Search

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]

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]

Soil wind erosion is a global problem that leads to increasingly serious regional land degradation, where the need for windbreak and sand fixation services (WSFS) is substantial. Inner Mongolia plays an important role in global semiarid and arid areas and the severe land degradation resulting from soil wind erosion warrants an urgent solution. However, the mechanism of influence of various driving factors on windbreak and sand fixation services is still not fully studied. In this paper, the revised wind erosion equation (RWEQ) model was used to synthesize the monthly spatiotemporal dynamics of soil wind erosion modulus (SWEM) and WSFS in Inner Mongolia from January 2000 to February 2020 from a semi-monthly scale. The influencing factors of WSFS were examined from both natural and anthropogenic aspects. Results show that over the past 20 years, the average SWEM in Inner Mongolia was 118.06 t ha−1 yr−1, the areas with severe wind erosion were mainly concentrated in the desert areas in the southwest of Inner Mongolia, and the forests in the northeast suffered less soil wind erosion. Meanwhile, the average WSFS was 181.11 × 108 t yr−1, with the high-value areas mainly located in major deserts, sandy land, and the area bordering Mongolia in the north and the low-value areas mainly located in the densely forested northeast and the Gobi Desert in the northwest. Both SWEM and WSFS showed a clear downward trend and a certain periodicity over the past 20 years. WSFS showed two peaks a year (April and October). Among the natural factors, precipitation and NDVI showed a significant correlation with WSFS and were identified as the main driving factors of WSFS, whereas temperature had no significant correlation. Among the anthropogenic factors, farming and animal husbandry intensity and GDP showed a positive correlation with WSFS, whereas population showed a negative correlation. These four types of factors were identified as socio-economic factors that drive WSFS. Meanwhile, WSFS did not show any significant correlation with the administrative area. Land use change contributed to a large proportion of WSFS change, thereby suggesting that the intensity of human activities is another central driver of WSFS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theoretical and practical research of industrial integration provides new directions for the development of many industries and new ideas for the reform of many technologies. In particular, it provides new impetus for the development of agricultural modernisation. This paper takes the rural development of Inner Mongolia as the research object, discusses the integration of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries in agriculture, and then provides guidance for the further development of agriculture. Moreover, this paper combines big data technology to construct an input–output analysis model for the integration of primary, secondary and tertiary industries in rural areas of Inner Mongolia, and on this basis, conducts research and analysis on the model. In addition, this paper uses a simulation model to analyse the industrial integration and uses the statistical yearbook data of Inner Mongolia as the input to calculate the data mining effect and data analysis effect of this model. Through experimental research and analysis, it can be seen that the model constructed in this paper can play a certain effect in the analysis of the integration of primary, secondary and tertiary industries in the rural areas of Inner Mongolia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper follows the recent definition of heritage as a socio-political construct to examine the politics of intangible cultural heritage in Inner Mongolia, China. It focuses on how the UNESCO system in concert with the PRC's cultural agenda led to the successful but controversial registration of Mongolian overtone singing (khoomei) to the UNESCO intangible heritage list as a significant tradition of the Mongolian ethnic group in China in 2009. As one of China's major strategic frontiers and one of its five ethnic minority autonomous regions, Inner Mongolia is under-represented in the literature. Inner Mongolia and Mongolia are also a crucial context in which to study the politics of transnational cultural heritage. Empirically, this paper documents unique and valuable local voices in Inner Mongolia speaking about the registration of khoomei through semi-structured face-to-face interviews in Mongolian and Chinese and an analysis of academic and non-academic published work in Chinese. Theoretically, this paper critically examines the influence of transnational heritage registration, initiated and endorsed by UNESCO heritage programs and the PRC's cultural agenda, on sub-national heritage-making in Inner Mongolia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on microcredit programs has largely focused on positive socioeconomic outcomes and low accessibility issues in farming areas and has provided less insight into the effects of easily acquired microcredit in pastoral areas. Using a case study approach, and econometric models, this paper addresses this gap by examining why and how easily acquired microcredit loans in Inner Mongolian pastoral areas increase the risk to the financial security of households or livelihood risk. Results show that existing microcredit programs increase livelihood risk because loan and repayment requirements do not align with the husbandry production cycle of contemporary Inner Mongolian pastoralists. This misalignment forces pastoralists to borrow from usurers to repay bank loans. Furthermore, households that need to borrow from usurers typically own smaller numbers of livestock and are less likely to be able to repay the usurers by selling animals. Instead, they tend to increase their bank loans in the coming year to repay the previous year's debt, trapping them in a vicious and ultimately impoverishing circle of annual loans they cannot fully pay back, and feeding increasing debt. We suggest that microcredit programs in semiarid areas should be in sync with the local production cycle and recognize environmental constraints that cause high variation in production seasonally and year to year. Our results supplement previous findings on microcredit applications and are particularly pertinent for