Human activity and climate change triggered the expansion of rocky desertification in the karst areas of Southwestern China
Journal
Science China Earth Sciences
Journal Volume
64
Journal Issue
10
Pages
1761-1773
Date Issued
2021
Author(s)
Abstract
It is conducive to the sustainable development of human beings in karst regions to research the mechanism of karst rocky desertification (KRD) expansion. Whether the large-scale KRD in southwestern China is caused by climate change or human activities is still controversial. In this study, the evolution of the KRD in southwestern China over the past 2000 years was reconstructed through the high-precision δ13C record of stalagmites from Shijiangjun (SJJ) Cave, Guizhou Province, China. The δ13C of the stalagmites from SJJ Cave exhibited heavy values from the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) to the Little Ice Age (LIA). Furthermore, the δ13C records of other stalagmites and tufa from southwestern China also showed the same significant heavy trend. Because the stalagmite δ13C could record the change of ecological environment, it indicated that the consistent change of the stalagmites δ13C may record the process of KRD expansion in the karst regions of southwestern China. During the MWP, the stronger Asian summer monsoon and the northward movement of the rain belt led to a dry period in southwestern China and a wet period in northern China. In contrast, it was wet in southwestern China and dry in northern China during the LIA. In addition, after the Jing-Kang event (JK event, AD1127) occurred at the end of the Northern Song dynasty, the political and economic center of China migrated to southern China for the first time, which changed the population distribution pattern of larger population in the north and smaller population in the south. Therefore, the expansion of KRD in southwestern China was exacerbated in the MWP due to the change of climate in southwestern China, the migration of a large number of people, wars, the large-scale reclamation of arable land, and the cultivation of large areas of crops. ? 2021, Science China Press and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
Subjects
Jing-Kang event
Karst rocky desertification
Little Ice Age
Medieval Warm Period
Stalagmite δ13C record
Caves
Expansion
Land reclamation
Sustainable development
Asian summer monsoons
Ecological environments
Guizhou Province
High-precision
Human activities
Number of peoples
Population distribution patterns
Climate change
anthropogenic effect
climate change
climate effect
desertification
human activity
karst
rocky desertification
stalagmite
sustainable development
China
Guizhou
Type
journal article