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Northeast China played an irreplaceable role in population migrations and cultural exchanges in East Asia during the Paleolithic. This paper collected 182 archaeological sites to analyse the characteristics of spatial-temporal variations of Paleolithic human activities in Northeast China, and explored the driving mechanisms behind these variations in combination with the paleoenvironmental and archaeological studies. During the Lower Paleolithic, constrained by the relatively cold-dry climate and blocked by the Songnen paleo-lake basin, the population was sparse and distributed only near 40° N at the southern end of Northeast China. Upon entering the Middle Paleolithic, as humans developed greater tolerance to cold climates and adopted more sophisticated survival strategies with the application of small lithic tools, their numbers increased and geographical distribution expanded northward to 45° N at the central region of Northeast China. The Upper Paleolithic saw a considerable increase in population and expansion across almost all of Northeast China except for the eastern Inner Mongolia Plateau. We speculated that 50 ka and 30 ka BP were two key points, both of which may be associated with a significant increase in the frequency of migrations and communications among humans, and the widespread popularity of highly mobile microblade technology, respectively. In addition, the environmental analysis of archaeological sites revealed a continuous spread of Paleolithic humans to areas with higher elevations, steeper slopes, and lower temperatures. Meanwhile, they were becoming less reliant on water resources and were more widely conducting activities in open-air areas, showing that the environmental adaptability had been continuously improving over time. This study can provide a reference for the reconstruction of the migration history of early humans in East Asia, and is also of great significance for a comprehensive understanding of the evolutionary process of early human-environment interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Platypalpus Macquart is reported in Inner Mongolia, China for the first time. Four new species are found: P. flavipilosus sp. nov., P. longus sp. nov., P. shengi sp. nov. and P. shuimogouanus sp. nov. This paper provides a description of the four species and a key to the genus in Inner Mongolia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In pastoral society, the reproduction of livestock is directly related to the survival and prosperity of herders. The key to domestic animal reproduction lies in the cognitive bond between mother livestock and their young. Herdsmen use various tools and techniques to help develop this cognitive bond. These human mediation tools have various characteristics such as 'restorative' or 'destructive'. The lamb bag, a widely used tool in pastoral society, has both 'restorative' and 'destructive' natures. Based on ethnographic data collected in Inner Mongolia, China, this paper first introduces the production method of lamb bags, then describes their structure, function and the multi-dimensional relationships generated during the application process, and finally discusses the cultural implications of 'restorative' and 'destructive' human mediation in pastoral culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prospecting for and exploiting buried mineral deposits is currently challenging. Given their high precision and resolution, reflection seismic methods might be useful in such applications involving deep mineral deposits. However, there are few open seismic datasets available from mineral deposit exploration, especially in hardrock environments. The world‐class Caosiyao porphyry Molybdenum deposit (1.76 Mt) in the Jining area of Inner Mongolia, China, is largely covered by loess layers, which poses challenges to its exploration. Seismic reflection surveys were conducted to help delineate the deep granite porphyry intrusions and associated orebodies. This paper presents the raw seismic reflection dataset from three profiles on the Caosiyao deposit area, which can be used as a standard dataset for reflection seismic processing in shallow coverage and hardrock areas. Situated at the juxtaposition of the Khondalite Belt and the Trans‐North China Orogen in the northern North China Craton, the Jining region hosts considerable known porphyry Mo deposits. As such, this open dataset can assist in research on deep geological structures and hence increase prospecting efficiency in geologically similar areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal migration and precipitation in hydrothermal fluids are important topics in economic geology. The Hongling polymetallic deposit comprises one of the most important parts of the Huanggangliang–Ganzhuermiao polymetallic metallogenic belt, which is in eastern Inner Mongolia. Except for lead–zinc skarn, minor cassiterite in the skarn and disseminated W–Sn mineralization in granitic rocks have also been found. The dominant Sn–W mineralization is in the northern part of the deposit, occurring as disseminated wolframite and cassiterite in aplite hosted in Mesozoic granite porphyry. The aplite together with pegmatite K-feldspar–quartz comprises vein dikes hosted in the granite porphyry, providing evidence for the transition from melt to fluid. The veins, dikes, and Sn–W mineralization in the aplite provide an opportunity to investigate fluid exsolution and the mechanics of metal precipitation. Based on field observations, the micrographic and scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) results of the vein dikes, chronology, and the whole-rock geochemistry of the host rock, together with the fluid inclusion results, this paper discusses the characteristics of the causative magma, the mechanics of fluid exsolution and W–Sn precipitation. Our results show that the causative magma is of highly fractionated A-type granite affinity and has an intrusive age of late Mesozoic (133.3 ± 0.86 Ma). The magmatic evolution during shallow emplacement led to immiscibility between highly volatile, high-silica, and W- and Sn-enriched melts from the parent magma, followed by fluid exsolution from the water-rich melt. The alkaline-rich fluid exsolution led to a change in the redox state of the magma and the chilling of the melt. Fluid boiling occurred soon after the fluid exsolution and was accompanied by the degassing of CO2. The boiling and escape of CO2 from the fluid led to changes in fluid redox and W and Sn precipitation; thus, the W and Sn mineralization are mostly hosted in causative intrusions or peripheral wall rocks, which can be used as indicators for Sn–W exploration in the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: In recent years, the shortage of cow stocks and the reduction of cow breeders in China have caused a shortage of cattle resources and a high price of calves, which has become a bottleneck restricting the further development of China's beef cattle industry. At present, there are few studies on the decision-making behavior of cow breeding in China. In order to explore the factors that affect the decision-making behavior on cow breeding by beef cattle farmers, this paper uses field survey data to make an empirical analysis through the Logit ISM model. The results show that the age of the breeder, the breeding year, the planting area of forage, market expectations, the loan amount, the breeding method policy publicity and policy subsidies are significant factors affecting the decision-making behavior of beef cattle farmers on cow breeding. The beef cattle industry is an important part of herbivorous animal husbandry and an important industry to enrich the dietary structure of residents and promote the income of farmers and herdsmen. The cow is an important foundation to support the healthy development of the beef cattle industry, which is related to the stability of cattle sources and the sustainable development of the industry. However, in recent years, the shortage of cows in our country has led to the shortage of cattle resources and the high price of calves, which has restricted the further development of our beef cattle industry. In order to explore the factors that affect the decision-making behavior behind cow breeding and to find the right policy to mobilize the enthusiasm for cow breeding, based on the field survey of five provinces (cities and regions), including Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, this paper conducts an empirical analysis through the Logit ISM model. The results show that market expectation is the surface factor that directly affects the decision-making behavior of cow breeding. The influencing factors of the middle layer are policy propaganda, policy subsidies, breeding years, and feeding methods. The deep root factors are the age of the breeder, the amount of loan, and whether to plant feed crops. Based on this, this paper proposes that we should actively promote the importance of cow breeding, strengthen policy support for cow breeding, formulate scientific and reasonable subsidy policies for cows, innovate financial support methods to solve the problem of fund shortage of farmers, and develop forage resources and reduce the breeding cost of cows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a raw material for clean energy supply for the new generation, the soybean is conducive to the realization of global energy transition and sustainable development in the context of "carbon neutrality". However, global warming has been affecting soybean yields in recent years. How to clarify the correlation between meteorological factors and soybean yields, so as to ensure the security of soybean growth and development and the stability of renewable energy development, is a key concern of the government and academia. Based on the data of temperature, precipitation, sunshine duration and active accumulated temperature during the soybean growing season in Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region from 1951 to 2019, and soybean yield data of the city from 1985 to 2019, this paper adopted statistical methods such as the Trend Analysis Method, the Rescaled Range Analysis Method and so on to analyze the trends of yield changes, characteristics of abrupt changes and periodic patterns of climate factors and soybean yields in Hulunbuir. A Pearson Correlation Analysis and a Grey Relation Analysis were used to explore the correlation between climatic factors and soybean yields, followed by a comprehensive impact model of the combined effect of temperature and precipitation on soybean yields established by the Method of Integral Regression. The results showed that temperature and active accumulated temperature are the dominant factors affecting soybean yields in Hulunbuir, while the decrease in precipitation is unfavorable to the improvement of soybean yields. Meanwhile, temperature and precipitation have different effects on the growth and development of the soybean at different stages. The conclusion of this paper is of great practical significance for Hulunbuir to promote the sustainable development of clean energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unavoidable wind power prediction