Landscape evolution and precipitation changes in the Badain Jaran Desert during the last 30 000 years

On the basis of field expeditions into different parts of the Badain Jaran Desert, new evidence of landscape evolution and precipitation changes during the last 30 000 years has been found from the geomorphological, sedimentological and geochronological studies of the megadune. Different cemented surfaces of palaeo-dunes have been observed in many localities, which are representatives of relatively moister environment. The chronological data show that four periods of more humid environment occurred in the past 30 000 years. The stabilization of dunes in a large scale and the existence of many palaeo-lakes and lacustrine terraces confirm the periodic fluctuations of climate. It implies that the intensity of westerlies and Eastasian monsoons varied in the region of Alashan, and the periods of higher precipitation took place even in the times close to the last glacial maximum.