Groundwater sapping as the cause of irreversible desertification of Hunshandake Sandy Lands, Inner Mongolia, northern China

TLDR

Deserts in northern China were previously thought to be a million years old, but our study shows the Hunshandake Sandy Lands are only about 4,000 years old. This study documents dramatic environmental and landscape changes in the Hunshandake Sandy Lands over the last 10,000 years. Desertification was mainly driven by hydrological and geomorphological changes linked to climate change around 4.2 ka, and human–environment interactions suggest Chinese civilization may have originated in northern marginal areas rather than the Yellow River middle reaches.

Abstract

Significance In contrast to earlier assertions that deserts in northern China are 10 6 years old, our multidisciplinary investigation in the Hunshandake Sandy Lands, located in the eastern portion of China’s desert belt, shows that this desert is ca. 4,000 years old. This study documents dramatic environmental and landscape changes in this desert during the last 10,000 years. For the first time to our knowledge we present a case of desertification mainly triggered by changes in the hydrological and geomorphological system, associated with climate change at ca. 4.2 ka. Our research on the human–environment interactions in the Hunshandake suggests Chinese civilization may be rooted in the marginal areas in the north, rather than in the middle reaches of the Yellow River.