Asian dust emission is not only in response to global climate changes, but also affects the variability of the global climate system, with involved processes and mechanisms being crucial for interpreting atmospheric dust records at various timescales. However, due to intense wind erosion in source areas, geological records that can reflect dust emission processes are always poorly preserved. Here, we report a large deflation depression in the Gonghe Basin, northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, and attempt to use the wind-eroded landforms to deduce the dynamics of dust emission during the last glacial. Through topographic analyses based on digital elevation models, we identified five levels of tiered terrains within the depression in the western Gonghe Basin. Geomorphic evidence demonstrates that the development of the depression initiated from the Second Tala surface, and that wind deflation is the sole agent for evacuating materials, namely, the strata of the Gonghe Formation, out of the depression. Meanwhile, the fluvial and lake-shore erosion of the surrounding Gonghe Formation may have generated a great deal of loose sediments, thereby providing an erodible substrate for subsequent deflation when the lakes dried up. We propose that the alternately episodic water and wind erosion, driven by climatic shifts between warm-wet and cold-dry states, jointly shaped the depression and the tiered terrains within it. Based on the Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) dates of aeolian sands underlying fluvial gravels in stratigraphic sections at different elevations across the western Gonghe Basin, we roughly constrained the formation timing of the Second Tala surface, and thus the period of the depression development at 90-15 ka, with a deflation rate of similar to 1.5 mm a(-1) and a dust emission flux of similar to 850.9 g m(-2) a(-1). However, this flux most likely represents a minimal estimate. Nonetheless, it provides a critical reference for assessing the magnitude of dust emission from Asian source areas during the last glacial, particularly offering insights into dust variability as recorded by pelagic sediments from the Northern Pacific. Our results would be helpful to deeply understand the mechanism of dust emission and landscape evolution in Asian source areas.

Understanding the driving mechanisms of dust storm variability on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is crucial for clarifying the coupling of the Asian climate system. However, the long-term dust storm records with robust chronology and high-resolution were remain scarce across the TP, therefore, the driving mechanisms of the dust storm in the western TP during the Holocene are still unclear. Here we present a dust storm record covering the past 10,900 years from Aweng Co in the western TP, and the components, potentially induced by dust-storm process, in core sediments were extracted from the grain-size data of the sediment core by using standard deviation method, in conjunction with analyses of contemporary samples from both the lake surface sediments and the catchment deposits. The results show that dust storm activities were weaker from the early to mid-Holocene before 3.5 cal ka BP (1 ka = 1000 years), and strengthened rapidly afterwards. The high frequency and intensity of dust storm activity in the late Holocene was attributed to both reduced vegetation cover associated with decreased precipitation and strong wind regime. The latter was closely tied to the strengthened intensity and southward displacement of the westerlies, which was modulated by the Siberian High, the negative phase of North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and solar activity in the late Holocene. Furthermore, the dust storm activity in the late Holocene exhibited a periodicity of 13 years, 27 years and 216 years, suggesting that solar activity may have played a role in modulating the frequency of the dust storms in the western TP on the decadal-centennial scale.