error poses a challenge for wind power to participate in day-ahead scheduling plan. This paper proposes a two-stage correction method considering NWP wind speed and power correction. Firstly, this paper fully considers the historical similarity of NWP wind speed, and adopts the improved clustering distance for segment matching and wind speed correction based on the extracted most relevant trend component, which enhances the utilization of NWP information and avoids the randomness and uncertainty of the intelligent correction method, and gram angular field (GAF) and stacked autoencoder (SAE) are used for feature extraction and conditional variational autoencoder (CVA) is used to generate specific samples to ensure the adequacy of the clustering process. Secondly, considering the historical similarity of error of predicted power, the power is further corrected based on the proposed weighted double-constraint to realize the secondary calibration. The Proposed method is applied to several wind farms in China to verify its effectiveness. The results show that the proposed method reduces the N RMSE by 3.82 % and N MAE by 3.40 % compared with direct prediction in the wind farms in western Inner Mongolia, which is important for promoting wind power consumption and maintaining the safe and stable operation of the power system. • Propose a method to extract the most relevant trend component form wind speed. • Propose a novel method for wind speed correction and power calibration. • Propose a sample condition generation method based on GAF and CVA. • Propose an improved clustering distance into the wind speed correction process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium is one of the important strategic energy metals, which is in short supply in China. There are three major types of lithium deposits: brine and salt lake type, highly differentiated granite or pegmatite type, and carbonate-clay type. In recent years, some new types of lithium deposits have also begun to receive great attention and subject recent research. There are many crypto-explosive breccia pipe type deposits in the world, including copper, gold, lead, zinc, tungsten and tin deposits, but little is known about this type of lithium deposit. This paper introduces the latest research results of the Weilasituo Sn−Li−Rb polymetallic deposit in Inner Mongolia (NE China), which occurs in the middle-southern section of the Great Xing'an Range metallogenic belt. A remarkable feature of this deposit is the coexistence of various mineralization types, including granite type Rb and Sn−Zn, hydrothermal crypto-explosive breccia pipe type Li−Rb, quartz vein type Sn−Zn and sulfide vein type Pb−Zn−Ag mineralization. Among them, hydrothermal crypto-explosive breccia pipe type Li-Rb deposit is currently very rare at home and abroad, which is likely a new type of rare metal deposit that worthy of our attention. This paper systematically summarizes the geology, alteration and mineralization, geochemistry, isotopes and geochronology of the Weilasituo deposit, and establishes a new petrogenic and metallogenic model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: In this paper, two new genera with two new species of Dermaptera are described from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation of Daohugou, Inner Mongolia, China. The discovery of these two new species enriches the comparatively meagre fossil record of Dermaptera, particularly from the Middle Jurassic. The description of Applanatiforceps angustus is another brick laid in the foundation of protodiplatyid diversity, and the new genus Ekpagloderma gracilentum highlights the diversity of cercal forms among Aglyptodermatinae and the remarkable homogeneity of the general morphology of groups within this clade. Two new genera and species of Dermaptera are described from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation of Daohugou, Inner Mongolia, China: Applanatiforceps angustus gen. et sp. nov. in the archidermapteran family Protodiplatyidae, and Ekpagloderma gracilentum gen et sp. nov. in the eodermapteran family Semenoviolidae. Applanatiforceps shares the typical characters of the extinct suborder Archidermaptera (e.g., pentamerous meta tarsi, filiform and multimerous cerci) and externalized ovipositor. The family identity of the Protodiplatyidae can be further distinguished by comparing this new genus with other genera of the Protodiplatyidae. As a result of its large compound eyes, tegmina without venation, body sparsely setose, legs rather short and slender, and shape of the veinless tegmina, Ekpagloderma is classified in the subfamily Aglyptodermatinae. Ekpagloderma not only has the typical features of the Aglyptodermatinae, but also exhibits a more primitive slender segmented cerci, which is different from all other genera of Eodermaptera. In fact, the diversity of Eodermaptera as known today indicates some of the challenges in understanding the suborder and whether or not it is monophyletic as historically construed, or if the separation of Turanodermaptera is justified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Osmylopsychopidae, an extinct family of Neuroptera, is closely related to the extant Psychopsidae. The sporadic records of this family and limited preservation of fossil specimens have hindered the understanding of the evolution of Osmylopsychopidae. In this paper, one new genus with four new species of Osmylopsychopidae are described from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation of northeastern China. These newly discovered osmylopsychopids with a forewing length of ca. 10 mm (implying small body size), clearly distinguished from the traditional sense of Osmylopsychopidae, suggest that Osmylopsychopidae possibly underwent a significant diversification during the Mesozoic. One new genus with four new species sharing the similar character of a forewing length of ca. 10 mm, namely, Minipsychops spasulus gen. et sp. nov., Minipsychops polychotomus sp. nov., Minipsychops densus sp. nov., and Minipsychops unicus sp. nov., are described from the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation of Daohugou, Inner Mongolia in China. These new insects can be attributed to Osmylopsychopidae for their distinctive configuration of costal space and the venations of RP1 and Cu. Compared with the typically medium to large body sizes of known osmylopsychopids, these new Middle Jurassic taxa of a particularly miniaturized lineage not only enrich the species diversity of Osmylopsychopidae, but also enhance our understanding of the historical evolution of these poorly known lacewings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studying surface geochemical anomalies is important for detecting the presence of mineral deposits. However, distinguishing inconspicuous geochemical anomalies is a challenge for geochemists. This paper studies geochemical quantitative prediction for Pb–Zn metallic mineral deposits by identifying inconspicuous surface geochemical anomalies mainly associated with the Permian and Jurassic strata in the middle-southern Da Hinggan Mountains metallogenic belt. Some new methods are employed to highlight weak surface geochemical anomalies. The weak surface geochemical anomalies of Pb and Zn are effectively highlighted by the average contrast values of Pb–Zn–Ag–Cd. The similarity coefficient with the large typical discovered deposits is used to identify new Pb–Zn mineralized anomalies and delineate new prospecting target areas. The denudation degree of mineral deposit is determined by the ratio of (W × Sn)/(As × Sb). The analogy method and areal productivity method are employed for resource prediction. Thirty-six prediction areas with Pb–Zn resources of 307.73 million tons are delineated. Five prediction areas are verified, and some new mineral deposits are proven by drilling. The verification results show that the predicted resources are very reasonable and credible. This paper is a successful case of quantitative prediction assessment of mineral resource potential, which can be used as a reference for future prospecting activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, recent research on terrestrial ecosystem predictability using the conditional nonlinear optimal parameter perturbation (CNOP-P) method is summarized. The main findings include the impacts of uncertainties in climate change on uncertainties in simulated terrestrial ecosystems, the identification of key physical parameters that lead to large uncertainties in terrestrial ecosystem modeling and prediction, and the evaluation of the simulation ability and prediction skill of terrestrial ecosystems by reducing key physical parameter errors. The study areas included the Inner Mongolia region, north–south transect of eastern China, and Qinghai–Tibet Plateau region. The periods of the studies were from 1961 to 1970 for the impacts of uncertainties in climate change on uncertainties in simulated terrestrial ecosystems, and from 1951 to 2000 for the identification of the most sensitive combinations of physical parameters. Climatic Research Unit (CRU) data were employed. The numerical results indicate the important role of nonlinear changes in climate variability due to the occurrences of extreme events characterized by CNOP-P in the abrupt grassland ecosystem equilibrium state and formation of carbon sinks in China. Second, the most sensitive combinations of physical parameters to the uncertainties in simulations and predictions of terrestrial ecosystems identified by the CNOP-P method were more sensitive than those obtained by traditional methods (e.g., one-at-a-time (OAT) and stochastic methods). Furthermore, the improvement extent of the simulation ability and prediction skill of terrestrial ecosystems by reducing the errors of the sensitive physical parameter combinations identified by the CNOP-P method was higher than that by the traditional methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the centralization of wind power development, power-prediction technology based on wind power clusters has become an important means to reduce the volatility of wind power, so a large-scale power-prediction method of wind power clusters is proposed considering the prediction stability. Firstly, the fluctuating features of wind farms are constructed by acquiring statistical features to further build a divided model of wind power clusters using fuzzy clustering algorithm. Then the spatiotemporal features of the data of wind power are obtained using a spatiotemporal attention network to train the prediction model of wind power clusters in a large scale. Finally, the stability of predictive performance of wind power is analyzed using the comprehensive index evaluation system. The results show that the RMSE of wind power prediction is lower than 0.079 at large-scale wind farms based on the prediction method of wind power proposed in this paper using experience based on the data of 159 wind farms in the Nei Monggol Autonomous Region in China and the extreme error is better than 25% for the total capacity of wind farms, which indicates high stability and accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unregulated livestock breeding and grazing can degrade grasslands and damage