记录过去气候变化对全球气候系统这一重要部分的环境影响——这一努力正在提高对气候动力学的整体认识，从而更好地了解景观演变与气候变化的关系，以及景观演变如何影响该地区的人类居民，并帮助评估未来气候变化对社会的潜在影响。

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.