Wind-induced depressions in arid and semiarid regions are generally regarded as dust hotspots, and then play an important role in releasing dust into the atmosphere, which in turn exerts significant influences on climate change on a large scale. To unravel the mechanisms driving the formation of depressions, it is vital to ascertain the provenance of surface sediments around them. A well-preserved depression, with an opening area of approximately 579.81 km2, is located in the Gonghe Basin on the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. However, to date, the origin of this depression remains unclear. Here, we conducted a comprehensive investigation of various surface deposits in the study area, including alluvial fan deposits, loess, overbank deposits, lakeshore deposits, mobile dune sands, and the strata of the Gonghe Formation exposed in the depression. The multiple proxies of these samples, such as grain size, elemental composition, heavy minerals, and magnetic parameters, were measured. The results show that the heavy mineral assemblages of mobile dune sand and loess are similar to those of the Gonghe Formation, but significantly different from those of alluvial fan deposits. Although the heavy mineral and grain size composition of overbank sediments of the Shazhuyu River resemble those of mobile dune sands, this does not prove the overbank deposits as a source for dune sands. Instead, it is likely that aeolian sands are transported by winds to overbanks under such a semi-arid circumstance. Geochemical and magnetic proxies also reveal that aeolian sand and loess are fundamentally derived from the Gonghe Formation, rather than alluvial fans, overbanks, or lakeshore deposits. These results suggest that the strata of the Gonghe Formation have been transformed to dune sands and loess in an aeolian system, and that detrital input into the depression from the upper reach of the Shazhuyu River was limited. Furthermore, the geomorphic surface of the Second Tala (Tala = plain, in Mongolian) is flat and integrated, without any signs of fluvial incision. Collectively, we conclude that the depression was formed primarily by aeolian deflation, and the main body subjected to erosion is the Gonghe Formation.

In recent decades, lakes in arid central Asia have undergone severe ecological and environmental changes due to accelerated climate warming and intense human activities. However, there have been few studies that integrate multi-community dynamics, long-term historical trends, and drivers of ecological change, limiting our ability to effectively manage the evolution of these freshwater ecosystems. In this paper, we analyze high-resolution biotic proxies (subfossil cladocerans and diatoms) from Bosten Lake and Ailike Lake, northwest China, over the past two centuries, and compare these records with other lakes in the region to reveal changes in lake ecosystems. Our results indicate that natural climate variability was the primary driver of a first transition (similar to 1910 CE), whereas anthropogenic forcings predominantly drove a second transition (similar to 1960 CE) in these dryland lakes. After similar to 1960 CE, planktonic eutrophic cladoceran species such as Bosmina longirostris and diatom species including Fragilaria cf. crotonensis, Cyclotella atomus, and Cyclotella meneghiniana became more dominant. Redundancy analysis and variance partitioning analysis suggest that changes in community assemblages were mainly driven by nitrogen loading (TN and/or delta N-15), with additional influences related to lake productivity (Chl-a and TOC) and global warming. Furthermore, another shift in cladoceran composition in Bosten Lake, commencing similar to 1990 CE, from large-sized Daphnia to small-sized Bosmina, was likely caused by increased predation pressure as result of the introduction of commercial fish farming. Our findings highlight the importance of understanding the complex interactions of lake ecological shifts with compounded stressors, both climate and anthropogenic forcings, for sustainable water management strategies, enhancing ecological resilience, and protecting freshwater ecosystems from further degradation.

Asian dust storms are an integral component of the Earth's biogeochemical and climate systems, and they exhibit pronounced spatiotemporal variability shaped by complex atmospheric and surface processes. This Virtual Special Issue (VSI) explores the variability and underlying mechanisms of Asian dust storms on sub-orbital to decadal timescales through the Holocene, and comprises 20 interdisciplinary studies. In this editorial preface, we synthesize the key findings of these studies and contextualize them within broader climatic and environmental frameworks. The main insights are as follows: (1) Contemporary observations indicate a rapid increase in dust storms across the Mongolia-China border, and these phenomena now comprise a dominant component of East Asian dust storm activity. This trend is linked to enhanced Mongolian cyclonic systems, land surface degradation, and synoptic-scale atmospheric features such as cut-off lows. (2) Holocene reconstructions based on loess and lake sediment records reveal contrasting controls across regions. In humid East Asian monsoon zones, dust storms are primarily governed by hydroclimate and vegetation dynamics, whereas in arid regions—including arid Central Asia and the Tibetan Plateau—dust activity is predominantly modulated by wind regimes due to sparse vegetation cover. (3) Dust storm mechanisms vary across timescales; for example, dust activity on the Tibetan Plateau is driven by the westerlies on a millennial timescale, but it shifts to East Asian winter monsoon on the centennial timescale. Collectively, these findings highlight the importance of high-resolution archives and integrative approaches for resolving dust-climate interactions in the context of ongoing and future climate change.