the ecological environment. The combination of remote sensing and artificial intelligence techniques is a more convenient and powerful means to acquire livestock information in a large area than traditional manual ground investigation. As a mainstream remote sensing platform, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can obtain high-resolution optical images to detect grazing livestock in grassland. However, grazing livestock objects in UAV images usually occupy very few pixels and tend to gather together, which makes them difficult to detect and count automatically. This paper proposes the GLDM (grazing livestock detection model), a lightweight and high-accuracy deep-learning model, for detecting grazing livestock in UAV images. The enhanced CSPDarknet (ECSP) and weighted aggregate feature re-extraction pyramid modules (WAFR) are constructed to improve the performance based on the YOLOX-nano network scheme. The dataset of different grazing livestock (12,901 instances) for deep learning was made from UAV images in the Hadatu Pasture of Hulunbuir, Inner Mongolia, China. The results show that the proposed method achieves a higher comprehensive detection precision than mainstream object detection models and has an advantage in model size. The m A P of the proposed method is 86.47%, with the model parameter 5.7 M. The average recall and average precision can be above 85% at the same time. The counting accuracy of grazing livestock in the testing dataset, when converted to a unified sheep unit, reached 99%. The scale applicability of the model is also discussed, and the GLDM could perform well with the image resolution varying from 2.5 to 10 cm. The proposed method, the GLDM, was better for detecting grassland grazing livestock in UAV images, combining remote sensing, AI, and grassland ecological applications with broad application prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater is a primary freshwater resource for human consumption and an essential source for industry and agriculture. Therefore, understanding its spatial and temporal trends and drivers is crucial for governments to take appropriate measures to manage water resources. This paper uses Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite data and the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) to derive groundwater storage anomalies (GWSAs) and to analyze the spatial and temporal trends of GWSA in different regions of China (Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, North China Plain, South China, and Northeast China). It used groundwater-level observation data to verify the accuracy of GWSA estimates and analyzed the drivers of regional GWSA changes. The results showed that: (1) GWSA in South China increased at a rate of 4.79 mm/a from 2003 to 2016, and GWSA in other regions in China showed a decreasing trend. Among them, the decline rates of GWSA in Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, North China Plain, and Northeast China were −6.24 mm/a, −3.33 mm/a, −3.17 mm/a, −7.35 mm/a, and −0.75 mm/a, respectively. (2) The accuracy of the annual-scale GWSA estimates was improved after deducting gravity losses due to raw coal quality, and the correlation coefficient between GWSA and groundwater levels monitored by observation wells increased. (3) In Xinjiang, the annual water consumed by raw coal mining, industrial, and agricultural activities had a greater impact on GWSA than rainfall and temperature, so these human activities might be the main drivers of the continued GWSA decline in Xinjiang. Water consumption by raw coal mining and industry might be the main drivers of the continued decline in GWSA in Inner Mongolia and the North China Plain. The increase in groundwater storage in South China was mainly due to the recharge of rainfall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grasshoppers can greatly interfere with agriculture and husbandry, and they will breed and grow rapidly in suitable habitats. Therefore, it is necessary to extract the distribution of the grasshopper potential habitat (GPH), analyze the spatial-temporal characteristics of the GPH, and detect the different effects of key environmental factors in the meadow and typical steppe. To achieve the goal, this study took the two steppe types of Xilingol (the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China) as the research object and coupled them with the MaxEnt and multisource remote sensing data to establish a model. First, the environmental factors, including meteorological, vegetation, topographic, and soil factors, that affect the developmental stages of grasshoppers were obtained. Secondly, the GPH associated with meadow and typical steppes from 2018 to 2022 were extracted based on the MaxEnt model. Then, the spatial-temporal characteristics of the GPHs were analyzed. Finally, the effects of the habitat factors in two steppe types were explored. The results demonstrated that the most suitable and moderately suitable areas were distributed mainly in the southern part of the meadow steppe and the eastern and southern parts of the typical steppe. Additionally, most areas in the town of Gaorihan, Honggeergaole, Jirengaole, as well as the border of Wulanhalage and Haoretugaole became more suitable for grasshoppers from 2018 to 2022. This paper also found that the soil temperature in the egg stage, the vegetation type, the soil type, and the precipitation amount in the nymph stage were significant factors both in the meadow and typical steppes. The slope and precipitation in the egg stage played more important roles in the typical steppe, whereas the aspect had a greater contribution to the meadow steppe. These findings can provide a methodical guide for grasshopper control and management and for further ensuring the security of agriculture and husbandry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to assess the loss of grain production caused by agrometeorological disasters in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (IMAR), which is an important grain production base of China. The disaster-yield assessment model was formed and verified using grain production, yield, planting area and agrometeorological disaster conditions data of the IMAR from 1981 to 2020, and the loss of grain yield caused by meteorological disasters was assessed by this model. The results showed that grain production, yield and planting area observed an escalating trend from 1981 to 2020, and the rate of increase was 78.85×104t·y-1, 100.97kg·ha-1·y-1 and 74.48×10³ha-1·y-1. The covered and affected area of agrometeorological disasters for the IMAR and National both increased and then decreased during the 1981-2020 period. Drought was the most important agrometeorological disaster in the IMAR, and the covered and affected area was 64.10% and 62.45%, respectively, accounting the total covered and affected area of all kinds of disasters in 1981-2020. The grey correlation analysis showed that drought had the highest correlation with grain yield at the level of disaster covered and affected rate, and hail had the highest correlation with grain yield at the level of disaster destory rate. The disaster-yield assessment model constructed by this study was of high simulation accuracy, and the linear regression coefficients (R²) and the slop between the simulated and measured grain yield was 0.99 and 0.98, respectively (P < 0.01). The average relative simulation yield was 0.20% and relative simulation error of the following year grain yield was 2.49%. Grain yield loss rate due to disaster in the IMAR decreased (R²=0.77，P<0.01) from 1981 to 2020 with a rate of 0.48 percentage points·y-1, and average grain yield loss rate was 14.79% and there were 68.42% of years which grain yield loss rate above 10%. The disaster-yield assessment model of the IMAR formulated in this study can simulate and predict grain yield, and assess the loss of grain yield due to disasters, which can meet the needs of agrometeorological services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Desertification is one of the main obstacles to global sustainable development. Monitoring, evaluating and mastering its driving factors are very important for the prevention and control of desertification. As one of the largest deserts in China, the development of desertification in Otindag Sandy Land (OSL) resulted in the reduction in land productivity and serious ecological/environmental consequences. Although many ecological restoration projects have been carried out, the vegetation restoration of OSL and the impact mechanism of climate and human activities on desertification remain unclear. Methods: Taking OSL as the research area, this paper constructs the desertification index by using the remote sensing images and meteorological and socio-economic data, between 1986 and 2016, and analyzes the spatio-temporal evolution process and driving factors of desertification by using trend analysis and spearman rank correlation. Results: The results showed that: (1) Desertification in the OSL has fluctuated greatly during the past 30 years. Desertification recovered between 1986 and 1990, expanded and increased between 1990 and 2000, reduced between 2000 and 2004, developed rapidly between 2004 and 2007, and recovered again between 2007 and 2016; (2) The desertification of OSL is dominated by a non-significant change trend, accounting for 73.27%. In the significant change trend, the area of desertification rising trend is 20.32%, which is mainly located in the north and east, and the area of declining trend is 6.41%, which is mainly located in the southwest; (3) Desertification is the result of the superposition of climate and human activities. Climate change is the main influencing factor, followed by human activities, and the superposition effects of the two are spatio-temporal differences. Conclusions: These results shed light on the development of desertification in OSL and the relative importance and complex interrelationship between human activities and climate in regulating the process of desertification. Based on this, we suggest continuing to implement the ecological restoration policy and avoid the destruction of vegetation by large-scale animal husbandry in order to improve the situation of desertification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, field spectroradiometer and aboveground biomass (AGB) data were acquired at the harvest stage at two sites in semiarid grasslands in Inner Mongolia, China. Four forms of commonly used vegetation indices (VIs) using all possible combinations of narrow-band first derivative (FDR) and raw reflectance (RR) were calculated, and the best FDR-VIs and RR-VIs were chosen by a linear regression analysis against AGB. The stepwise multiple linear regression (SMLR) models using the optimal FDR-VIs, RR-VIs, and both FDR-VIs and RR-VIs as input variables were developed for estimating the AGB. Results demonstrated that the estimation performance using the best FDR-VIs were comparable with the best RR-VIs, while the accuracy has been further improved by combining the best FDR-VIs and RR-VIs (maximum decrease in RMSE of 44% and minimum RMAE of 4.7%). The approach was found to be an important step for more accurate and effective grassland AGB estimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cold surge (CS) is an extreme climate event that frequently affects China. By using a 0.25° × 0.25° gridded observation dataset provided by the China Meteorological Administration (CN05.1), this paper investigates the spatial–temporal characteristics of various CSs in China during 1962–2018. According to the duration and coverage area (CA), CSs are classified into the short‐lived cold surges (SLCSs), the persistent cold surges (PCSs) and the extensive and persistent cold surges (EPCSs). They are also divided into the weak cold surges (WCSs), the strong cold surges (SCSs) and the super strong cold surges (SSCSs) based on the temperature drop (ΔT). The extreme cold surges (ECSs) are also defined and occur 38 times over 57 years. The total CSs and various CSs all display patterns of higher frequencies in the northeast and lower frequencies in the southwest. Northeast China and Inner Mongolia are frequently hit by various CSs, but the frequencies show overall downward trends in the regions during 1962–2018. The ΔT of the total CSs and ECSs both show significant decreasing trends in the whole of China from 1962 to 2018. From 1962 to 2018, the annual frequency and the ΔT of the total CSs both show decreasing trends. SLCSs and WCSs frequencies show overall increasing trends, but other kinds of CSs show overall decreasing trends. The annual frequencies of the total CSs and various CSs all have trend abrupt changes around 2000. The ΔT of ECSs shows a sharply increasing trend during 1962–2018. The total CSs and all kinds of CSs frequencies have a significant periodic oscillation. ECSs occur most in February. The total CSs and other kinds of CSs occur most in January. There are obvious differences between the multiyear average ECSs frequencies before 2000 and after 2000. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-source remote sensing data can provide abundant Earth observation information for lithology classification and identification, especially in some areas with complex geological conditions where the field geological survey is difficult to carry out. Compared with mountainous areas with large outcrops of rock, the lithology information obtained based on traditional field measurement and single optical remote sensing data in semi-arid areas is greatly limited due to the uneven vegetation coverage. While the combination of microwave and optical remote sensing technologies can effectively improve the integrality and reliability of the obtained lithology information in semi-arid areas. This paper selected Duolun County of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as the study area, added vegetation suppression for microwave and optical images into the conventional lithology classification process, and integrated Sentinel-1A and Landsat-8 images of the study area to carry out the experiment. The improved water-cloud model with the parameter of vegetation coverage and the method of feature-oriented principal component analysis based on multiple vegetation indices were used to realize the vegetation suppression in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) backscattering images in two polarization modes and multispectral images. The processed SAR backscattering, SAR texture and spectral feature images were used to form seven feature combinations for lithology classification by the maximum likelihood method. The results showed that the proposed lithology classification scheme cannot achieve high-precision classification of all lithologic types, but it was effective in identifying the major lithologies dominated in the Quaternary deposits of the study area. In all feature combinations, the combination of all the three types of features reached the highest classification accuracy, with the overall classification accuracy of 88.60% and the kappa coefficient of 0.75 for five major lithologies. The experimental results fully demonstrated the advantages of integrating microwave and optical remote sensing data in lithology classification in a semiarid area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evaluating the water resources carrying capacity (WRCC) is the prerequisite and foundation for the planning and management of water resources. In this paper, according to risk theory, a framework for the risk assessment of WRCC was proposed based on the fragility of damage‐affected bodies and the damage posed by disaster‐inducing factors. Then, based on water quantity, water quality, water area, and water flow, a fragility index system was constructed from the water resources, economy, and society category. Additionally, the damage was analyzed in terms of climate change, urbanization, and industrialization. Finally, a model for the risk assessment of the WRCC was established by combining the fragility of the water resources carrying system with the compound damage posed by climate change, urbanization, and industrialization. The developed model was then applied to assess the risk of the WRCC in North China in 2017. The results indicate that the fragility of the WRCC was the highest in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, and the compound damage showed an increasing trend from the southeast to the northwest in North China. Meanwhile, the risk of the WRCC decreased from the southeast to the northwest, the highest risk was observed in Hebei Province, and the lowest risk was observed in Inner Mongolia. This research provides an important technical guideline for the sustainable utilization of water resources and the coordinated development of the economy and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aeromagnetic gradient data have higher horizontal resolution on shallow sources, a magnetic anomaly that can better reflect the features of deeper sources. Therefore, we used a joint survey of aeromagnetic and gradient data to obtain the distribution of sources with different depths. In this paper, we propose an intersection constraint weighting (ICW) method based on aeromagnetic and gradient data for original and gradient anomalies with inconsistent high-low variation characteristics. The ICW method can effectively improve the resolution of inversion results and can more accurately obtain the distribution of magnetic bodies via cross-gradient by gradually adding a gradient component and applying a normalized property weighting function. Our theoretical model tests indicate that the distribution of the recovered magnetic susceptibility model of the ICW method was similar to that of the true model. In addition, the anomaly containing noise with different signal-to-noise ratios verified that the ICW method had a stronger anti-noise ability than other methods. We also inverted real data in the Zhurihe area of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in northern China. The inversion result showed that the main trend of high magnetic bodies was in the northeast direction, that the shallowest depth of high magnetic bodies was 100 m, and that the greatest depth was 960 m. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper analyzes whether the financial support for grassland ecological protection and restoration has improved the vegetation coverage of grassland. • There is a nonlinear relationship between financial support for ecological restoration and grassland vegetation coverage. • Different fiscal expenditure structure has a heterogeneous response. • The degree of fiscal decentralization has a significant positive regulatory effect on the ecological benefits. Grassland ecological restoration is an important cornerstone to maintain the sustainable development of grassland ecosystem. One of the goals of financial support for grassland ecological protection and restoration is whether the ecological benefits of grassland are fully realized, and grassland vegetation coverage is the main index to measure the ecological benefits. This paper aims to analyze whether the financial support for grassland ecological protection and restoration has improved the vegetation coverage of grassland. and then verify whether there is room for improvement in the fiscal effect of grassland ecological protection and restoration? Based on the panel data of 54 animal husbandry and semi-agricultural and semi-animal husbandry counties in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China, this paper adopts a bidirectional fixed effect model and cross-fixed effect model to introduce natural factors affecting grassland vegetation coverage into the model and systematically examines the financial effects of ecological benefits of financial support for grassland ecological protection and restoration. The main findings are as follows: (1) there is a nonlinear relationship between financial support for grassland ecological protection and restoration and grassland vegetation coverage when natural factors are taken into account in the model. (2) different fiscal expenditure structure has a heterogeneous response to the impact of grassland ecological protection and restoration on ecological benefits. (3) the degree of fiscal decentralization and the relative performance of the government have a significant positive moderating effect on the ecological benefits of fiscal support for grassland ecological protection and restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Grasshoppers are among the most dangerous agricultural pests of China. However, the monitoring, prediction and control of grasshoppers are complex and difficult. Therefore, it is crucial to detect the key factors affecting the spatial distribution of grasshopper occurrence, understand the role of the environmental factors in grasshopper occurrence, and study whether different laws exist between different grass types. Here we conduct a species–environmental matching model integrated by Maxent model and remote sensing data to identify the spatial distribution of grasshopper occurrence in Inner Mongolia of China, analyze the related environmental variables and detect the most relevant environmental factors for grasshopper occurrence both in typical steppe and meadow steppe. Grasshoppers mainly threaten natural grassland vegetation and crops. Therefore, it is of great significance to understand the relationship between environmental factors and grasshopper occurrence. This paper studies the spatial distribution and key factors of grasshopper occurrence in two grass types by integrating a machine learning model (Maxent) and remote sensing data within the major grasshopper occurrence areas of Inner Mongolia, China. The modelling results demonstrate that the typical steppe has larger suitable area and more proportion for grasshopper living than meadow steppe. The soil type, above biomass, altitude and temperature mainly determine the grasshopper occurrence in typical steppe and meadow steppe. However, the contribution of these factors in the two grass types is significantly different. In addition, related vegetation and meteorological factors affect the different growing stages of grasshoppers between the two grass types. This study clearly defines the different effects of key environmental factors (meteorology, vegetation, soil and topography) for grasshopper occurrence in typical steppe and meadow