Assessment of dust emissions and their controlling factors in the Hoh
Xil------north-central part of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau
Abstract
Dust emissions can lead to a series of environmental hazards, such as
soil degradation, dust storms, and air pollution, and are thus a global
concern. As one of the most ecologically fragile and climate-sensitive
regions in the world, the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) has great dust
emission potential. However, the dust yield and its affecting factors
are not fully understood. To reduce these uncertainties on the QTP, the
Hoh Xil Plateau (HXP), a typical dust source on the QTP, was selected as
the study area to analyze the dust emission processes and the associated
influencing factors using a robust model. The results showed that dust
emissions on the HXP occurred mainly in spring and winter. The land use
on the HXP is the main reason for the high dust emissions, as the
grasslands and bare lands that are extensively distributed in this
region contain abundant erosive materials. The recession regions of the
expansive lakes resulted in an increase in sandy lakeshores, which
induced a potential increase in the dust emissions under strong-wind
conditions. In addition, the effects of human activities on dust
emissions were evident. The positive and negative effects on dust
emission changes coexisted on the HXP and depended on the development of
the county-level economy and the implementation of ecological
engineering measures. We believe this study will clarify the dust yield
of the QTP and provide valuable information for understanding the
driving factors that cause variations in aeolian processes on the QTP.