Fire activity reshapes the successions of forest and steppe ecosystems. However, the long‐term fire history and its driving factors in the Altai Mountains remain poorly documented and understood. In this study, we explore the Holocene fire history and its influencing factors, based on different sizes and morphologies of charcoals in a sediment core from Tolbo Lake in the Altai Mountains. On a millennial‐scale, fire activity was primarily regulated by moisture‐driven biomass availability. After ∼6000 BP, increased precipitation led to higher biomass and enhanced fire activity, with potentially higher human activities contribution. At a centennial‐scale, lower fire frequency corresponded to cold climate events in this study. Ongoing global warming may increase the risk of fires in the Altai region.

Chinese loess deposits are one of the most important terrestrial archives for understanding past climate change and global atmospheric circulation. However, the nature of loess deposition and the processes involved in it are not fully understood, limiting interpretations of the environmental significance of proxies applied to both loess deposits and distal dust records. On the basis of changes in lithostratigraphy and multiple proxies (grain size, magnetic susceptibility and weight loss-on-ignition), we investigated two outcropped sections in the transitional zone between the Mu Us Sandy Land (MUSL) and the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP), attempting to depict the nature of aeolian deposition along the desert margins adjacent to the CLP and understand the dust dynamics that potentially affect typical loess deposition and long-range dust deposition from source areas to distal regions. The strata are mainly composed of alternating layers of loess, paleosol and aeolian sand, with obvious unconformities and abrupt grain size changes occurring at the transitions from loess/paleosol to sand deposition. The sand deposits interbedded with typical loess and/or paleosol suggest that proximal deserts have episodically expanded close to the study sites. Based on 15 luminescence dates, a comparison with other well-dated loess sections reveals the absence of strata in section Baijie between 132.5 and 105.7 ka may have resulted from aeolian erosion of previously deposited loess and paleosol during the late Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 and MIS 5e. This erosion was most likely caused by an expansion of the MUSL during MIS 5d, as suggested by a well-sorted sand layer immediately overlying the loess deposition of MIS 6. The loess and/or paleosols previously deposited in upwind regions of the CLP have been partially eroded by winds, acting as a significant source for dust deposits downwind and resulting in dust flux peaks observed in distal marine sediments during MIS 5d. Such a linkage suggests the areas, which had belonged to the CLP and covered by typical loess but at present became a part of the MUSL, could serve as an additional source for dust deposition in the North Pacific during some intervals of the Quaternary. Our results provide insights into dust provenances for proximal Chinese loess and distal marine dust deposition, offering plausible interpretations on existing discrepancies of dust fluxes from different geological archives.

Holocene climate changes in the Altai Mountains and the surrounding areas are well documented, but the timing of the Holocene precipitation maximum remains controversial. We obtained 17 accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) C-14 dates and 310 fossil pollen assemblages from sediments in Tolbo Lake, which we used to reconstruct the history of vegetation and climate change in the Mongolian Altai Mountains over the past 13,750 years. The results suggest that mean annual precipitation (P-ann) was the most significant control on the fossil pollen record at the study site. Based on the fossil pollen record from Tolbo Lake and 469 surface pollen samples within the radius of 1300 km, the reconstructed P-ann was lowest during 13.7-11.3 ka (1 ka = 1,000 cal yr BP); relatively low but increasing P-ann occurred in the early Holocene (11.3-9.4 ka); and maximum P-ann occurred during the middle to late Holocene (after 6.8 ka), possibly because of the high temperatures. A significant climatic and ecological transition occurred in the Altai Mountains at similar to 7 ka: steppe and desert steppe vegetation with generally low P-ann was present before similar to 7 ka, while subsequently there was the expansion of forest vegetation and a marked increase in P-ann, possibly in response to the minimum in Northern Hemisphere ice sheets and the increased radiative forcing caused by rising atmospheric greenhouse gases.