steppe. It also provides a methodology to guide early warning and precautions for grasshopper pest prevention. The findings of this study will be helpful for future management measures, to ensure grass ecological environment security and the sustainable development of grassland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Langshan Group is an important constituent of the Precambrian metamorphic rocks in the Langshan area. The accurate determination of its metamorphic age is of great scientific significance for the further study of the Precambrian geological evolution in the region. Disputes remain regarding the metamorphism and deformation overprinting of the Langshan Group. This paper presents a detailed study comprising a field geological investigation, petrological observations, and zircon U-Pb aging of garnet-bearing mica quartz schists in the BangBang District. The result of detrital zircon U-Pb dating from the metamorphosed volcanic sedimentary rock series and geological investigation of the garnet-bearing mica quartz schists suggest the strata formed in the Neoproterozoic. The results from cathodoluminescence (CL) image analysis and U-Pb dating of zircons indicate a large number of metamorphic zircons exist in the garnet-bearing mica quartz schists. The metamorphic overgrowth rims of zircon from two samples were analyzed by LA-ICP-MS. The 206Pb/238U weighted average age of ca. 244 Ma of the zircon metamorphism rims represents the timing of Indosinian greenschist-amphibolite facies metamorphism in the Langshan area, which may be in response to the collision-type orogeny of the North China and Siberian plates in the Late Paleozoic. Acid-intermediate magmatic intrusive activities occurred in the Langshan area, and metamorphic events developed at the same time or at a later stage during the closure of the Paleo-Asian Ocean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant carbon (C) input via litter decomposition is essential for forming soil organic C (SOC). Previous studies have investigated the fate of litter C through one-time litter addition, while litter input could be recurrent, e.g., gradual litter input from above-ground plant material in diverse ecosystems. This paper investigates how litter input's frequency (single vs. repeated) and amount (low vs. high) affect the SOC formation and the associated microbial community composition and activity in a controlled microcosm experiment. After incubating the 13C-labeled litter (Stipa krilovii) for 80 days with the fresh field soil collected from a semi-arid steppe in Inner Mongolia, China, we measured newly formed SOC, microbial biomass C (MBC), and microbial phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) indicated by 13C-labeling. The repeated litter addition resulted in 19.92% greater and 12.45% more efficient SOC formation than the single addition. Repeated litter addition also increased C use efficiency (CUE, + 76.71%), indicating more substrate C allocated for microbial growth than respiration. It also enhanced the fungi to bacteria ratio by 47.40% (based on 13C-PLFA) and maintained relatively stable microbial assimilation of litter C (based on 13C-MBC). These findings were consistent regardless of litter amounts. Our results indicate that the uninterrupted litter input to the soil in natural ecosystems benefits SOC formation and highlights soil fungi's critical role in promoting SOC formation. This study suggests that incorporating plant C input frequency into SOC dynamic models may improve the predictions of C cycling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distribution centers are quite important for logistics. In order to save costs, reduce energy consumption and deal with increasingly uncertain demand, it is necessary for distribution centers to select the location strategically. In this paper, a two-stage model based on an improved clustering algorithm and the center-of-gravity method is proposed to deal with the multi-facility location problem arising from a real-world case. First, a distance function used in clustering is redefined to include both the spatial indicator and the socio-economic indicator. Then, an improved clustering algorithm is used to determine the optimal number of distribution centers needed and the coverage of each center. Third, the center-of-gravity method is used to determine the final location of each center. Finally, the improved method is compared with the traditional clustering method by testing data from 12 cities in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in China. The comparison result proves the proposed method's effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In aeromagnetic measurement, accurate compensation for the interference magnetic field generated by the aircraft platform due to the aircraft maneuvering in the Earth's magnetic field is an important prerequisite for the accurate identification of the magnetic anomaly signal of the detection target. The flaws of the traditional calibration flight scheme in aeromagnetic interference compensation are firstly analyzed, and then an improved scheme is proposed, featuring smaller calibration flight areas, more simplified maneuvers, shorter flight route and less influence from the magnetometer's direction and extreme weather. The improved scheme can enhance the robustness of the aeromagnetic interference compensation matrix and improve the compensation efficiency, and thus both the solved magnetic compensation coefficients and compensation effects are significantly improved. The experimental results of the aeromagnetic interference compensation in an area of Inner Mongolia of China show that the average accuracy of the repeated survey lines, which are compensated by the improved scheme, can be increased by 5 and 3 nT, respectively, compared with the uncompensated results and the results compensated by the traditional scheme. Therefore, the effectiveness and superiority of the improved calibration flight scheme is fully proved. Plain Language Summary: Aeromagnetic measurement technology is the most economical and effective technical means to obtain high‐precision and high‐resolution geomagnetic information. Because the aircraft used in aeromagnetic measurement is composed of ferromagnetic materials, it will produce an interference magnetic field when maneuvering in the Earth's magnetic field. In order to obtain pure geomagnetic field measurement data, it is necessary to compensate the interference magnetic field. The traditional calibration flight scheme is widely used in the aeromagnetic interference compensation, and has played an important role in the existing aeromagnetic measurement. However, with the continuous improvement of the measurement accuracy of airborne magnetometers, there are higher requirements for calibration, and some defects of the traditional calibration flight scheme are found in practice. Hence, an improved calibration flight scheme is proposed in this paper, which features smaller calibration area, shorter flight route, simplified maneuvers and less influence from the direction of the magnetometer. The experimental results show that the modified scheme can improve the average accuracy of repeated survey lines by 3 nT compared with the traditional one. Therefore, the improved scheme can be directly applied in the aeromagnetic interference compensation of scalar, vector and gradient magnetic measurement of manned and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). Key Points: An improved calibration flight scheme is proposed in the aeromagnetic interference compensationEffectiveness and superiority of the improved calibration flight scheme are validated by actual flight dataCompared with the traditional scheme, the improved one can increase the average accuracy of repeated lines by 3 nT [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper concerns the comparison of two sample non parametric regression. An asymptotically correct simultaneous confidence band (SCB) is proposed for the difference of two-sample non parametric regression functions to achieve the goal of comparison. Simulation experiments provide strong evidence that corroborates the asymptotic theory. The proposed SCB is used to analyze different samples of strata pressure data from the Bullianta Coal Mine in Erdos City, Inner Mongolia, China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal is one of the fundamental fossil energy supporting the world's economy. The synergistic development between efficient coal mining and ecological environment protection is the inevitable requirement for the preservation of global harmony. As the world's largest coal producer, China has conducted a strategic shift from east to west in terms of the exploitation of its energy resources, posing a serious threat to the fragile ecological environment of the western region. In particular, the surface subsidence caused by coal mining is the root of the ecological deteriotation and the destruction of ground structures. However, it is difficult to reveal the law of large-scale surface subsidence in western mining areas merely by conventional measurement methods such as leveling, on account of the high intensity of coal seam mining, the weakness of the lithology of overlying rock and the large thickness of wind-blown sand strata. In view of this, small baseline subset interferometric synthetic aperture radar (SBAS-InSAR) technology was used in this study to obtain the time series of surface vertical displacement during the whole mining process of the 2401 working face in the Yingpanhao coal mine, Inner Mongolia. Based on the deformation data, the dynamic evolution characteristics of surface subsidence under high intensity mining in the western mining area were analyzed exhaustively. It was found that the surface subsidence is characterized by an extensive coverage range (48.52 km2) with minimal ground settlement (250 mm) in the study area. Meanwhile, the boundary shape of the subsidence basin followed a "circular-parallelogram-trapezoid" changeable process and the coverage area of the basin experienced three stages: a linear increasing period, a temporary stagnation period, and a re-expansion period. Furthermore, there existed an abnormal uplift phenomenon on the east side of the open-off cut in the 2401 working face. Combined with the structure of overlying strata, this paper carried out a preliminary analysis on the reasons of the abovementioned phenomenon. The research results are of vital realistic significance for ground buildings and ecological environmental protection in the aeolian sand mining area in Western China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Uranium mainly comes from ISL of sandstone-type uranium deposits in China. The change of porosity and permeability caused by blockage of ore-bearing strata is one of the most serious problems in acid ISL of uranium. In this paper, the groundwater tracer test was carried out before and 1 year after ISL to explore the pore and permeability evolution characteristics of the ore-bearing layer during ISL. The test results showed that the leaching solution migrated along two seepage channels and the water-bearing medium was isotropic. After 1 year of ISL, the flow rate of the leaching solution