other semiarid areas of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The urban development stage in Inner Mongolia was evaluated. • A comprehensive coupling analysis framework was constructed. • The coupling and coordination commonly shows a growing "basic coordination" state. • Five subsystems of ecological carrying capacity has different effects on the degree of coupling and coordination. With the rapid economic development, the imbalance between the economy and the environment is evident for Chinese cities. The coupling coordination degree (CCD) between urban land use efficiency (ULUE) and ecological carrying capacity (ECC) represents resource-intensive societies and is a significant tool for assessing sustainable development. Therefore, scientific evaluation of the coordinating relationship between ULUE and ECC is essential for optimizing the quality of urbanization and improving the state of the ecological environment. However, current studies on the CCD of ECC and ULUE lack quantitative assessment of the effect of ECC subsystems on overall CCD and have not yet evaluated the urban development stages. In this paper, taking 12 cities in Inner Mongolia as an example, a framework for CCD evaluation that includes comprehensive index analysis, coupling coordination quantification, coupling type identification, and coordination influence evaluation was created. This paper attempts to clarify the distinctions throughout cities and to propose distinctive development suggestions. The results indicate that the ULUE of Inner Mongolian cities has risen significantly, whereas their ECC levels fluctuate, growing at a slower rate than ULUE. As the level of coordination between the two systems increases, it changes from "basic disorders" to "basic coordination". In terms of spatial distribution, the CCD in Inner Mongolia has a pattern of "high in the northeast and low in the southwest". The pressure subsystem primarily performs a reverse blocking role in the CCD between ULUE and ECC, while the rest of the ECC subsystems exhibit different patterns over time. Additionally, the stages of urban development were investigated based on the temporal variations in ECC and ULUE, and several focused suggestions were provided. [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]

• This paper aims at quantifying the factors affecting vegetation growth in the western of Inner Mongolia, and judging the relative contribution of natural factors and man-made factors. • It is obtained through geodetectors (GD) that Rainfall is the most important driving factor, with the q-value of 0.77 and GDP also having a huge impact on vegetation growth, q-value of 0.64. • Different from most studies, human activity also has a positive effect on vegetation growth. • The relative contribution of human activities reached 51.75%, slightly exceeding the influence of natural factors. Vegetation is an essential component of terrestrial ecosystems, and understanding the drivers of vegetation change is of great importance for ecological management. In recent years, vegetation growth has increased under the combined effect of global warming and human activities in Inner Mongolia. The net primary productivity (NPP) was used as an indicator to study the spatial and temporal changes in vegetation in the Qimeng Region (QR). The residual trend analysis method was used to analyze the relative contributions of climate variations (CV) and human activities (HA) to NPP changes across the QR, while their drivers were explored using a geographical detector approach to quantify the driving forces of NPP. The results show that (1) NPP exhibited a fluctuating growth trend from 2003 to 2020, with an overall growth rate of 2.91%/year. (2) Precipitation, GDP and population density were the dominant driving factors for the spatial distribution of NPP. The combined explanatory power of any two dominant factors exceeded the power of any dominant individual factor, and the interaction between climate and human factors had a significant effect on NPP. (3) The change in NPP was influenced by the combined effect of HA and CV, accounting for 37.69% of the total area, with the relative contribution of HA being 51.75%. Finally, the relative contribution of human activities was slightly higher than that of climate change, confirming the initial success of the Grain to Green Program as well as ecological conservation projects. This paper provides a scientific basis for the local government to carry out the conversion of cropland to forest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fault identification in vegetated area (e.g., grassland) is a major challenge compared to that in outcrop areas. To identify concealed faults in a grassland covered area, a hybrid method combining the temperature vegetation dryness index (TVDI) and the singularity index was proposed in this paper to extract TVDI anomalies associated with concealed fractures in the Sonid Left Banner Grassland, Inner Mongolia, North China. In the triangle space of LST/NDVI (land surface temperature/normalized difference vegetation index), scattered points were concentrated in the areas of partial and full cover, while few data points were in the areas of bare soil with low values of NDVI and high values of LST; this result is consistent with the semiarid grassland landscape of the study area. Although TVDI imaging shows an obvious linear pattern with an NE-NNE trend, which indicates the existence of concealed faults, the surrounding background weakened and reduced the significance of the anomalies. To better delineate the concealed faults, the singularity index was employed to remove the influence of the background and enhance the TVDI anomalies associated with the concealed faults. The TVDI imaging and singularity index mapping showed NNE and NE orientations; this finding is consistent with the regional tectonic framework. Geological mapping footprints showed that the hybrid method is useful to identify concealed faults in covered areas of grassland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of cupressaceous fossil leaves are described in this paper that come from the lower Miocene of Inner Mongolia, northern China. These new examples of fossil leaves are compressed, have their branchlets arranged in a plane, either spreading or ascending, and are flat. These specimens also possess scale-like leaves that are dimorphic, preserved facial leaves that are rhomboidal