Asia's mountainous arid and semiarid regions feature forests in wet high-mountain areas and grasslands/deserts in dry basins. Assessing changes in millennial-scale effective moisture in mountain-basin systems can provide a valuable reference for understanding how climate change and human activities affect terrestrial water resources and drylands. Here, a continuous pollen record from Genggahai Lake on the northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau exhibited detailed changes in regional vegetation and effective moisture since similar to 15.3 ka. The pollen sequence suggests that steppe vegetation developed in the basin and that sparse forest vegetation developed in the surrounding mountain areas during 15.3-11.7 ka and 6.3-0 ka, and that desert steppe vegetation developed in the basin and denser forest vegetation developed in the surrounding mountain areas during 11.7-6.3 ka. Based on comparison of regional palaeoclimatic records, the pollen assemblage results suggest antiphase moisture changes between mountains and the basin and imply that the low Artemisia/Chenopodiaceae (A/C) ratio during 11.7-6.3 ka in the basin likely indicates that the low effective moisture conditions likely resulted from the high permeability of loose and porous sediments and the high evaporation in the basin induced by high summer solar insolation. In contrast, the high A/C ratio during 15.3-11.7 ka and 6.3-0 ka indicates a high level of effective moisture during these periods, possibly in response to less evapotranspiration loss in the basin caused by the strong water-binding capacity of palaeosols, ameliorated vegetation conditions, and low summer solar insolation. Our results also suggest that both climatic conditions and anthropogenic activities may have altered the natural vegetation in the late Holocene and that change in the percentage of tree pollen from Genggahai Lake were synchronous with changes in the intensity of the Indian summer monsoon.

The history and driving forces of aeolian activity in western Mongolia remain poorly understood due to the scarcity of geological archives. Here, we obtained a record of sediment grain size from Tolbo Lake in western Mongolia to reconstruct changes in aeolian activity since ∼14 ka. The results suggest that intensified aeolian activity in the late Holocene may mainly have been a response to stronger surface winds resulting from an increase in spring insolation and mountain snow. The stable weak aeolian activity appears to coincide with ice‐rafting events in the North Atlantic during the middle Holocene and may be a response to warming at northern high latitudes, increased humidity and vegetation coverage in western Mongolia, indicating that dust from western Mongolia would possibly contribute minimally to dust deposition in Greenland during this period. This study will help understand the atmospheric dust emissions and transport processes in the earth system.

Loess-paleosol sequences are the most intensively studied terrestrial archives used for the reconstruction of Late Pleistocene environmental and climatic changes in the Azov Sea region, southwest Russia. Here we present a refined chronostratigraphy and a multiproxy record of Late Pleistocene environmental dynamics of the most complete and representative loess–paleosol sequences (Beglitsa and Chumbur-Kosa sections) from the Azov Sea region. We propose a new chronostratigraphy following the Chinese and Danubean loess stratigraphic models that refines the subdivision of the Last Interglacial paleosol (S1) complex in two Azov Sea sites, resolve the uncertainty of the stratigraphic position of the weakly developed paleosol (L1SSm) in Beglitsa section, and allow for direct correlation of the Azov Sea sections with those in the Danube Basin and the Chinese Loess Plateau. More importantly, it may serve as a basis for better constraining local and regional chronostratigraphic correlations, and facilitate the interpretation of climatic connections and possible forcing mechanisms responsible for the climatic trends in the region. In addition, a general succession of environmental dynamics is reconstructed from these two vital sections, which is broadly consistent with other loess records in the Dnieper Lowland and Lower Danube Basin, demonstrating similar climatic trends at Glacial–Interglacial time scales. Furthermore, our results have important implications for the chronostratigraphic representativeness of Beglitsa as a key regional loess section and for the reconstruction of the temporal and spatial evolution of Late Pleistocene climate in the Azov Sea region.