decreased obviously. However, the flow rate of the leaching solution in slower channel decreased more than that in the faster channel in all directions, which was caused by the more adequate chemical reactions between the leaching solution and the minerals of the ore-bearing layer and the more corresponding precipitation in the slower channel. In addition, the flow rate along the direction of groundwater flow decreased less than that in the direction of vertical groundwater flow. This was closely related to the transformation of aquifer medium by hydrodynamic field. Initial stage of ISL, the occurrence of plugging is closely related to the precipitation-dissolution process of iron and aluminum minerals under the change of pH, which is accompanied by the continuous precipitation of gypsum. • Groundwater tracing tests before and after in-situ leaching were carried out. • The pore and permeability evolution characteristics of the ore-bearing layer was analyzed. • The plugging of pores in different directions was clarified. • The relationship between dissolution-precipitation process and permeability was discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grain size is commonly used as a proxy to reconstruct past lake hydrology; however, published research rarely links grain size with modern processes, and uncertainties exist for interpretation. In this paper, we decompose the grain size frequency distributions (GSFD) for 196 lake surface sediments from 61 lakes and 9 reservoirs across the Inner Mongolia Plateau and adjacent areas and divide them into five GSFD components. We statistically analyze the relationship between the GSFD components and influencing variables to determine the taphonomic dynamics and their environmental implications. Within individual lakes, we found that GSFD component 4 (74.00–209.30 μm) and GSFD component 5 (209.30–592.00 μm) dominate near the lake margin and reduce toward the lake center in proportions. By contrast, GSFD component 2 (2.75–15.56 μm) increases toward the lake center. Therefore, the proportions of GSFD component 2, 4, and 5 reflect the relative distance to the lakeshore and allow inferences about lake area changes. We apply this large modern dataset to a sediment core obtained from Lake Wulanhushao (WLHS) on the Inner Mongolia Plateau and link the lake surface sediment-based GSFD components to BEMMA end-members of grain size records to define their environmental implications over the last 18.59 cal. kyrs BP. We found that the Lake WLHS has responded to the orbital and suborbital climate changes since the last deglaciation. Specifically, maximum lake transgression prevailed during the early to middle Holocene (11.70–7.10 cal. kyr BP), medium lake transgression dominated during 17.05–15.80 cal. kyr BP, and weak transgression developed during 14.60–12.90 cal. kyr BP. Maximum lake regressions prevailed before 17.05 cal. kyr BP, during 15.80–14.60 cal. kyr BP and 12.90–11.70 cal. kyr BP. Our reconstructed early Holocene maximum lake area is consistent with regional abiotic proxy-based moisture records, but contrasts with the regional biotic proxy-based moisture records, which reconstruct increasing moisture conditions. Our new method to determine lake area changes will provide valuable data to understand the climate dynamics of northern China. • We numerically revealed the environmental implications of grain size components of lake surface sediment. • Linking lake surface sediment grain size component to core end members provide basis for interpretations. • Maximum lake transgression prevailed during the early Holocene in northern China. • Abiotic proxies-based early Holocene lake transgression is distinct with biotic proxies' reconstructions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents scientific analyses of the wall paintings in Wudang Lamasery, which is located in the Baotou area of Inner Mongolia, China. Raman spectroscopy was used to analyze the pigments of the mural of the Lam rim Hall. The results show that vermilion, red lead, chrome yellow, emerald green and synthetic ultramarine were used. The existence of synthetic pigments provides a clue for the date the mural was painted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal bump, a common dynamic disaster in mining of deep coal resources, its assessing and predicting is an important component in safety management. This paper presents a model to assess and predict coal bump risk based on multiparameter indices. A new energy accumulation index S was proposed by considering acoustic emission and electromagnetic emission signal characteristics in mine shocks. Combined with indices E (energy of microseisms) and N (frequency of microseisms) of microseismic monitoring, a static and dynamic coal bump risk assessment and prediction model was established. We studied coal bump events that occurred during extraction in 311305 working face of Bayangale coal mine in Inner Mongolia, China. We obtained the acoustic emission and electromagnetic emission signal distribution and change law, using principal component analysis method and density ellipse to establish the index S. A typical precursory of coal bumps is that AE and EME strength has obvious fluctuation period of 3-4 days, index S showing an obvious decreasing trend, while the time-series curve of the microseismic energy is relatively stable, and the vibration frequency curve has a significant upward trend. After predict the potential coal bump risk and its area of occurrence, large diameter drilling (Φ150 mm) on-site was used to relief pressure concertation in coal seam and roof. The results demonstrate that this model based on multiparameter indices is capable of quantitatively prewarning rock burst risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Converting wind energy into ammonia (WtA) has been recognized as a promising pathway to produce “green” ammonia compared with traditional coal-based technologies. As the key part of WtA, Power-to-Ammonia (PtA) has great potential to facilitate the usage of wind generation. This paper proposes a co-planning approach for regional wind resources-based ammonia industry and the electric network (EN). To this end, PtA is first modeled as a flexible power load of power systems with spatial and temporal constraints on hydrogen supply chains (HSC). Then a novel co-planning model of WtA and EN is established to optimize the WtA configuration and the EN expansion. An alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) based algorithm is introduced to effectively solve this model. Real data of Inner Mongolia Province in China is adopted to verify the effectiveness and significance of the proposed approach. It is shown that the siting and operation flexibility of PtA with HSC can reduce the expansion burden of EN. The co-planning of WtA and EN can significantly enhance wind power utilization and reduce total investment costs. Furthermore, feasibility analysis on WtA in comparison with coal-to-ammonia (CtA) and ultra-high voltage transmission (UHV) provides helpful guidelines for the realization of WtA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether there is a transition underway, from a warm-dry climate to a warm-wet climate in Northwest China remains a controversial and scientifically significant issue. Will this trend continue in the future? Another hot issue is whether the climate in Northwest China will continue to be warm and humid over the next few decades. In this paper, eight CMIP6 models were employed to investigate temperature and precipitation changes under five principal Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) scenarios (from 2015 to 2099) to project the future warming and humidification in Northwest China using the SPEI (standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index) method. The results revealed that (1) the simulated temperature and precipitation of eight CMIP6 models were consistent with that of observed data during 1961-2014, which showed an increase of approximately 28.2 mm, while simulated data revealed an increase of approximately 9.4 mm. The annual precipitation gradually decreased from Eastern Inner Mongolia and the Southern Northwest Mongolia region (.700 mm) to the Central Northwest Mongolia region (,100 mm) from 1961 to 2014; (2) the MME significantly overestimated the temperature and slightly underestimated the precipitation in Northwest Mongolia. The temperature difference between the simulated and observed data was approximately 0.4 °C. The observed data showed an increase of approximately 0.9 °C from 1961 to 2014, whereas the simulated data revealed an increase of approximately 0.7 °C; (3) in the SSP5-8.5 scenario, the percentage of precipitation anomalies at 1.5, 2, 3, and 4 °C were 166.64, 190.58, 226.44, and 274.56%, respectively; thus, alleviating the drought situation while facilitating the warm-dry to warm-wet climate transition; (4) the water balance between rising temperatures and increased evapotranspiration resulting from increased precipitation suggested that not all sites will be wet in the future. There was still a drying trend in some areas, where drought was more severe under the high emissions scenario than the low emissions scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Kubuqi Desert is the seventh-largest desert in China. Under the leadership of the central, autonomous region and local governments, the ecological situation has undergone historic changes. In this paper, we select Hangjin Banner and Dalate Banner, which have the most widely distributed deserts and use 347 households as the research perspective to construct the evaluation index system of the government's ecological environment governance effect. The entropy method is used to evaluate the governance effect, and the ordinary least squares and quantile regression are used to compare the evaluation differences of different publics. The research found the following. (1) The public believes that the government's ecological governance measures have achieved good results in the third-level index analysis. The ecological environment in the desert area has been significantly improved; that is, the survival rate of trees has increased, the area of vegetation coverage and vegetation types have increased, and the frequency of sandstorms has decreased. However, the intensity of sandstorms and the flow of water sources did not change significantly. The various types of public income have increased significantly compared to before the governance. The public takes the ecological priority as the concept and actively participates in the government's governance implementation, which means that the ecological awareness and behavior are higher. (2) Among the second-level index, the weights and scores in descending order are public economic characteristics: 45.53% and 0.4840, public ecological behavior: 25.62% and 0.1682, public ecological effect perception: 18.35% and 0.1240, and public ecological awareness: 10.51% and 0.0291. The comprehensive evaluation result is 0.8054, which is in the first grade, and the effect is excellent. (3) The public comprehensive evaluation results of the two regions are similar. Hangjin Banner is 0.8209 and Dalate Banner is 0.8557, both in the first grade. The effect is