ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Research on Holocene Loess Erosion Associated
to Climate Evolution in China
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1
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Chang’an University, Xi’an, China
2
Key Laboratory of Subsurface Hydrology and Ecological Effect in Arid Region of the Ministry of Education,
Chang’an University, Xi’an, China
3
School of Highways, Chang’an University, Xi’an, China
Submission date: 2018-10-08
Final revision date: 2018-11-12
Acceptance date: 2018-11-22
Online publication date: 2019-08-02
Publication date: 2019-10-23
Corresponding author
Chen Yao
Key Laboratory Subsurface Hydrology and Ecological Effects in Arid Region (Chang\'an University), Ministry of Education, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710054, Shaanxi, China, 710054 Xi’an, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2020;29(1):409-417
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ABSTRACT
Loess is the carrier for the Chinese nation’s survival, and we can accurately know its erosion
changes since the Holocene, the current period of geologic time, which is very important to predict
future trends. However, there is very limited quantitative research on Holocene climate change and
loess erosion intensity. This research takes the Holocene loess depositional sequence of Shaolingyuan
in Xi’an at southern loess plateau as the research object to analyze the magnetic susceptibility and
stratigraphic age structure of sedimentary sequences, and describe the climate change in different
periods. This method uses the sensitivity of pedogenes and fits the precipitation and temperature
equation to quantitatively reconstruct the paleoprecipitation and paleotemperature changes since the
Holocene, which determines the relationship between soil erosion intensity and precipitation in order to
estimate soil erosion intensity since the Holocene period. Results show that the climate change in Xi'an
is as follows: 10000~8400 a B.P. is the cold temperature transition stage; 8400~7000 a B.P. is
the warm-cold fluctuation stage; 7000~5000 a B.P. is the warm temperature stage; 5000~3400 a B.P.
is the warm-cold violent fluctuation stage; and 3400 a B.P. is the warm-semi-humid and semi-arid
stage. The Holocene soil erosion intensity changes with annual average precipitation. At 9700 a B.P.,
the annual average rainfall is 676.6mm, the Estimate of soil erosion intensity reaches its peak value
(1287.7 Mg·km−2·a −1), and the soil erosion intensity will become more serious for some time in the future.
This research proposes a new method for estimating soil erosion intensity changes caused by climate
change, which not only infers the relationship between soil erosion intensity and climate change, but also
provides a theoretical basis for accurately processing the soil and water conservation works in the loess
area.