海岸是陆、海、气相互作用的地带.海岸风沙沉积是这一特殊动力环境的产物,是研究海岸环境演变及海平面变化的良好信息载体.中国海岸主要存在3种风沙沉积,分别为"老红砂"、沙丘岩及海岸沙丘.本文通过比较已报道的风沙堆积的物质组成、地层变化等,进一步总结了海岸风沙沉积的特征;选择已开展绝对测年的沉积剖面,利用概率密度函数分析了风沙沉积年代的分布特征,考察了中国海岸风沙活动历史,结合其他气候记录,探讨了不同地质历史时期海岸风沙堆积的关键影响因素.结果表明:"老红砂"沉积主要记录了冰期-间冰期尺度的风沙活动,在120 ka BP前后、73-55 ka BP等时期,风沙活动主要与海平面下降时陆架提供的丰富沙源和强盛的冬季风有关;而在105 ka BP、80ka BP前后,风沙活动与高海平面时期丰富的沙源或季风气候的季节性增强有关;55 ka BP以来风沙活动强度降低更多地反映了沉积记录保存环境的变化,末次冰期海岸风沙沉积大多分布在现代海面之下,并不代表实际的海岸风沙活动减弱.相比之下,海岸沙丘沉积所记录的风沙活动主要发生在近3 000 a,可能与中国海岸冬季风的增强有关.

Deterioration of aquatic ecosystems, as a consequence of human-induced disturbances, is a critical global concern. To fully understand the responses of aquatic systems to anthropogenic impacts, it is crucial to assess long-term changes in lakes. The water quality of Jili Lake, a large water body in northwest China, has deteriorated recently, owing to the growing impacts of regional warming and human activities. Thus, Jili Lake was a prime candidate for evaluation of historical multi-stressor impacts. Meteorological data, historical documents, and assemblages of cladoceran microfossils in the sediments of Jili Lake were employed to investigate changes in the cladoceran community over the past century, and to evaluate the response of that aquatic community to human activities. From the 1920s to the 1950s, species richness of the cladoceran community was high, which reflected conditions of relatively low human impact. From the 1960s to 1970s, a sharp decrease in Bosmina longirostris, a planktonic cladoceran species, suggested a decrease in water level as a result of dam construction and intensified water exploitation. Since the 1980s, the water level in the lake has been restored, but increased fish farming and construction of a water storage facility caused salinisation and eutrophication of Jili Lake. Accordingly, the cladoceran community displayed distinct signs of a regime shift, with a gradual transition to dominance of B. longirostris and a sharp decrease in littoral species (e.g. Leydigia leydigi, L. acanthocercoides, Alona quadrangularis, Alona affinis). Our results suggest that human-induced disturbances were the main factor that drove changes in the cladoceran community since about the mid-20th century.

土壤粒度组成是最重要的土壤物理性质之一,影响着土壤水分运移、植被生产力等,进而影响植被的分布格局.本文以青藏高原东北部共和盆地干涸湖盆——英德海为研究对象,通过野外植被样方调查及室内土壤粒度试验,分析湖盆不同地貌类型和不同景观下的土壤粒度组成特征.结果表明:(1)英德海湖盆从底部至北部边缘,垂直高度为65 m,在湖盆内部,植被从湖盆底部到顶部表现出条带状的分布格局,湖盆底部从东向西也出现植被分布的水平分异性.(2)本区地表沉积物以中砂(0.25～0.50 mm)和细砂(0.125～0.25 mm)为主,英德海湖盆东部和西部地表沉积物的粒度组成无明显差异(P＞0.05),但沉积物的垂直分布模式不同.英德海湖盆地表沉积物的粒度分布差异与地形及植被分布有着密切的联系,植被的分布格局受到地表沉积物的粒度组成的影响,同时,植被与气候条件也对地表沉积物的组成具有反馈作用.本区植被分布格局具有明显的垂直和水平分异特征,植被的这种分布格局不仅受到地形、土壤、气候等因素的单一影响,还受到水文过程的作用,因此,在后期的研究中应关注湖盆植被分布格局与生态水文过程的响应反馈机制.

