Isolated NE-SW stretching the Helan Mountain massif, separating the temperate grassland of the Ordos plateau from the Tenggeli Desert, is a key position of studying the glacier development in west China as well as the coupling conditions of climate change with tectonic uplift. The glacial landforms and deposits including cirques, peaks, knife-edge ridges, lateral moraines, and terminal moraines distribute above 2800 m a.s.l. in the middle part of the Helan Mountain. This distribution indicates that here was once glaciated during the late Quaternary. Morphology features show a clear sequence of landscape forming events took place throughout the Helan Mountain. Laboratory optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating (AMS ¹⁴C) results indicate a late history of glacial advance. Late Pleistocene glaciers in the middle part of the Helan Mountain advanced to near their positions at least four times, and the glacial sequences can be assigned as the middle stage of last glacial cycle (MIS3b, 43.2±4.0 ka), last glacial maximum (LGM, ∼18 ka), late glacial (12.0±1.1 ka) and neo-glacial (3.4±0.3 ka) respectively. Adopting equilibrium line altitude ∼2980 m of last glacial maximum and the modern theoretical snowline altitude ∼4724 m as the maximum amplitudes, and the standard marine isotope curve (MIS) as the glacial equilibrium line change since the Gonghe Movement (150 ka), the relationship between the mountain altitude and glacier development is discussed herein. Compared with other environmental indexes such as the loess-paleosol and ice core, conclusions are made that glacier advances in the Helan Mountain during the late Quaternary obviously depended on the coupled control of tectonic uplift of mountain with the climate condition. It is at last glaciation that the mountain reached the altitude above snowline and coupled with the glacial climate. The glacial advances occurred in the early and middle stages of last glacial cycle after the Gonghe Movement.

Urban pseudo and reality human settlements (PHSs and RHSs) are important components of the human–land relationship regional system. To explore the coupling and coordination relationship and principle among them is an important approach to high-quality coordinated urban development. Based on the three-dimensional development of human settlements, the theoretical system of a “three states” dynamic frame diagram is constructed. The spatio-temporal heterogeneity and driving principle of coupling coordination among PHSs and RHSs in 34 prefecture-level cities in northeast China from 2011 to 2019 were explained by using the coupling coordination degree, spatial trend surface analysis and geographic detector techniques, and the evolution principle of spatio-temporal coordination was revealed. The results show that: (1) in the temporal dimension, the coupling coordination degree among PHSs and RHSs in the three provinces shows a smooth growth from “slight disadjustment” to “near disadjustment”; (2) With Shenyang, Dalian, Changchun and Harbin as the center, the coordination degree shows a circular pattern decreasing from the transition area to peripheral area. In the direction of south and north, the spatial evolution trend shows a gradual change from a “—” shape to “U” shape. There is spatio-temporal variation of the trend surface from an inverted “U” shape to “—” shape in the east–west direction; (3) The socioeconomic situation is an important driving factor, and the tool system is a new driving system for the coupling and coordinated development of urban PHSs and RHSs.

Constraining the timing and extent of Quaternary glaciations in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is significant for the reconstruction of paleoclimatic environment and understanding the interrelationships among climate, tectonics, and glacial systems. We investigated the late Quaternary glacial history of the Qinggulong and Juequ valleys in the Taniantaweng Mountains, southeastern TP, using cosmogenic ¹⁰Be surface exposure dating. Four major glacial events were identified based on 26 ¹⁰Be ages. The exposure ages of the oldest late Quaternary glaciation correspond to Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 6. The maximum glacial extent was dated to 48.5–41.1 ka (MIS 3), during the last glaciation, and was more advanced than that of the last glacial maximum (LGM). Geochronology and geomorphological evidence indicate that multiple glacial fluctuations occurred in the study area during the Early–Middle Holocene. These glacial fluctuations likely were driven by the North Atlantic climate oscillations, summer solar insolation variability, Asian summer monsoon intensity, and CO₂ concentration.