excellent. (4) In the OLS regression results, gender has a significant positive impact on evaluating the government's ecological environment governance effect. Age, ethnicity, and occupation have a significant negative impact. As the quintile increases, the influence of gender, age, and ethnicity first increases and then decreases. The maximum regression coefficient of gender at the 50% quantile is 0.714, which has a significant positive effect. Age has a significant negative impact at each quantile. The regression coefficient of ethnicity at the 50% quantile is the highest -0.357, which has a significant negative impact. Occupation only has a significant negative impact at the low quintile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tamusu mudstone, located in Inner Mongolia, is being recognized to be the potential host formation in deep HLW disposal across China. This paper describes diverse laboratory experiments performed using the fractured Tamusu mudstone, with concern to the study of the combined mechanical and thermal effects on its hydraulic properties, as well as its self-sealing effect. A single rough fracture is generated down the sample diameter direction before the sample's installation. Considering a heating-cooling cycle, the evolution of the samples' hydraulic properties under different stress conditions has been monitored. The hydraulic conductivity is proved to be not only related to the temperature-induced water viscosity and density variation but also the change of stress state. At the same thermal conditions, the increase of confining pressure (or deviatoric stress) may weaken the flow capacity of the fractures and thus reduce the permeability. The non-coincidence for the curve of permeability versus temperature at the heating and cooling stage indicates that the permeability alterations in the fractures are irreversible. Fracture zone changes were observed by X-ray computer tomography (CT) before and after the tests. The self-sealing behavior, which may be beneficial from high confining pressure, was detected for fractured Tamusu mudstone. Morphologies of fracture surfaces were detected by the 3D scanning technique, which shows that the fracture surface roughness, due to the alteration of asperity contacts and void spaces under high stress, may take an important part of the responsibility to the change of permeability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Predict the evolution of land use and landscape ecological risk. • Couple landscape ecological risk and ecological security network. • Construct an ecological security network for multiple future development scenarios. • Explore sustainable development scenario for Northeast China. • Make recommendations for ecological security network optimization. The expansion of human activities has significantly increased ecological risks, which threaten the security of ecosystems. This paper takes Northeast China, a national typical ecological barrier region, as a case study to explore the evolution of the ecological environment under various future development scenarios. Considering the complexity of ecological assessments, a comprehensive approach integrating various methods is employed. This includes the Patch-based Land Use Simulation (PLUS) model, Integrated Valuation of Ecosystem Services and Trade-offs (InVEST) model, a landscape ecological risk assessment index system, the Space Minimum Cumulative Resistance (MCR) model, among others. These methods are used to dynamically assess changes in land use, landscape ecological risk (LER), and the layout of ecological networks. An integrated framework is proposed for identifying, constructing, and optimizing the ecological security network (ESN). The results show that the LER in Northeast China presents a "high in the middle, low around" distribution characteristic. High risk areas are mainly distributed in water bodies and construction lands with high landscape fragmentation and isolation, while low risk areas are primarily in the Northeast forest belt and Inner Mongolia grassland areas with lower landscape vulnerability and separation. From 2000 to 2020, the LER in the Northeast China has increased, primarily manifested in the Greater and Lesser Khingan Range areas in the northern part of the study region. Forecast results indicate significant differences in the evolution of LERs and the layout of the ESN under different socio-economic development scenarios. Under the ecological protection (EP) scenario, the average LER in Northeast China is 0.2215. The area of ecological source lands is 302,405.56 km2, the length of ecological corridors is 179,024.71 km, with 339 ecological nodes and 410 ecological breakpoints identified. Compared with the natural development (ND) and urban construction (UC) scenarios, the EP scenario in Northeast China shows the lowest LER and the most ideal layout of the ESN. This study provides a reference for future land resource optimization and ecological restoration in Northeast China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The terrestrial Yanliao Biota in northeastern China represents a Jurassic biodiversity hotspot. Abundant and diverse fossils include the oldest known representatives of several groups of plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates that thrived in a forest ecosystem under a humid and warm climate. Since the early 21st century, discoveries associated with the Yanliao Biota have significantly improved our understanding of Jurassic terrestrial ecosystems. However, a robust chronostratigraphic framework is required to calibrate the biota with key evolutionary events and to improve understanding of possible links between evolution and tectonism. In this paper, we report novel 40Ar/39Ar ages for two tuff layers (161.4 ± 0.8 Ma and 161.6 ± 0.6 Ma) positioned directly above the less-studied but salamander fossil-rich beds in Reshuitang, near Lingyuan, Liaoning Province, China. These new age data improve knowledge of the timing of diversification of early salamanders. We also review all reported age data and summarize significant fossils from classic Yanliao outcrops. Our study indicates that the Reshuitang fossil beds were deposited slightly later than the well-known Daohugou fossil beds situated ∼15 km away in Inner Mongolia and somewhat earlier than the Linglongta fossil beds in western Liaoning Province. These findings advance understanding of the Jurassic world during an episode of pronounced climatic warming. • We provide detailed age calibration for the Jurassic Yanliao Biota. • Our study allows us to understand Jurassic terrestrial ecosystems. • A robust chrono-stratigraphy reconstructs the link between life and climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integrating renewable electricity and green hydrogen with CO 2 utilization to produce chemicals has drawn much attention due to its low carbon emission characteristics. The goal of this paper is to investigate the environmental sustainability of producing a steady hourly output of methanol by utilizing electricity and hydrogen produced via renewable energy resources, and CO 2 captured from a coal-fired power plant located in Inner Mongolia, China. Six renewable energy-based electricity and hydrogen systems are considered based on photovoltaic, wind turbines and combinations thereof, including battery and grid technologies. The environmental impact indicators of these system are compared comprehensively through life cycle assessment approach, including not only global warming potential but also fossil fuel depletion, water & soil & air pollution indices and human health index. The results indicate that the most environmentally friendly system is Case B2 which uses photovoltaic to produce hydrogen and electricity, with battery for energy storage and excess electricity sold back to grid. It shows apparently the best sustainability performance in global warming potential, which is 0.105 kg CO 2 -eq per kg methanol. In general, the proposed six systems outperform conventional methanol production systems in terms of global warming potential and abiotic depletion potential, with reductions ranging from 74% to 92% and 51.1%–73.8% respectively, but they have high levels in other environmental sustainability indicators such as human toxicity, eutrophication potential, and ozone layer depletion potential due to the photovoltaic electricity generation unit. The findings highlight that it is essential to consider a comprehensive range of environmental sustainability indicators when developing renewable energy-based methanol systems on a large scale. [Display omitted] • Component capacity of the integrated system is optimized. • Comprehensive life cycle environmental impact assessment is conducted. • GWP of proposed route is 74 %–92% lower than fossil-based route. • PV manufacturing is critical in most environmental impact indicators. • HTP, ODP and EP indicators of proposed route are much high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Jehol Biota comprises significant fossils that help to elucidate the evolution of Early Cretaceous terrestrial ecosystems. In this paper, we provide three new zircon U Pb age constraints (124.3 ± 1.5 Ma, 124.9 ± 1.6 Ma, and 121.5 ± 1.4 Ma) from the base to the top of the Jiufengshan Formation (Xinganling Group) at the Naketa section in the north Great Xing'an Range of eastern Inner Mongolia, China, within a succession that contains the typical Eosestheria - Ephemeropsis trisetalis - Lycoptera davidi (EEL) assemblage of the Jehol Biota. Combined biostratigraphic and radio-isotopic dating suggests that the Jiufengshan Formation in the Naketa section corresponds to the upper part of the Yixian Formation and the lower part of the Jiufotang Formation, making it Barremian to earliest Aptian in age. Our findings allow us to test a widely accepted hypothesis about the migration and radiation of the Jehol Biota, and show that these organisms preserved within the lower part of the Jiufengshan Formation reached the Naketa area during the second and third evolutionary stages. The preservation of Jehol elements in the Naketa section provides valuable clues regarding the evolutionary history of the Jehol Biota and its spatiotemporal development. Furthermore, our study allows us to explore possible links between evolutionary processes and concurrent tectonism in the North China Craton, as the timing of this Jehol migration occurred when the tectonic setting changed from a compressional to an extensional regime. • We provide detailed fossil records and robust age for the far north Jehol outcrop. • This study refutes the widely accepted model for the Jehol migration. • Our results test the link between biological radiation and tectonic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of carbon neutrality, renewable energy, especially wind power, solar PV and hydropower, will become the most important power sources in the future low-carbon power system. Since wind power and solar PV are specifically intermittent and space-heterogeneity, an assessment of renewable energy potential considering the variability of wind power and solar PV with high temporal resolution in different regions will facilitate more accurate identification of the decarbonization