and have obtuse apices, and lateral leaves that are boat-shaped and have slightly incurved apices. The epidermal cells of these fossils are quadrangular, rectangular, or narrowly rectangular, while the leaves are amphistomatic, and stomata are elliptical or oblong, and monocyclic. In comparison with both living and related fossil taxa, we identify the new fossils as Platycladus preorientalis sp. nov. Taken in combination with a molecular phylogenetic analysis, the new fossils suggest that the genus Platycladus originated in the Oligocene in mid and high Asian latitudes. Thus, the ancient Platycladus lineage probably migrated from Europe to Asia following the closure of the Turgai strait during the Oligocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines two contrasting cases of ethnic-group political activism in China – the Uighurs in Xinjiang and the Mongols in Inner Mongolia – to explain the former's political activism and the latter's lack thereof. Given similar challenges and pressures, how can we explain the divergent patterns in these two groups' political behavior? This paper forwards the argument that domestic factors alone are not sufficient to account for differences in the groups' political behavior. Instead, international factors have to be included to offer a fuller and satisfactory explanation. The paper illustrates how three types of international factors – big power support, external cultural ties, and Uighur diaspora community activism – have provided opportunities and resources to make the Uighur political activism sustainable. In Inner Mongolia, its quest for self-determination reached the highest fervor in the early half of the twentieth century, particularly with the support of imperial Japan. However, since the end of WWII, Inner Mongolia has not received any consistent international support and, as a result, has been more substantially incorporated into China's geopolitical body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism geographic information can reflect all kinds of objects in the earth's space that human society depends on in the computer through the form of digital, and realize the sharing of geographic information data, and provide the tourism management department with the information needed for decision-making support. The current tourism information construction in Inner Mongolia is very weak, and most of the scenic spots do not have a GIS-based tourism information service platform. Aiming at the massive GIS information data and the data access problem brought by the tourism system in Inner Mongolia, this paper adopts Hadoop HDFS to access massive GIS tourism geographic information data, and uses Map Reduce design to mine its distributed data, to make the Inner Mongolia geographic information system more perfect. [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]

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]

In the past few decades, drought has been a frequent phenomenon in many parts of the world, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Hence in order to better predict the development trend of drought in Inner Mongolia and formulate corresponding countermeasures for disaster prevention and mitigation, for this paper we calculated the aridity index according to the annual mean precipitation and temperature data of 109 stations covering 1961-2010. The study result indicated that the mean aridity degree was increasing from west to east and was mainly characterized by moderate aridity; from 1961 to 2010 the change of aridity has been decreasing while aridity has been increasing, especially after the abrupt changing point in 1995. Moreover, the decreasing area of aridity took up 82.6% while the increasing area only occupied 17.4% of the whole area. During a 50-year time scale, the annual mean aridity oscillation periodicity was at 49a, 25a, and7a, and Inner Mongolia was still at a stage of aridity that might last for a long time. Regarding different decades, the climate of Inner Mongolia was relatively humid in the 1980s; however, as time went by the area of moderate aridity degree increased while the humidity area decreased in the early 21st century. Therefore, it was clear that the climate was becoming drier year after year. From 1960 to 2010, contours lower than 30 shifted toward longitude direction and contours more than 30 moved in the direction of latitude [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past few decades, drought has been a frequent phenomenon in many parts of the world, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. Hence in order to better predict the development trend of drought in Inner Mongolia and formulate corresponding countermeasures for disaster prevention and mitigation, for this paper we calculated the aridity index according to the annual mean precipitation and temperature data of 109 stations covering 1961-2010. The study result indicated that the mean aridity degree was increasing from west to east and was mainly characterized by moderate aridity; from 1961 to 2010 the change of aridity has been decreasing while aridity has been increasing, especially after the abrupt changing point in 1995. Moreover, the decreasing area of aridity took up 82.6% while the increasing area only occupied 17.4% of the whole area. During a 50-year time scale, the annual mean aridity oscillation periodicity was at 49a, 25a, and7a, and Inner Mongolia was still at a stage of aridity that might last for a long time. Regarding different decades, the climate of Inner Mongolia was relatively humid in the 1980s; however, as time went by the area of moderate aridity degree increased while the humidity area decreased in the early 21st century. Therefore, it was clear that the climate was becoming drier year after year. From 1960 to 2010, contours lower than 30 shifted toward longitude direction and contours more than 30 moved in the direction of latitude. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From 2004 to 2010, the Sino-German research group MAGIM (Matter fluxes of Grasslands in Inner Mongolia as affected by grazing) ran a grazing experiment in a typical steppe ecosystem in Inner Mongolia, North China. Multiple ecological effects of grazing, climate variability and topography on plant and animal productivity, plant species composition change, decomposition and mineralization, soil nitrogen and organic matter distributions and dynamics, soil physics and chemistry, and soil-atmosphere gas exchange were measured in fenced plots with defined stocking rates and under different grazing management systems. This paper reviews and synthesizes the most important outcomes, conclusions, and open questions from the different project groups, as published in 125 ISI articles. While greenhouse gas fluxes, plant properties, and livestock performance were particularly responsive to (inter-) annual climate variability, soil properties were more affected by grazing intensity. Various management options based on the project results for semi-arid grasslands under changing climatic conditions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade environmental policies, particularly ecological resettlement, have changed China's pastoral areas. This paper explores the difficulty in conserving rangeland through ecological resettlement. The paper focuses on how ecological resettlement policy has been translated into practice, and how the affected people responded with migration decisions. Empirical findings in a pastoral township in Inner Mongolia demonstrate that local politicians have used the projects to stress economic restructuring, promotion of non-farming activities and urbanization. Meanwhile, affected households haved used migration strategies to adapt to the changing economic and social environments rather than the changing natural environment. The difficulty of conserving rangelands and the marginalization of environmental concerns is a result of locally defined modernization development interests and the affected households' adaptive behaviours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Han Chinese migration into Inner Mongolia has been an ongoing process. There have been academic studies on such migration, and on Han Chinese peasant migrants and their interactions with the Mongols. This paper is a study of a particular group of Han migrants, known in English as the sent-down youths, sent by the government to Inner Mongolia, in the movement of 'going up to the mountains and down to the villages', or the rustication movement, which reached its height during the Cultural Revolution (1966 -1976). Among the total of 17 million urban middle school graduates sent to various parts of China to become farmers, about 200,000 went to Inner Mongolia. By the mid-1980s the majority of these sent-down youths had returned to the cities and regained their urban household status. Based on works written by those who went to Inner Mongolia, and especially the interviews I conducted with some of them, this paper analyses their experiences, what it meant to them and the impact they had on the ecology and the political and ethnic integration of Inner Mongolia. I argue that the rustication movement as a Communist 'civilizing' project had negative effects on the ecology of Inner Mongolia. The sent-down youths functioned as instruments in the Han demographic and economic expansion and domination, but in the process, as individuals they underwent journeys of discovery of themselves and of the Mongols. To some, the experiences meant more awareness of ethnic diversity and more consciousness of ethnic rights as well as environmental issues. On the popular level, they played a role in enhancing ethnic integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The large public building energy consumption (BEC) is the focus of Building Energy Saving, therefore, it is necessary to study the characteristics of BEC to find out the important factors affecting BEC. For this purpose, 27 office buildings in the west of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region were studied, based on statistical analysis of the researched basic information and energy consumption bill of these buildings. This paper focused on the determination of the significant factors affecting the total and subentry energy consumption intensity (ECI) of office building, as well as the establishment of standardized linear regression models between these selected factors and total and subentry ECI. Firstly, eleven continuous variables, three independent categorical variables, and the climate factor were selected and analyzed the impact on total and subentry ECI by statistical software SPSS20.0, in order to find out the significant influencing factors. Then based on the results of curve fitting, standardized models of total and subentry ECI and their respective significant impact factors were established using multiple linear regression analysis. The regression results showed that the electricity use percentage of the total equivalent electricity consumption was an important factor affecting the total ECI of office building in the west of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Finally, univariate analysis of variance (ANOVA) was conducted between the three independent categorical variables and the total and subentry ECI, and the results showed that these factors had no significant effect on the ECI of office building. Process of the regressive model establishment and the results of analysis of variance could both guide us to propose more targeted energy saving measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discovered and mined in recent years, the Jinchangliang gold deposit has not yet been studied in its genetic type. In this paper, the geological features of ore deposit, S isotopic composition, metallogenic age and elements geochemical of the granite closely related to mineralization were discussed. The results of the geological features of ore deposit and S isotopic composition show that ore-bearing hydrothermal solution was closely related with the intrusion of magmatic. The granite is characteristic of high silica SiO2=72.38%-72.98%, high aluminum and Al2O3=14.22%-14.35%, low calcium CaO=0.16% -0.26%, and low value of FeOT/MgO (6.86-7.73), and rich in alkalis Na2O+K2O=9.11%-9.24%, suggesting that it is high-K calc-alkaline, highly fractionated, weak aluminum A-type granite. The REE patterns are inclined to right and show intense fractionation between LREE and HREE, without obvious negative Eu anomaly (δEu=0.80-0.84). The primitive mantle-normalized spidergrams are characterized by depletion of Ba, U, Ta, Nb, Zr, Ti and P, which implies that the granite has the characteristics of the crust-mantle mixing. S isotopes also indicate that the material source of gold deposit is closely related to the granite rocks. The LA-ICP-MS Zircon U-Pb age of