Articles | Volume 17, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1395-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-1395-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
29 Jun 2021
Research article |
| 29 Jun 2021
| 29 Jun 2021
Climate-driven desertification and its implications for the ancient Silk Road trade
Guanghui Dong
Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Leibin Wang
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Centre for Climate and Environmental Changes, School of Geographical Sciences, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
David Dian Zhang
Centre for Climate and Environmental Changes, School of Geographical Sciences, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Fengwen Liu
Institute for Ecological Research and Pollution Control of Plateau Lakes, School of Ecology and Environment Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650504, China
Yifu Cui
College of Tourism, Huaqiao University, Quanzhou 362021, China
Guoqiang Li
Key Laboratory of Western China's Environmental Systems (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Zhilin Shi
Institute of Dunhuang Studies, School of History & Culture, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 73000, China
Fahu Chen
Group of Alpine Paleoecology and Human Adaptation (ALPHA), State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
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Branched GDGTs are bacterial lipids preserved in soils and sediments, used as climate proxies. This study presents the Arid Central Asian brGDGT surface database to assess their reliability in drylands. Results show that salinity, sample type, pH, and aridity strongly influence brGDGT signals, limiting temperature reconstructions. Refined calibrations improve reconstruction accuracy, and methylation index differences may indicate aridity variations.
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Short summary
A compilation of the results of absolute dating and high-resolution paleoclimatic records from the Xishawo site in the Dunhuang area and historical archives reveals that two desertification events occurred at ~ 800–600 BCE and ~ 1450 CE. The later desertification event was consistent with the immediate fall in tribute trade that occurred in ~ 1450 CE, which indicates that climate change played a potentially important role in explaining the decline of the Ancient Silk Road trade.
A compilation of the results of absolute dating and high-resolution paleoclimatic records from...
