Seasonal ice-covered lake surface likely caused the spatial heterogeneity of aeolian sediment grain-size in the source region of Yellow River, northeastern Tibetan Plateau, China

The area of lakes in Tibetan Plateau (TP) is 36522 km2, accounting for nearly half (49.1%) of the total lake surface area in China, and the lakes in TP are seasonally ice-covered for 4–5 months per year. In such a high-cold Third Pole with extensive lakes, how does aeolian sediment transport on ice...

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Main Authors: Guangyin Hu, Jingjing Hu, Zhibao Dong, Linhai Yang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-05-01
Series:Frontiers in Earth Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2023.1150585/full
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author Guangyin Hu
Jingjing Hu
Zhibao Dong
Linhai Yang
author_facet Guangyin Hu
Jingjing Hu
Zhibao Dong
Linhai Yang
author_sort Guangyin Hu
collection DOAJ
description The area of lakes in Tibetan Plateau (TP) is 36522 km2, accounting for nearly half (49.1%) of the total lake surface area in China, and the lakes in TP are seasonally ice-covered for 4–5 months per year. In such a high-cold Third Pole with extensive lakes, how does aeolian sediment transport on ice cover and to what extent can seasonal ice-covered lake cause sediment redistribution by providing pathways for sediment migration is rarely studied. The source region of Yellow River (SRYR) is located in the northeastern TP with an altitude above 4000 m, is home to large area of seasonal frozen lakes. Nine sections of aeolian sediments were collected from SRYR for grain-size study. The end-member modeling analysis (EMMA) provides a greater chance of resolving aeolian sediment sources since it can quantitatively separate the particle size components of various sedimentary dynamic processes and sources in the sediment. The result shows great spatial difference of the mean grain sizes (mainly varying between 70 and 230 μm). Parametric EMMA is applied to study the provenance tracing of aeolian sediment, combining with remote sensing images and wind data. Aeolian processes were analyzed by separating and extracting the grain size end-members of nine sections, and four statistical end-members (modal grain size is 8.9, 79.5, 141.6, and 251.8 μm, respectively) were classified from the grain size distribution. It shows that the sedimentary sequences in sections 7 and 8 have high EM2 and EM3 fractions and very low EM4 content at all depths. Based on comprehensive analysis of aeolian sediment grain-size, phenology of ice lake, wind regime and remote sensing images, it revealed that the fine aeolian sediments (sections 7 and 8) on the downwind shore of Ngoring Lake likely transported from the upwind shore, which were blown across the ice-covered lake surface by prevailing west wind in winter and spring, but the coarse sediments could be trapped by ice cracks. Therefore, it’s concluded that the aeolian sediment transport on seasonal ice-covered lakes may lead to the spatial heterogeneity of aeolian sediment grain-size in the SRYR.
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spelling doaj.art-b3dca72e1b0349699297fcaebe47c1072023-05-09T05:02:09ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Earth Science2296-64632023-05-011110.3389/feart.2023.11505851150585Seasonal ice-covered lake surface likely caused the spatial heterogeneity of aeolian sediment grain-size in the source region of Yellow River, northeastern Tibetan Plateau, ChinaGuangyin HuJingjing HuZhibao DongLinhai YangThe area of lakes in Tibetan Plateau (TP) is 36522 km2, accounting for nearly half (49.1%) of the total lake surface area in China, and the lakes in TP are seasonally ice-covered for 4–5 months per year. In such a high-cold Third Pole with extensive lakes, how does aeolian sediment transport on ice cover and to what extent can seasonal ice-covered lake cause sediment redistribution by providing pathways for sediment migration is rarely studied. The source region of Yellow River (SRYR) is located in the northeastern TP with an altitude above 4000 m, is home to large area of seasonal frozen lakes. Nine sections of aeolian sediments were collected from SRYR for grain-size study. The end-member modeling analysis (EMMA) provides a greater chance of resolving aeolian sediment sources since it can quantitatively separate the particle size components of various sedimentary dynamic processes and sources in the sediment. The result shows great spatial difference of the mean grain sizes (mainly varying between 70 and 230 μm). Parametric EMMA is applied to study the provenance tracing of aeolian sediment, combining with remote sensing images and wind data. Aeolian processes were analyzed by separating and extracting the grain size end-members of nine sections, and four statistical end-members (modal grain size is 8.9, 79.5, 141.6, and 251.8 μm, respectively) were classified from the grain size distribution. It shows that the sedimentary sequences in sections 7 and 8 have high EM2 and EM3 fractions and very low EM4 content at all depths. Based on comprehensive analysis of aeolian sediment grain-size, phenology of ice lake, wind regime and remote sensing images, it revealed that the fine aeolian sediments (sections 7 and 8) on the downwind shore of Ngoring Lake likely transported from the upwind shore, which were blown across the ice-covered lake surface by prevailing west wind in winter and spring, but the coarse sediments could be trapped by ice cracks. Therefore, it’s concluded that the aeolian sediment transport on seasonal ice-covered lakes may lead to the spatial heterogeneity of aeolian sediment grain-size in the SRYR.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2023.1150585/fullaeolian sedimentgrain sizeice-covered lakespatial heterogeneitysource region of the Yellow RiverTibetan Plateau
spellingShingle Guangyin Hu
Jingjing Hu
Zhibao Dong
Linhai Yang
Seasonal ice-covered lake surface likely caused the spatial heterogeneity of aeolian sediment grain-size in the source region of Yellow River, northeastern Tibetan Plateau, China
Frontiers in Earth Science
aeolian sediment
grain size
ice-covered lake
spatial heterogeneity
source region of the Yellow River
Tibetan Plateau
title Seasonal ice-covered lake surface likely caused the spatial heterogeneity of aeolian sediment grain-size in the source region of Yellow River, northeastern Tibetan Plateau, China
title_full Seasonal ice-covered lake surface likely caused the spatial heterogeneity of aeolian sediment grain-size in the source region of Yellow River, northeastern Tibetan Plateau, China
title_fullStr Seasonal ice-covered lake surface likely caused the spatial heterogeneity of aeolian sediment grain-size in the source region of Yellow River, northeastern Tibetan Plateau, China
title_full_unstemmed Seasonal ice-covered lake surface likely caused the spatial heterogeneity of aeolian sediment grain-size in the source region of Yellow River, northeastern Tibetan Plateau, China
title_short Seasonal ice-covered lake surface likely caused the spatial heterogeneity of aeolian sediment grain-size in the source region of Yellow River, northeastern Tibetan Plateau, China
title_sort seasonal ice covered lake surface likely caused the spatial heterogeneity of aeolian sediment grain size in the source region of yellow river northeastern tibetan plateau china
topic aeolian sediment
grain size
ice-covered lake
spatial heterogeneity
source region of the Yellow River
Tibetan Plateau
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feart.2023.1150585/full
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