Catastrophic flashflood and mudflow events in the pre-historical Lajia Ruins at the northeast margin of the Chinese Tibetan Plateau

doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106737

CORC > 成都山地灾害与环境研究所 > 中国科学院水利部成都山地灾害与环境研究所 > 山地灾害与地表过程重点实验室

	Catastrophic flashflood and mudflow events in the pre-historical Lajia Ruins at the northeast margin of the Chinese Tibetan Plateau
	Wang, Haiyan 1; Huang, Chun Chang 1; Pang, Jiangli 1; Zhou, Yali 1; Cuan, Yuda 1; Guo, Yongqiang 2; Zhang, Yuzhu 3; Zhou, Qiang 4; Rong, Xiaoqing 1; Shang, Ruiqing 1
刊名	QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS
	2021
卷号	251 页码:106737
关键词	Tibetan Plateau Lajia Ruins Holocene Surface processes Stratigraphic sequence Pre-historical catastrophes
ISSN号	0277-3791
DOI	10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106737
通讯作者	Huang, Chun Chang(cchuang@snnu.edu.cn)
产权排序	2
文献子类	Article
英文摘要	Global change induced regional environmental variation and related catastrophic surface processes have greatly affected human life and social development during the last decades. These occurrences have also been highlighted by pre-historical catastrophes exposed by archaeological excavation in the Lajia Ruins at the northeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau, which has attracted considerable focus from both geologists and the world media. The cause of the disasters responsible for the destruction of the Lajia Settlement (C-14 age 4.15-3.85 ka BP) of the Qijia Culture remains controversial due to insufficient investigation of the Holocene sedimentary succession needed to establish a complete pedo-stratigraphic sequence and chronology, and thus to precisely constrain environment variation and related surface processes at that time. During our field investigations, a complete and continuous Holocene soil and sediment profile was identified in the northern part of the Lajia Ruins uniquely. Soil and sediment samples were taken systematically for physical and chemical analysis and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating after detailed field observations and descriptions. The results demonstrate that the pedo-stratigraphic sequence includes Malan loess (L1-1, >11.50 ka BP) and transitional loess (L-t, 11.50-8.50 ka BP) in the bottom, a composite palaeosol (S0, 8.50-3.10 ka BP) in the middle, and recent loess (L0, 3.10e1.50 ka BP) and modern soil (MS, 1.50-0 ka BP) in the top. This pedo-stratigraphic sequence is comparable to those identified in the central part of the Loess Plateau. However, the mid-Holocene palaeosol (S-0) is inserted by three layers of red clay (RC1, RC2, and RC3) and flashflood deposit (FFD), and thus subdivided into four sub-layers (S0-upper, S0- upper middle, S0-lower middle, and S0-lower). The red clays and the flashflood deposit are inferred to represent abrupt events of flashflood and mudflow that were dated to 3.96-3.65 ka by OSL and to 3.85-3.60 ka BP by AMS C-14 methods. Indeed, the entire settlement, dwellings, pottery artifacts, and human skeletons in the Lajia Ruins are directly packed by these deposits. The Lajia Ruins is thus considered to be destroyed by enormous flashfloods and mudflows coming from the Ganggou and Lujiagou gullies, which submerged the settlement at C-14 3.85 ka BP or OSL 3.96 ka. These disastrous events are related to climatic deterioration since 4.20 ka BP that has resulted in severe convective weather and strong rainstorms affecting the northeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau. With consideration of the badly deformed ground and dwelling floors in the Lajia Ruins by crisscrossing earthquake fissures, that are also infilled and packed by flashflood and mudflow deposits, it is concluded that great earthquakes occurred as the first hitting to the settlement at Lajia. The enormous flashfloods and mudflows may have been induced by multiple earthquakes and rainstorms simultaneously. These results bear important implications for a better understanding of pre-historic environmental change and human-land relationship evolution at the northeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
资助项目	National Natural Science Foundation of China[41771110] ; National Natural Science Foundation of China[41971116] ; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities[2019TS021]
WOS关键词	UPPER YELLOW-RIVER ; GUANTING BASIN ; LOESS PLATEAU ; HOLOCENE CLIMATE ; GREAT FLOOD ; QINGHAI ; EVOLUTION ; LUMINESCENCE ; RECORDS ; RECONSTRUCTION
WOS研究方向	Physical Geography ; Geology
语种	英语
出版者	PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
WOS记录号	WOS:000600739300025
资助机构	National Natural Science Foundation of China ; Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
内容类型	期刊论文
源URL	[http://ir.imde.ac.cn/handle/131551/55134]
专题	成都山地灾害与环境研究所_山地灾害与地表过程重点实验室
通讯作者	Huang, Chun Chang
作者单位	1.Shaanxi Normal Univ, Sch Geog & Tourism, 620 West Changan Ave, Xian 710119, Peoples R China; 2.Chinese Acad Sci, Inst Mt Hazards & Environm, Chengdu 610041, Peoples R China; 3.Northwest Univ, Coll Urban & Environm Sci, Shaanxi Key Lab Earth Surface Syst & Environm Car, Xian 710127, Peoples R China; 4.Qinghai Normal Univ, Sch Geog Sci, Xining 810008, Peoples R China
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Wang, Haiyan,Huang, Chun Chang,Pang, Jiangli,et al. Catastrophic flashflood and mudflow events in the pre-historical Lajia Ruins at the northeast margin of the Chinese Tibetan Plateau[J]. QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS,2021,251:106737.
APA	Wang, Haiyan.,Huang, Chun Chang.,Pang, Jiangli.,Zhou, Yali.,Cuan, Yuda.,...&Shang, Ruiqing.(2021).Catastrophic flashflood and mudflow events in the pre-historical Lajia Ruins at the northeast margin of the Chinese Tibetan Plateau.QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS,251,106737.
MLA	Wang, Haiyan,et al."Catastrophic flashflood and mudflow events in the pre-historical Lajia Ruins at the northeast margin of the Chinese Tibetan Plateau".QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS 251(2021):106737.