The monthly sand and dust deposition flux and modern dust storms were monitored in the northern Qaidam Basin of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. The monthly sand and dust flux varied between 0.57 and 18.12 mg cm−2 month−1 from June 2003 to April 2005, and was well correlated with the monthly extreme wind velocity (Vextr) (r2=0.60, n=23). Sand and dust was mainly deposited in spring and early summer in the study area. The weight of settled sand and dust collected during dust storms exhibited a positive correlation with the mean 10-min wind velocity (r2=0.60, n=16) during the dust storms. For the typical dust storms, the weight and flux of settled sand and dust will linearly increase with the increasing wind strength and fluctuation amplitude of wind velocities. The coarse fraction (N63 μm) also increases with them, in contrast, the finegrained fraction (b63 μm) decreases. It is plausible to assume that most of the fine-grained dust particles are lifted and transported far from the region under dust storm conditions, especially under the stronger and more variable wind conditions. The results demonstrate that the wind regime (strength and variability) is a key control on the sand and dust deposition during dust storm; dust can be emitted from the Qaidam Basin as one of dust source areas in China.

The pedocomplex designated as S1 in the western part of the Chinese Loess Plateau, corresponding to MIS 5, has been investigated with the focus on the S1S3 unit (equivalent to Eemian in Europe). The high-resolution data (2-cm interval, ca. 150 years) of the particle size distribution and the frequency-dependent magnetic susceptibility were used to reconstruct variations in the winter and summer monsoon intensities. The data show that the summer monsoon was strongest and the winter monsoon weakest in the late part of the Eemian interglacial. Contrary to previous reports from the central part of the Chinese Loess Plateau, our results show that the East Asian monsoons in the western part of the Plateau were quite stable during the last interglacial. However, our data do exhibit four abrupt events of intensified winter monsoon during the transition from the penultimate glacial to the last interglacial. Also found were the existence of a time lag between the summer and winter monsoons. That is, the intensity of the winter monsoon started to decline prior to the sudden strengthening of the summer monsoon during the transition from MIS 6 to MIS 5e and it gradually returned to a glacial state after the intensity of the summer monsoon rapidly resumed its glacial state from MIS 5e to MIS 5d. The time lag between the two monsoons might have resulted from the different sensitivity of the two indirect driving forces (ice–snow coverage in high latitudes and sea-surface temperature in low latitudes) to global insolation as the ultimate direct forcing factor. Specifically, the winter monsoon had followed the insolation variations very closely, whereas the summer monsoon had delayed to respond to the insolation variations because of the buffering effect of lower latitude oceans.

通过分析苏干湖地区10个地表表层沉积物、9个大气降尘（含2个尘暴降尘）、16个湖泊表层沉积物等样品的8种常量一微量元素和11种稀土元素的含量，以及同类沉积不同元素含量和不同沉积同一元素含量的相关性，结果表明，在湖泊沉积体系中AI、Fe、受含量的变化与强风一尘暴过程有关，指示了湖泊沉积碎屑颗粒风成输入的可能性，元素Fe、Se含量在3种不同的沉积物中差异不大，与尘暴事件的强度和频次有关，稀土元素结果显示3类沉积具有同源性，苏干湖沉积可以用来重建研究区尘暴演化历史。

对腾恪里沙漠东南缘风成沉积相典型剖面（中卫南山剖面）年代的测定，建立了60ka以来腾格里沙漠演化的时间序列，并结台子地层粒度组分分析结果认为60ka以来腾格里沙漠演化共经历了5个阶段。60～20 kaBP，腾格里沙漠的范围远没有到达现在的位置，20～10kaB P，沙漠向东南方向大规模扩展，奠定了东南缘现代沙漠环境的恪局，8.1～5.2kaB P，沙漠东南部得到固定，沙漠范围缩小，11～8.1kaB P与5.2kaB P至现代两阶段和现代沙漠环境接近。

选择位于柴达木盆地北缘的苏干湖作为研究对象，利用210Pb，AMS 14C以及常规14C等测年手段，建立了苏干湖沉积岩芯2ka以来的时间序列。对湖泊沉积细颗粒中的碳酸盐进行碳、氧同位素分析。结合流域地表水δ18O值的变化以及气温观测资料，认为碳酸盐δ18O 值指示了流域有效湿度的变化；δ13C值的变化与湖泊年内冰封湖面时期的长短有关，间接指示了区域冬半年气温的变化，在此基础上，建立了2 ka来苏干湖地区气候变化序列，其气候变化过程经历了5个阶段: 0~190 AD，暖干；190~580 AD，冷干；580-1200AD（MWP），暖干；1200-1880 AD（LIA），冷湿；1880~1950 AD期间为冷干气候, 20 世纪50年代以来，气候变暖。碳同位素反映的2 ka 以来冬半年气温的变化与历史文献记录以及其他地质记录有很好的一致性，表明苏干湖同位素记录的2ka来气候变化具有普遍意义。