the Damiao rock mass medium-fine grained monzogranite (belonging to the early Indo-China) is (245±1) Ma. It shows that Jinchangliang gold deposit was not formed in Yanshanian, but the early Indo-China. Specifically speaking, the deposit was formed in the collision stage of the North China plate and the Siberian plate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 30 years, the Cenozoic basalts in eastern China have been the subject of many investigations, but their origin remains highly controversial. The Abaga–Dalinuoer volcanic field in Inner Mongolia consists of an approximately 10,000 km 2 lava plateau and more than 300 volcanic cones and extends northwestward to the adjacent Dariganga lava plateau of Mongolia, forming one of the largest Cenozoic volcanic fields in eastern Asia. In this paper, we concentrate on the Abaga volcanic field that comprises more than 200 monogenetic cones, including scoria cones, lava flows, and maars. Phreatomagmatism has contributed to the generation of several volcanic edifices, and the diameter of the maars craters can reach 3 to 6 km, which are among the largest in eastern China. The volcanic rocks in the Abaga area can be divided into alkaline basalts and tholeiites. According to trace element and Sr–Nd isotopic characteristics, the Abaga magmas were primarily derived from a relatively homogeneous garnet peridotite source within the asthenosphere. Variable degrees and depths of partial melting played a key role in the genesis of magma from alkaline basalts to tholeiites. In contrast to the surrounding Cenozoic volcanic fields, such as Datong, Jining, and Hanuoba, in the western block of the North China Craton, the Abaga volcanic region in the southern part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt is distinguished by the deepest melting and the thickest lithosphere. Negative Ba-, Rb-, K-, and Ti anomalies and relatively high 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios suggest the presence of residual phlogopite/amphibole during mantle melting. The origin of the Abaga magma most likely required involvement of fluids released from the stagnant Pacific slab in the mantle transition zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bankfull discharge is a comprehensive factor reflecting the channel-forming capability of water flow and the flood and sediment transport capacity of a river channel. It is based on the interaction of the flow, sediment, and river channel, of which flow and sediment conditions play crucial roles. Using data recorded since the 1950s, this paper analyses statistically, the characteristics and variations of bankfull discharge at two stations on the Inner Mongolian reaches of the upper Yellow River. Results indicate that flood season variations in bankfull discharge are nonlinear and are governed by flood peak discharge, mean discharge, and the mean incoming sediment coefficients. Variation in bankfull discharge is related not only to the flow and sediment conditions of the current year but also to those of previous years. The 10-year moving average of flow and sediment conditions can be representative of present and previous years. By considering flood season peak discharge and incoming sediment coefficients as independent impact factors, a formula is derived to determine bankfull discharge. The results can be used to predict the bankfull discharge of the Yellow River channel in Inner Mongolia under specific flow and sediment conditions and provide reference for the purpose of further study related to restoring and maintaining the basic functions of the river channel regarding flood discharge and sediments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Inner Mongolia is one of the main wind power bases of China accounting for nearly 30% wind capacity of the country. But its wind power available hours are lower than the national average, and issues of integration and consumption of wind energy become a problem, causing for transmission line construction or grid security consideration. Wind power development in Inner Mongolia including status quo, barriers and solutions are researched, and this paper analyzed the development issues of Inner Mongolia from aspects of technology and mechanism, and put forward orderly development solutions for Inner Mongolia wind power in corresponding. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Renewable energy is one of the possible solutions when addressing climate change. Today, large-scale renewable energy integration needs to include the experience to balance the discrepancy between electricity demand and supply. The electrification of transportation may have the potential to deal with this imbalance and to reduce its high dependence on oil production. For this reason, it is interesting to analyse the extent to which transport electrification can further the renewable energy integration. This paper quantifies this issue in Inner Mongolia, where the share of wind power in the electricity supply was 6.5% in 2009 and which has the plan to develop large-scale wind power. The results show that electric vehicles (EVs) have the ability to balance the electricity demand and supply and to further the wind power integration. In the best case, the energy system with EV can increase wind power integration by 8%. The application of EVs benefits from saving both energy system cost and fuel cost. However, the negative consequences of decreasing energy system efficiency and increasing the CO2 emission should be noted when applying the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (HFCV). The results also indicate that developing renewable energy is crucial for transportation electrification. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Detailed information from global remote sensing has greatly advanced our understanding of Earth as a system in general and of agricultural processes in particular. Vegetation monitoring with global remote sensing systems over long time periods is critical to gain a better understanding of processes related to agricultural change over long time periods. This specifically relates to sub-humid to semi-arid ecosystems, where agricultural change in grazing lands can only be detected based on long time series. By integrating data from different sensors it is theoretically possible to construct NDVI time series back to the early 1980s. However, such integration is hampered by uncertainties in the comparability between different sensor products. To be able to rely on vegetation trends derived from integrated time series it is therefore crucial to investigate whether vegetation trends derived from NDVI and phenological parameters are consistent across products. In this paper we analyzed several indicators of vegetation change for a range of agricultural systems in Inner Mongolia, China, and compared the results across different satellite archives. Specifically, we compared two of the prime NDVI archives-AVHRR Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) and SPOT Vegetation (VGT) NDVI. Because a true accuracy assessment of long time series is not possible, we further compared SPOT VGT NDVI with NDVI from MODIS Terra as a benchmark. We found high similarities in interannual trends, and also in trends of the seasonal amplitude and integral between SPOT VGT and MODIS Terra (r > 0.9). However, we observed considerable disagreements in NDVI-derived trends between AVHRR GIMMS and SPOT VGT. We detected similar discrepancies for trends based on phenological parameters, such as amplitude and integral of NDVI curves corresponding to seasonal vegetation cycles. Inconsistencies were partially related to land cover and vegetation density. Different pre-processing schemes and the coarser spatial resolution of AVHRR GIMMS introduced further uncertainties. Our results corroborate findings from other studies that vegetation trends derived from AVHRR GIMMS data not always reflect true vegetation changes. A more thorough understanding of the factors introducing uncertainties in AVHRR GIMMS time series is needed, and we caution against using AVHRR GIMMS data in regional studies without applying regional sensitivity analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complexity of natural resource management is increasingly recognized and requires adaptive governance at multiple levels. It is particularly significant to explore the impacts of government interventions on the management practices of local communities and on target social-ecological systems. The Inner Mongolian rangeland was traditionally managed by indigenous people using their own institutions that were adapted to the highly variable local climate and were able to maintain the resilience of the social-ecological system for more than 1000 years. However, external interventions have significantly affected the rangeland social-ecological system in recent decades. In this paper, using livestock breed improvement as an example, we track government interventions from the traditional era through the collective period to the present market economy period based on a review of historical documents and case studies. Using the concept of social-ecological system resilience, we diagnose the impacts of interventions on livestock breed management in the rangeland social-ecological system, and discuss how these interventions occur. We found that government interventions in livestock breeding have gradually decoupled the pastoral society from its supporting ecological system. During this process, external powers have increasingly displaced the local community in defining the nature of rangeland management. Power asymmetry and discourse have contributed to this displacement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines an investigation on current situation of Spirulina ( Arthrospira) industry in Inner Mongolia, an internal region of China with temperate continental climate. More than 20 Spirulina plants have been established in Inner Mongolia since 2001, most of which are located at Wulan Town in the Ordos Plateau. By the end of 2009, the total annual production of Spirulina in the Ordos Plateau surpassed 700 t (dw), which account for ca . 80% of the total productivity of Inner Mongolia, and ca . 20% of China. Besides abundant solar radiation and enough freshwater favorable for Spirulina production, the three technical strategies contribute to the prosperity and success of Spirulina industry in the region: (1) reducing the cost or investment by overall advantages of rich local natural resources with low cost for Spirulina production, such as alkaline lakes, coal, electricity, and sandy land; (2) controlling the culture temperature and to avoid contamination by building plastic greenhouses on raceway ponds, (3) reducing investment by simplifying the construction of the ponds and the greenhouses. As the result, the growth period of Spirulina has been prolonged from about 120 to about 165 days, the cost of Spirulina has decreased by 25-30%, and the quality of products has been enhanced substantially. Inner Mongolia is expected to become the largest base for Spirulina production not only in China, but also in the world in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of China's five autonomous regions, Inner Mongolia has not been highlighted in the international news, and the Mongols have not demonstrated significant political will for greater autonomy in the way the Tibetans and the Uighurs have in recent decades. Why haven't the Mongols mobilized? This paper argues that the Mongols' lack of aspiration for greater autonomy is in part due to the relationship between Inner Mongolia and Mongolia as an independent kin state. The different trajectories of national identity construction in these two places and the perception of better living conditions in Inner Mongolia have made the Inner Mongols less anxious about their current incorporation within the Chinese state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The No. 6 coal from the Haerwusu Surface Mine, Inner Mongolia, China, is enriched in Al and Ga, which are valuable metal resources that could be extracted from fly ash. However, fluorine in the coal is unusually high (mean 286μg/g) and potentially toxic to the environment in the extraction process. In this paper, a sequential extraction/density separation procedure (SE/DS) was designed to examine the modes of occurrence of fluorine in the coal. The results show that fluorine extracted in distilled water, NH4Ac (1mol/l), and HCl (0.5%) leachates is low, and that in sulfide fraction is below the detection limit. The organic and silicate associations are inferred to account for more than 90% of the total fluorine in the coal. Boehmite and kaolinite are prime carriers of fluorine (the fluorine content in silicate fraction of the boehmite-enriched sample H-14 is up to 1906μg/g, and that of the