Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-wxhwt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-09T08:30:11.689Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Lake Evolution during the Last 3000 Years in China and Its Implications for Environmental Change

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jin-Qi Fang
Jin-Qi Fang*
Affiliation:
School of Geography, University of Oxford, Mansfield Road, Oxford OXI 3TB, United Kingdom
*
1Permanent address : Department of Geo amd Ocean Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, Peoples's Republic of China.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Taking China as a whole, lake expansion occurred 500 B.C. (?)-0 A.D., 650-950 A.D., and 1250-1650 A.D. over the past 3000 yr. The expansions were mainly due to climatic fluctuations and correspond to frequent flood reports. Three regional characteristics of lake development have been recognized. (1) Fluctuations of near-coastal lakes, and those in other regions as well, were out of phase during 500 B.C.-500 A.D., which possibly resulted from out-of-phase fluctuations of climate and sea level on 10- to 100-yr time scale. (2) As the lower Yellow River channel migrated southward, the lakes in the south of the North China Plain formed and reached their largest sizes much later than those in the north. (3) For the lakes in the middle and lower Yangtze River valley, the higher a lake basin lies above a neighboring river and the further the lake is from the river's mouth, in general, the younger the lake is. Through land reclamation, the ancient Chinese have changed most of the lakes greatly. However, human activities were also constrained in certain ways by the natural changes of the lakes. Reclamation usually was banned and farmland was abandoned to repair reservoirs while lakes were expanding.

Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 39 , Issue 2 , March 1993 , pp. 175 - 185
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Archaeological Group of Tianjing Cultural Bureau (AGTCB) (1966). Archaeological investigation and ancient shoreline change in west of the Bohai Sea. Historical Research, 1, 35–43. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Cai, S., and Guan, Z. (1982). The ungrounded hypothesis of the presence of the ancient Yunmeng Swamp traversing south and north of the Changjiang River on the Jianghan -Dongting Plain—Second comments on the ancient Yunmeng Swamp. Oceanologia et Limnologia Sinica 13, 129–142. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Chen, Q. (1962). The ancient Lake Chien-hu with special regard to its role in the agriculture of the Shan-Hwei Plain. Acta Geographica Sinica 28, 187–202. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Chen, Q. (1982). The silting-up of China’s lakes in ancient times and the lessons drawn the reform. Historical Geography 2, 104–109. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Chen, Q. Lu, Y., and Yue, Z. (1984). On the lacustrine fluctuations in Ningbo-Shaoxing Plain in historical times. Geographical Research 3(3), 29–41. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Currie, R. G., and Fairbridge, R. W. (1985). Periodic 18.6-year and cyclic 11-year induced drought and flood in northeastern China and some global implications. Quaternary Science Reviews 4, 109–134.Google Scholar
Editorial Committee of Chinese Physical Geography (ECCPG) (1982). “Physical Geography of China (Historical Geography).” Science Press, Beijing. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Editorial Committee of Studies on Poyang Lake (ECSPL) (1988). “Study on Poyang Lake.” Shanghai Printing House of Science and Technology, Shanghai. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Fang, J.-Q. (1988). “Lake Evolution Since the Last Glacial Maximum in China—Processes and Their Implications to Climatic and Environmental Change.” Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Nanjing University. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Fang, J.-Q. (1989). Relationship between lake evolution and land reclamation from lakes in historical times in China. Geographical Environment Research 1, 71–78. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Fang, J.-Q. (1990a). Lake level changes and their relationship with climatic fluctuations in the past decades in China. Transactions of Oceanology and Limnology 3, 9–14. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Fang, J.-Q. (1990b). Simulation modelling of the impacts of sea level rise since the lateglacial period on the Yangtze River (Chang Jiang), China. Scientia Sinica (Chinese version: 8, 870-878; English version is in press).Google Scholar
Fang, J.-Q. (1991a). Lake evolution during the past 30,000 years in China, and its implications for environmental changes. Quaternary Research 36, 37–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fang, J.-Q. (1991b). Influence of sea level rise on the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River since 12,100 BP Quaternary Science Reviews 10, 527–536.Google Scholar