The nature of Holocene Asian summer monsoon (ASM) evolution documented by diverse natural archives remains controversial, with a contentious issue being whether or not a strong Asian summer monsoon prevailed during the early Holocene. Here we present sequences of multiple proxies measured in sediment cores from Genggahai Lake in the NE Tibetan Plateau (NETP). The results suggest that a higher lake level and relatively lower terrestrial vegetation cover occurred synchronously during the early Holocene (11.3-8.6 kyr cal BP), compared with the period from 8.6 to 6.9 kyr cal BP. This finding clearly reflects the existence of different hydroclimatic conditions between the lake and its catchment due to diverse driving mechanisms. The early Holocene high stand of the lake, as demonstrated by the stratigraphic variability of the remains of aquatic biota, may have responded to the strengthened ASM and increased monsoonal precipitation; the relatively low vegetation cover in the marginal region of the Asian monsoon during the early Holocene, and the coeval widespread active sand dune mobility in both the NE Tibetan Plateau and NE China, most likely resulted from a low level of effective moisture due to high evaporation, and hence they cannot be interpreted as evidence of a weak ASM. Our results potentially reconcile the current divergent interpretations of various proxy climate records from the region. Our findings suggest that the ASM evolution was characterized by a consistent pattern across the monsoonal regions, as indicated by the oxygen isotope record of Chinese speleothems.

The Paleolithic archaeological record of the Tibetan Plateau is crucial for understanding human ecological and genetic adaptation to life in high altitudes. Recent work on the Tibetan Plateau has documented hominin occupations by Denisovans at Baishiya Karst Cave (BKC) from at least ca. 160, and again around 100 and 60 thousand years ago (ka), followed by modern human occupation at Nwya Devu (ND) around 30–40 ka. However, with the exception of these two geographically distinct sites, there are very few Paleolithic sites with secure stratigraphy and reliable dates on the Tibetan Plateau. Thus, the spatial and temporal history of Paleolithic hominin occupation of the Tibetan Plateau remains poorly understood. Here we report a newly discovered well-stratified and well-dated Paleolithic site, Jiangjunfu 01 (JJF01), from the northeastern margin of the plateau. Optical dating of sediments from cultural layers shows that the site was occupied by hominin who employed simple core-and-flake technology, during warmer interglacial environments ∼90–120 ka. To date, JJF01 is one of the three oldest archaeological sites with secure stratigraphy and reliable dating from the Tibetan Plateau, further confirming that hominins, potentially Denisovans, occupied and inhabited the highest region of our planet at least by the early Upper Pleistocene.

Asian dust storms have long been a major environmental concern in China, affecting the lives of about one billion people. However, it is unclear whether the mechanisms responsible for Asian dust storms during the Holocene varied on different timescales, and thus it is unclear whether there was a shift from a natural forcing to an anthropogenic forcing of dust storms. We reconstructed a high-resolution Holocene record of dust storms from the sediments of an undisturbed alpine lake on the Chinese Loess Plateau. We found that Asian dust storm activity generally increased during the Holocene, with the largest fluctuations occurring during the past 2000 years. The increase in dust storm activity was in contrast to the decrease in East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) intensity during the Holocene, indicating that the EAWM played a limited role in modulating dust storms. By contrast, the increase in dust storms corresponded to a decrease in East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) precipitation. This demonstrates that EASM precipitation was the dominant control of dust storm activity on a millennial timescale, because decreased EASM precipitation expanded the desert area and thus increased the dust storm activity. The increasing intensity of human activity in the region since the Bronze Age resulted in an acceleration of dust storm activity against the background of decreased EASM precipitation. As human disturbance continued to intensify, beginning at least at -2 cal ka BP, increased dust storms were closely linked to increasing human populations in the dust source regions, and there is a strong temporal coherence between increased dust storms and higher EASM precipitation. This was completely different from when natural processes are dominant. During that period, fewer dust storms occurred during periods of a strengthened EASM. Therefore, there was a shift from a natural forcing to an anthropogenic forcing of dust storms on a multi-decadal to centennial timescale, and was a mode in which "human activity overtook the EASM as the dominant control of the Earth surface system". (c) 2021 Science China Press. Published by Elsevier B.V. and Science China Press. All rights reserved.

