Environmental changes in the eastern China during the Late Pleistocene

Abstract

The environmental changes during the Late Pleistocene were more obvious in the eastern China than in other areas at the same latitude, which either between northern and southern, or between land and sea of the eastern China were mostly non-synchronous. The transitional period prior to the last glaciation came about in the northern part of the eastern China about 115,000 yr. ago. The desert environments of the inland of the north China were developed both in the glacial maximum and in the warm interglacial period, but the loess accumulation mostly took place during the glacial period. The sand dunes and the periglacial solifluctions in the lower Changjiang (Yangtze) River region were formed during the last glacial period. The event of lowest surface temperature occurred at 98,000 yr. B.P. and 59,000 yr. B.P. in the northern part of the South China Sea but not during the full-glacial stage. The phenomena mentioned above were the result of the following reasons that the paleo-environmental changes in the eastern China were controlled by the common factors leading to the changes of global environment, on the other hand, the different changes were related to the particular of East Asia as well as a time lag required by the adjusting process of varied changes themselves.