pathway of power system. In this paper, the complementary output potential of wind-solar-hydro power every 15 min in 31 Chinese provinces is evaluated by developing a multi-objective optimization model based on Nondominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II. The results show that the total annual complementary power generation potential in China is 17.57 PWh, of which the three components account for 47.8%, 25.3% and 26.9%, respectively. Inner Mongolia and Tibet are the major renewable energy source provinces with annual complementary power generation potential of 5330 TWh and 3907 TWh, accounting for 30.3% and 13.7% of the total power generation potential, respectively. The temporal potential of wind-solar-hydro power varies greatly, with daily potential is more volatile than monthly. Seasonal and spatial heterogeneity of the complemental renewable potential makes some provinces suffer power shortage during long-hours period especially in winter. Our findings will encourage a higher penetration of renewable energy, the promotion of multi-energy complementarity, and the development of inter-provincial power transmission and energy storage infrastructure in China's future power sector. • A multi-objective wind-solar-hydro complementary optimization model is developed. • Electricity supply and demand have gaps at different temporal and spatial scales. • Wind-solar-hydro complementary potential shows great temporal and spatial variation. • Renewable complementarity can improve China's future power system stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the modes of occurrence of elements in coal is important, not only to help properly evaluate the impacts of potentially toxic elements on the environment and human health but also to provide technical guidance for recovering critical elements from coal ash. Statistical and multivariate data analysis methods have widely been used, together with physical and chemical methods, to determine the modes of occurrence of elements in coal. However, some of the statistical methods, e.g., average linkage hierarchical clustering algorithm have some disadvantages (e.g., statistical errors and poor visualization). A self-organizing map is an unsupervised artificial neural network, and it is known for its high data mining capability and excellent data visualization. In contrast to the average linkage hierarchical clustering algorithm that is commonly used for analyzing the modes of occurrence of elements in coal, the self-organizing map algorithm can provide a topological relationship among elements instead of merely providing the groups to which the elements belong. This paper focuses on the application of self-organizing map to coal elemental data for analyzing the modes of occurrence of elements in coal. Samples used in this study are from the Adaohai, Hailiushu, and Datanhao mines, all located in the Daqingshan Coalfield, Inner Mongolia, China. The results obtained from the self-organizing map algorithm are compared with those produced by average linkage hierarchical clustering algorithm. Based on the previous investigations (mainly direct methods) and further analysis, it can be concluded that the results from the self-organizing map algorithm in this investigation are more consistent with the geochemical nature and previous investigations by direct methods than those from average linkage hierarchical clustering algorithm. Consequently, the self-organizing map algorithm is a new reliable and intuitive method for analyzing the modes of occurrence of elements in coal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water rights trading volume (WRTV) is an integral part of an effective transaction. At present, in China, WRTV is mostly based on the water demand of the transferee, not the transferor. Some transactions last for a long time, yet lack proper measures to adjust trading volume, making theoretical and quantitative studies on WRTV necessary and essential. Therefore, based on the theory of property rights, this study first analyzed the concept of WRTV, and proposed that WRTV must consider the tradable water volume (TWV) of the transaction parties. For that, this paper divided water rights trading into two stages: initial stage and operation stage, to analyze how to measure WRTV in different stages. Second, currently, industry or sector is a major player of water rights trading. TWV of industry is, hence, the difference between the initial water rights volume (IWRV) and water demand of industry, significant for calculating WRTV in different stages. For that, this study employed the ratio method to calculate the IWRV of industry, and the Grey Model—GM (1,1) to predict the water demand of industry. Last, this paper carried out a case study on the inter-league and inter-city water rights trading between Bayannur city and Ordos city in Inner Mongolia, China. Results show that the TWV of industry of Bayannur and Ordos in 2030 are – 904.966 million m3 and − 87.135 million m3 respectively, implying insufficient TWV for the transferee, which may lead to transaction breakdown. The theory and calculation method of WRTV proposed in this study lay a theoretical foundation for WRTV measurement, and can help facilitate the orderly development of water rights trading in China. [Display omitted] • The volume of water rights should be considered the tradable water volume of the transaction subjects at the same time. • The impact of the change of the tradable water volume on the water rights transaction volume is analyzed. • The change of water rights trading volume has a great impact on trading, and even leads to the transaction rupture. • Forecasting the trading volume of water rights between Bayannur city and Ordos city in Inner Mongolia of China in 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evaluation of regional water resource carrying capacity has been repeatedly conducted to provide a scientific basis for the local water resource management and the sustainable development, in particular in the water-limited regions. However, the definition of regional water resource carrying capacity and its evaluation method are still arguable. Through a case study of Inner Mongolia, located in the arid and semi-arid northern China, this paper developed an improved method to calculate regional water resource carrying capacity by the combination of the water supply-demand analysis and the S-shaped curve threshold analysis. The spatial and temporal patterns of the regional water resource carrying capacity in Inner Mongolia during 2000–2019 was evaluated at three scales, namely the province scale, the basin scale and the city scale. The results showed that the average regional water resource carrying capacity of the whole province was 0.25 (the full mark is 1.00); at the basin scale, the Yellow River Basin had the lowest regional water resource carrying capacity (0.17) among all the basins, showing that the utilization of the water resources was unreasonable; at the city scale, the average regional water resource carrying capacities in Hulunbuir and Xilingol were both over 0.25, while those in Alxa, BayanNur and Wuhai were below 0.1; Hulunbuir had 25.48 billion m3 water surplus, while BayanNur suffered from an average water deficit of 4.51 billion m3 from 2000 to 2019. This paper has provided a reasonable way to measure the regional water resource carrying capacity using an improved method by incorporating S-shaped curve threshold analysis, which may have a wider application for the clustering and optimization of regional water management. In addition, the spatial and temporal patterns of regional water carrying capacity are beneficial for policymakers in the implementation of the effective water usage. • Regional water resource carrying capacity is evaluated by water supply-demand analysis and temporal threshold analysis. • The evaluation method is improved by considering temporal threshold at different regional scales. • "S"-shaped logistic curves are used to simulate the temporal pattern of water resource carrying capacity. • Spatial and temporal water resource carrying capacity analysis benefits policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the gradual maturity of wind power technology, China's wind power generation has grown rapidly over the recent years. However, due to the on-site inconsumable electricity, the phenomenon of large-scale "wind curtailment" occurs in some areas. In this paper, a novel hybrid hydrogen/electricity refueling station is built near a wind farm, and a part of the surplus wind power is used to charge electric trucks, and the other part of the surplus power is used to produce "green hydrogen". According to real-time load changes, different amounts of liquid hydrogen and gas hydrogen can be properly coordinated to provide timely energy supply for hydrogen trucks. For a 400 MW wind farm in the western Inner Mongolia, China, the feasibility of the proposed system has been carried out based on the sensitivity and reliability analysis, the static and dynamic economic modeling, with an entire life cycle analysis. Compared to the conventional technology, the initial investment of the proposed scheme (700.07 M$) decreases by 13.97%, and the dynamic payback period (10.93 years) decreases by 25.87%. During the life cycle of the proposed system, the accumulative NPV reaches 184.63 M$, which increases by 3.14 times compared to the case by conventional wind technology. • A novel hybrid hydrogen/electricity refueling system to charge electric vehicles, and produce "green hydrogen". • A realistic multi-energy study based on a 400 MW wind farm in western Inner Mongolia, China. • Feasibility study with sensitivity and reliability analysis for the proposed system. • Static and dynamic economic modeling on a hybrid hydrogen/electricity refueling station. • The proposed system has technical and economic benefits, but much less carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies of the East Asian Neolithic have been conducted for more than a century and many attempts have been made to interpret the functions of prehistoric pottery, particularly the earliest ceramics. The unsophisticated pottery discovered in the Weijiawopu site opens a window for the study of early ceramic function. We conducted plant residue analyses of ceramics from the Weijiawopu Neolithic site; the largest Hongshan Culture settlement in Inner Mongolia, China. The site is thought to belong to the early to middle period of the Hongshan Culture, approximately 6500-5500 cal BP. Based on evidence from starch grains, we identified four main plant resources: 1) cereal grains; 2) Dioscorea plant tubers; 3) beans; and 4) nuts. None of the individual starch grains exhibit surface damage, indicating they did not undergo extensive processing such as grinding or cooking. Hence, we conclude that the pottery samples analyzed derive from food storage containers, indicating one major function of early pottery at the site. Furthermore, wild plants are thought to have been an essential part of the Weijiawopu people's subsistence base, suggesting a mixed economic pattern based upon both domestication activities and hunting-gathering-foraging lifeways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]