Complex Processes and Nonlinear Evolution of Aeolian Landscapes in Response to Climate Change

Aeolian landscapes in arid regions are highly sensitive to global climate changes and play a critical role in Earth’s environmental systems through various feedback mechanisms. Their evolution, driven by multi-scale and multi-factor interactions, often involves complex processes such as multiple stable state transitions and self-organized criticality. This presentation focuses on the extensive deserts and dune fields in northern China, which provide a unique setting for investigating the evolution of wind-driven sedimentary systems and their responses to climatic fluctuations, including significant cooling or warming events over glacial-interglacial cycles.
Spanning multiple timescales, this presentation first reviews the long-term evolution of northern China's aeolian systems, from the late Cenozoic to the late Quaternary and the Last Glacial Maximum. Key findings reveal how dramatic temperature fluctuations and monsoon variations at tectonic and orbital scales have shaped aeolian activity and landscape stability. Special attention is given to the spatial heterogeneity and nonlinear responses of semi-arid dune systems since the Holocene, with a focus on the dune bistability phenomenon, where active and stabilized dunes coexist under similar conditions for millennia. By synthesizing remote sensing data, stratigraphic evidence, and numerical modeling, this study further identifies critical transitions in dune systems, highlighting their nonlinear behaviors and potential trajectories under future climate scenarios. 
By integrating theoretical models, machine learning approaches, and field data, this interdisciplinary approach deepens understanding of the dynamic processes governing aeolian landscapes. The findings also provide valuable insights into the evolution and resilience of aeolian systems under changing environmental conditions, particularly in cold-climate and arid regions.