Fang, J.-Q. The evolution of Dongting Lake during the Holocene. Oceangraphia et Limnologia Sinica, in press. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Fang, J.-Q., and Shi, S. (1990). The impact of climatic changes on the abandonment of some historical agro-towns in arid northwestern China. Journal of Nanjing University (Geography, 1990), 67–75. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Gao, S., and Li, Y. (1984). Sea-level fluctuations in the past 2000 years in the northern Pohai Bay. Acta Oceanologia Sinica 6, 43–51. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Gong, G., and Hameed, S. (1991). The variation of moisture conditions in China during the last 2000 years. International Journal of Climatology 11, 271–283.Google Scholar
Guo, Y. (1990). On historical change of lakes in Shandong province. Transctions of Oceanology and Limnology 3, 15–22. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
He, Y. (1982). A preliminary study on environmental evolution in the Dongting Lake region. Journal of Human Normal University (Natural Sciences) 2, 79–88. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
He, Y., and Wen, H. (1981). The forestry change in the lower Xiang river basin. Historical Geography 1, 81–93. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Hou, R. (1973). Archaeological discovery and environmental change in Ulanbuhe Desert. Archaeology 2, 72–80. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Hou, W. (1988). The formation and evolution of the Xiang Hu (Lake) and prospects in its development. Geographical Research 7(4), 32–39. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Hu, Z. (1987). The environmental changes of the Juyan Lake area. Arid Zone Research 4(2), 46–50. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Li, S. (1962). A preliminary study of ancient shorelines and unearthed cultural relics in west of the Bohai Sea. Archaeology 12, 8–15. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Pan, F. (1983). A sketch of the transition of the lakes between the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River in the late Holocene. Scientia Geographia Sinica 3, 361–368. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Perdue, P. C. (1986). Water conservancy of Dongting Lake during the Ming and Qing periods. Historical Geography 4, 215–225. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Street, F. A. Roberts, N., and Metcalfe, S. (1985). Geomorphic implications of late Quaternary hydrological and climatic changes in the Northern Hemisphere tropics. In “Environmental Change and Tropical Geomorphology” (Douglas, I. Spencer, T., Ed.), pp. 165–184. George Allen, Unwin, London.Google Scholar
Tan, Q. (1980). Yunmeng and Yunmeng lake. Fudan Journal (Historical Geography, 1980) 1–11. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Tian, S. (1981). Hydrological changes in Shanxi Province and their relations with the alternations between farming and animal husbandry in different historical times. Shanxi University Journal (Philosophy) 1, 29–37. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Tian, S. (1982). Ancient lakes along the Huanghe (Yellow) River valley. Shanxi University Journal (Philosophy) 2, 33–41. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Wang, C. (1988). “The History of Geography in China,” pp. 34–45. Commercial Press, Beijing. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Wang, H. (1983). Expansion and contraction of the Baiyangdian Lake since 10,000 yr B.P. Geographical Research 2(3), 8–17. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Wang, R. Wang, S., and Fraedrich, K. (1991). An approach to reconstruction of temperature on a seasonal basis using historical documents from China. International Journal of Climatology 11, 381–392.Google Scholar
Wang, Z. (1982). The Holocene sea level change along the coast of Zhejiang. Marine Geological Research 2(2), 80–91. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Wei, H. (1986). The historic process of land reclamation in Danyang Lake region. In “Historical Geography Research” (Institute of Historical Geography, Fudan University, Ed.), Vol. 1, pp. 140–155. Fudan Univ. Press, Shanghai. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Wu, Z. (1982). “The Deserts of My Country,” pp. 46–51. Commercial Press, Beijing, (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Yang, (1988).Google Scholar
Yang, H. Xie, Z., and Yang, D. (1985). Holocene sea level change and the origin and evolution of the Taihu Lake. In “Contribution to the Quaternary Glaciology and Quaternary Geology” (Yang Huairen, , Ed.), pp. 49–64. Geological Publishing, Beijing. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Yang, M., and Wang, R. (1989). The origin and evolution of Luoma Lake. Scientia Limnologica Sinica 1, 37–44. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Zhang, X. (1981). The origin and evolution of Dongting Lake. Historical Geography 1, 99–106. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Zhou, F. (1986). A tentative inquiry into the changes in the flood level in the Jingjiang Reach of the Yangtze River during the last 5000 years. Historical Geography 4, 46–53. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Zhou, Y. (1980). An outline on the migration of the lower reach channel of the Yellow River and its significance. Fudan Journal (Historical Geography, 1980) 12–23. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Zhu, H. Su, S. Wang, Y. Zheng, C, and Yang, L. (1983). Origin and evolution of Poyang Lake and its deltaic deposits. Memoir of Nanjing Institute of Geography 1, 28–39. (in Chinese) Google Scholar
Zhu, Z. Wu, Z., and Liu, R. (1982). “An Outline On Chinese Deserts,” pp. 22–28. Science, Beijing. (in Chinese) Google Scholar