kaolinite-enriched sample H-29 is 384μg/g). In bench samples H-2 and H-3, a minor amount of fluorine is related to goyazite. The relationship between fluorine and boehmite indicates that they were probably derived from the sediment source region, the weathered bauxite of the uplifted Benxi Formation situated to the northeastern Jungar coalfield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land management has made a strong impact on the landscapes, especially in arid environments. Based on historical data, this paper evaluates the role of Catholic churches in the shaping of the Sanshenggong area in western China in the 1870s. Sanshenggong, an arid/semi-arid region located in western Inner Mongolia, was an important Catholic region in the west Ordos Plateau after the 1870s. After the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae) (CICM) obtained land from the Maharajah of Alashan Banner, the Belgian priests converted local Chinese (Hans) to Catholicism by lending land, houses and farm implements. By 1949 most people living there had been converted. As a result of intensive land management by the Catholic mission, the arid/semiarid landscape, formerly used as grazing lands, was changed to more intensive agricultural use. This case study exemplifies the practices and the important role an authoritarian religious organisation played in shaping oasis landscapes in arid and semiarid areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The semi-private property rights arrangement called the Household Production Responsibility System (HPRS) was started in the early 1980s in Xilingol pasture of Inner Mongolia (China), and stimulated the development of stockbreeding. The grassland has been degrading severely with increasing numbers of livestock. Based on a historical review of property rights regimes in Inner Mongolia and empirical surveys in Xilingol pasture during 2001–2003, this paper assesses the implementation of HPRS and its impacts on incomes of households as well as the environmental impact on the grassland. It was found that HPRS does not mitigate the “Tragedy of the Commons”, instead it has exacerbated the situation. It was also found that co-management of grassland and livestock among a few households presents a sustainable use of grassland to develop livestock breeding. We conclude with the recommendation that small-scale collective property rights systems should be encouraged in Xilingol pasture of Inner Mongolia. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Western Liaohe River Basin in northeastern China is one of the cradles of ancient Chinese civilization. Archaeological records from this region indicate that human occupation began about 8000 years ago and that agriculture and pastoralism were important activities from an early stage. Very little is known, however, about the effects that these activities had upon the landscape. This paper presents the results of a palaeoecological study from a 3.6 m sedimentary sequence in a relict oxbow lake in the Western Liaohe River Basin of southeast Inner Mongolia. The 5400-yr sequence indicates that human activities had a noticeable impact on an apparently open landscape. Buckwheat cultivation began as early as 5400 cal. yr BP with intensification of agricultural activities from approximately 4700 cal. yr BP. Nitrophilous plants such as Solanum and Cerastium, and also Artemisia were growing in the region at certain times, linked with fluctuations in the δ15N record and probably indicative of increased pastoralism and unintentional/intentional manuring. Burning was probably used for clearance of the steppe vegetation for agriculture with a close relationship apparent between increased influx of microfossil charcoal and the presence of buckwheat. Superimposed upon this record of human impact is also clear indication of three significant intervals of climate change between 2900 and 2600, 1200 and 600 and 600 and 30 cal. yr BP. The latter two are discussed in relation to the 'Mediaeval Warm Period' and 'Little Ice Age' apparent in sedimentary sequences across the Northern Hemisphere. Discussions are therefore made in terms of the impact that both climate change and ancient Chinese civilizations had upon shaping the present day landscape and vegetation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expanding use of resettlement as a tool for addressing environmental and poverty-related concerns in China calls for further research into its impacts on local populations. Our knowledge of the effects of such resettlement is very limited, particularly in relation to its social impacts. This paper examines the impoverishment risk of social disarticulation as it is experienced by resettlers in an Inner Mongolian environmental resettlement village—Wan Sheng village. We argue that social disarticulation as a risk of resettlement is by no means an inevitable downward spiral towards social oblivion and anomie. Resettlers, in this case at least, have recreated a living, functioning community that provides many aspects of support for its inhabitants. This is in spite of unfavourable construction and increased economic deprivation. It is the adaptive abilities of these resettlers that come to the fore in Wan Sheng, suggesting aspects of rearticulation and cohesion, and not simply disarticulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to foreign demands for concessions and territories, China’s last imperial court in the early twentieth century executed reforms to strengthen fiscal, personnel, military, and cultural control over its frontier regions. However, in so doing, it provoked an awakening of the national consciousness of the elites of non-Han ethnic minorities there. Much has changed over the past 100 years regarding the governance of China’s frontier territories of Inner Mongolia, Tibet, and Xinjiang, with the diffusion of nationalist claims among increasing numbers of the ethnic minority populace, heightened focus of foreign actors on the humanitarian and rights situations of the ethnic minorities, and greatly extended reach and firmer grip of the central government. What remained unaltered is the “state integration” purpose of Chinese regimes, as manifested in the practices of “internal colonialism” or “ethnic assimilation,” which has led to grievances and resistance by China’s ethnic minorities against the Chinese state. