We studied the magnetostratigraphy and sedimentary facies of a 550-m-long drill core from the Jiudong Basin in the NE Tibetan Plateau. Our aims were to reconstruct the late Cenozoic sedimentary evolution of this foreland basin, and to determine the spatiotemporal pattern of growth of the Qilian Shan. The magnetostratigraphy indicates that the sedimentary sequence was deposited during ca. 7–0 Ma. From ca. 6.7–3.0 Ma, the sediment accumulation rate increased gradually from ∼30 mm/k.y. to 120 mm/k.y., which was associated with the gradual evolution of sedimentary facies from a shallow lake/delta front to braided rivers. The progradation of the depositional system from 7 Ma to 3 Ma probably reflects the growth of the relief of the Qilian Shan caused by tectonic uplift. The occurrence of a continuous braided river environment from 3 Ma to the present suggests that the high relief of the Qilian Shan developed before 3 Ma. An abrupt decrease of the sedimentation rate to ∼46 mm/k.y. during 3.0–1.8 Ma, and the deposition of coarse-grained sediments, indicates the uplift of the basin center. We interpret this to reflect the propagation of the thrust system of the Qilian Shan into the basin along a southward-dipping décollement from ca. 3 Ma. Climatic changes may have influenced the sedimentary sequence by introducing long-distance-transported thin coarse sand/gravel layers which are sandwiched within the sequence, and likely were a response to cooling events or climatic transitions. The widespread occurrence of deformation within the basin region in the NE Tibetan Plateau at ca. 3 Ma indicates that this date marks the basinward growth of the deformation system.

The actively deformed foreland of eastern Qilian Shan (mountains) contains well‐preserved geomorphic features such as erosion surfaces, river terraces and tectonically uplifted alluvial fans, providing suitable archives for research on regional tectonic activities and palaeoclimatic changes. These geomorphic surfaces are well dated by using a combination of magnetostratigraphy, electron spin resonance, thermoluminescence, infra‐red stimulated luminescence, radiocarbon dating, and correlation with the well‐established loess–palaeosol sequences of China. Our results show that the erosion surface formed about 1·4 Ma ago, and the age of river terraces is 1·24 Ma, 820–860 ka, 780 ka, 420–440 ka, 230–250 ka, 140 ka, 60 ka and 10 ka, respectively. Valley incision rates of c. 0·09–0·25 m ka⁻¹ have been identified. The repetitive stratigraphic and geomorphic pattern of these terraces indicates the fluvial sedimentation–incision cycles are tightly associated with the 100‐ka glacial–interglacial climatic cycles. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

One of the most perplexing problems in paleoclimate research is how orbital cyclicities force East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) precipitation variation over the middle to late Quaternary. Chinese loess records suggest that EASM precipitation was dominated by 100 k.y. cycles controlled by Northern Hemisphere ice sheet forcing. In contrast, speleothem records suggest that EASM precipitation was dominated by 23 k.y. cycles caused by Northern Hemisphere summer insolation forcing. In order to resolve this inconsistency, we present high-resolution paleoclimate records from Xijin drill cores on the western Chinese Loess Plateau for the past 260 k.y., the rough upper limit of luminescence dating. Magnetic susceptibility (χ) shows clear 23 k.y. precessional cycles over interglacials but has constant low values over glacials. This is interpreted as indicating a lack of pedogenesis, such that χ cannot record EASM precipitation variations, rather than an absence of EASM variation itself. To circumvent this issue, we use inversed sand content as an alternative proxy for EASM precipitation over glacials and splice this with the interglacial logarithmic χ from Xijin drill cores. This new record reveals dominant 23 k.y. cycles over both interglacials and glacials, consistent with speleothem δ¹⁸O data and dominant insolation forcing. These findings allow a consistent understanding of EASM variability and forcing mechanisms from both loess and speleothem archives, resolving one of the largest debates in past monsoon research. These results challenge suggestions of high-latitude ice sheet forcing of the EASM based on slowly accumulated loess records from the central Loess Plateau.

Afforestation is a major anthropogenic forcing to the global and regional climate. However, the biophysical impacts of large‐scale afforestation on local temperature in temperate regions remain unclear, due to the closely matched but compensating radiative and non‐radiative effects. The Grain for Green Program (GFGP) is a large‐scale afforestation program implemented over the Loess Plateau (LP) in China. The GFGP thus provides an ideal platform to explore the temperature effect of afforestation. This study investigated such a temperature effect through long‐term, high‐resolution simulations incorporating satellite observations in a coupled land‐atmosphere model. With an optimal combination of physical schemes proposed by this study, we greatly improved the accuracy of regional climate modeling. The results reveal that the afforestation caused a significant decline (−0.50% yr⁻¹) in albedo. An increment in net shortwave radiation mainly led to an increment in net radiation (7.95 W m⁻²). The afforestation also led to an increment in sensible heat flux (3.78 W m⁻²). Consequently, the afforestation caused a warming effect (0.36°C) in 2‐meter air temperature at the inter‐annual scale. At the intra‐annual scale, there was a cooling effect in July and August, while other months demonstrated a warming effect. The radiative effect dominated local temperature change induced by the afforestation over the LP. Therefore, the large‐scale afforestation contributed to the local warming trend. Our findings highlight the temperature effect of afforestation, and imply that more attention should be paid to future revegetation to carefully assess its potential influence on regional climate.