As a key global climate and dust archive, the nature of Chinese loess generation, transport and deposition remains debated. The lack of consensus on dust dynamics from sources to leeward regions fundamentally limits interpretation of the preserved past climate and dust record. Here, we investigate chronostratigraphic variability of aeolian deposits in upwind regions of the modern Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) and attempt to understand dust dynamics that potentially affects loess deposition downwind. The strata consist of alternating layers of typical loess, well-sorted sand, and sandy loess, with obvious unconformities occurring at the transitions from loess to sand. We suggest that pre-existing typical loess in regions to the northwest of the modern CLP was eroded by wind, providing a significant source of homogeneous dust for the dust deposits downwind. The sand deposits interbedded with typical loess at the study sites suggests that proximal deserts have greatly expanded and contracted repeatedly prior to the Holocene. However, the spatial extents of the deserts, as inferred from the sections here, have not markedly diminished after the major expansion during the Last Glacial Maximum. Such a pattern of proximal desert dynamics plays an important role in regulating dust emission and transport, strongly affecting dust sequences on the CLP. Our results suggest a complex scenario of dust dynamics in upwind regions of the CLP at least over the Late Quaternary; the involved processes have to be considered when using conventional proxies from Chinese loess deposits to recover the history of climate and dust changes.

Peat records of trace metals pollution history over thousands of years are not widely reported in northeastern Asia, although the mining/metallurgy have already started in the past 5000 years. Peat core was collected in September 2015, from the Nur Sphagnum bog, in Selenge province, in the NW part of the Kenthii Mountains, Mongolia. The Nur Sphagnum bog (49°39’N; 107°48’E; 1250 m.a.s.l.) is the largest wetland located in the mountain taiga forest of Mongolia in the northern part of the Hentei highlands. The mean January and July temperatures are -27.1°C and 18.3°C respectively, while mean annual precipitations are 288 mm. The peatland is composed of than 10 species of Sphagnum, while herb layer is dominated by Carex rostrata, and several species of Sphagnum. The dominant tree species are composed of Betulaplatyphylla, Pinussylvestris, Piceaobovata and Abiessibirica. As for the Nur bog, no research on elemental or isotopic geochemistry was undertaken currently. Our preliminary geochemical study established a baseline for typical heavy metal, Pb, 1.1 mg kg-1, which is reasonable to represent a pre-industrial background value in Mongolia, even in northeastern Asia. The average Pb content through the cores was 2.2 mg kg-1, which was significantly lower than the level in northeastern China and showed that the it was still typical area of pristine ecosystem in northern Mongolia. However, the elevation of Pb and Tl contents in the near surface layers was also observed, with an enrichment factor of 6, which suggested that the anthropogenic impact was approaching in this region and more attention should be paid to safeguard its nature heritage.

The Asian monsoon (AM) played an important role in the dynastic history of China, yet it remains unknown whether AM-mediated shifts in Chinese societies affect earth surface processes to the point of exceeding natural variability. Here, we present a dust storm intensity record dating back to the first unified dynasty of China (the Qin Dynasty, 221–207 B.C.E.). Marked increases in dust storm activity coincided with unified dynasties with large populations during strong AM periods. By contrast, reduced dust storm activity corresponded to decreased population sizes and periods of civil unrest, which was co-eval with a weakened AM. The strengthened AM may have facilitated the development of Chinese civilizations, destabilizing the topsoil and thereby increasing the dust storm frequency. Beginning at least 2000 years ago, human activities might have started to overtake natural climatic variability as the dominant controls of dust storm activity in eastern China.