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Contribution from socio-economic development to climate change cannot be ignored. In order to make a more reasonable comprehensive assessment of the future climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has proposed the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) based on the background of climate change and the possible future socio-economic conditions, which describes the adaptation and mitigation challenges of climate change. Based on different SSP scenarios, combined with China's current population policy and the actual social and economic development in Inner Mongolia, this paper adopts PDE model and C-D model to simulate population and economic changes of various counties in Inner Mongolia from 2010 to 2050. It is founded that population and GDP varies from different counties significantly, and shows the patterns of high in east and low in west, high in south and low in north. The spatial distribution of GDP is positively related with the population. The total population increases first and then decreases from 2015 to 2050 in Inner Mongolia. By the ends of 2050, the population reaches 23.32 million (−9.46%), 24.14 million (−2.30%), 24.72 million (+0.05%), 22.37 million (−9.46%), 23.49 million (−4.93%) under SSP1, SSP2, SSP3, SSP4, SSP5 scenarios. The largest gap of population is 2.35 million between SSP3 and SSP4. The GDP grows constantly from 2010 to 2050 in Inner Mongolia, but the growth rate is slowing down. By the ends of 2050, GDP reaches 5.09 trillion (+4.75 times), 5.22 trillion (+4.90 times), 4.41 trillion (+3.98 times), 4.98 trillion (+4.62 times), 5.87 trillion (+5.63 times). Therein, the biggest gap of GDP is 1.5 trillion between SSP4 and SSP5. The results provide technical solution for population and economic projection under SSPs at small area and subnational level, and provides scientific basis for the formulation of climate change policies in order to formulate measures to deal with climate change risks. • Population and GDP of 101 counties in Inner Mongolia are predicted under SSPs. • Population and GDP are high to low from east to west and south to north. • The largest gap of population is 2.35 million between SSP3 and SSP4 in 2050. • The largest gap of GDP is 1.5 trillion between SSP4 and SSP5 in 2050. • The spatial distribution of GDP is positively related with the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study mainly examined the relationships among primary productivity, precipitation and temperature by identifying trends of change embedded in time-series data. The paper also explores spatial variations of the relationship over four types of vegetation and across two precipitation zones in Inner Mongolia, China. Traditional analysis of vegetation response to climate change uses minimum, maximum, average or cumulative measurements; focuses on a whole region instead of fine-scale regional or ecological variations; or adopts generic analysis techniques. We innovatively integrate Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) and Redundancy Analysis (RDA) to overcome the weakness of traditional approaches. The EMD filtered trend surfaces reveal clear patterns of Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), precipitation, and temperature changes in both time and space. The filtered data decrease noises and cyclic fluctuations in the original data and are more suitable for examining linear relationship than the original data. RDA is further applied to reveal partial effect of precipitation and temperature, and their joint effect on primary productivity. The main findings are as follows: (1) We need to examine relationships between the trends of change of the variables of interest when investigating long-term relationships among them. (2) Long-term trend of change of precipitation or temperature can become a critical factor influencing primary productivity depending on local environments. (3) Synchronization (joint effect) of precipitation and temperature in growing season is critically important to primary productivity in the study area. (4) Partial and joint effects of precipitation and temperature on primary productivity vary over different precipitation zones and different types of vegetation. The method developed in this paper is applicable to ecosystem research in other regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managing multiple ecosystem services (ESs) to facilitate synergy benefits is a crucial but challenging task for sustainable development, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. In this paper, the Inner Mongolia was used as a case study to systematically analyze the spatial trade-offs and synergies between 12 ESs consisting of 88 counties using the framework of ecosystem service bundle. We mapped ES distribution and then analyzed the relationships between ESs using Spearman correlation and hotspot/coldspot overlay analysis. In addition, ES bundles were identified using a self-organizing mapping network and the socio-ecological variables that drive the different ESs were explored using redundancy analysis. The results revealed complex spatial interactions between various ESs in Inner Mongolia due to water limitations. ES distribution and ES relationships correlated with gradients in biophysical and socioeconomic factors such as slope, precipitation, temperature, soil properties, and population density, and formed five types of ES bundles. These findings not only promote a clear understanding of the complex relationships among regional ESs, but lay a foundation for exploring win-win management strategies of ecological conservation and social-economic development in arid and semi-arid regions. • 12 ecosystem services were assessed at the county scale in Inner Mongolia. • Complex spatial interactions occurred between pairwise ecosystem services. • Self-organizing map method identified five types of ecosystem service bundles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the conservation and removal of murals in tombs and temples in Inner Mongolia, China, focusing on an analysis of restoration techniques used there. Topics include a discussion of the replication of traditional techniques such as the the use of fine and coarse organic plasters and the replication of traditional painting techniques; and the use of traditional materials including wheat straw, linen fibres, quicklime, clay and fine sand; and the effect of conservation efforts on the revival of traditional skills.