Sun Jimin, Liu Tungsheng
State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Post Office Box 9825, Beijing 100029, China.
Science. 2006 Jun 16;312(5780):1621. doi: 10.1126/science.1124616.
The Taklimakan Desert is located in the foreland basin of the Tibetan Plateau. We report here the results of stratigraphic investigations of a 1626-meter-thick sequence with interbedded wind-blown silt from the southern marginal Taklimakan Desert. Because the studied section is located downwind of the desert, the eolian silt accumulation is closely linked to desert formation. Our new evidence indicates that shifting sand dunes prevailed in the Tarim Basin by at least 5.3 million years ago, as they do today. We attribute this event to late Cenozoic climatic deterioration, as well as to changes in atmospheric circulation induced by Tibetan Plateau uplift.
塔克拉玛干沙漠位于青藏高原的前陆盆地。我们在此报告对塔克拉玛干沙漠南缘一个1626米厚、夹有风成粉砂层序的地层调查结果。由于研究剖面位于沙漠的下风处，风成粉砂的堆积与沙漠形成密切相关。我们的新证据表明，塔里木盆地至少在530万年前就存在移动沙丘，如今依然如此。我们将此归因于晚新生代气候恶化以及青藏高原隆升引起的大气环流变化。
