title: The world's earliest Aral-Sea type disaster: the decline of the Loulan Kingdom in the Tarim Basin.
abstract: Remnants of cities and farmlands in China's hyperarid Tarim Basin indicate that environmental conditions were significantly wetter two millennia ago in a region which is barren desert today. Historical documents and age data of organic remains show that the Loulan Kingdom flourished during the Han Dynasty (206 BCE-220 CE) but was abandoned between its end and 645 CE. Previous archaeological, geomorphological and geological studies suggest that deteriorating climate conditions led to the abandonment of the ancient desert cities. Based on analyses of lake sediments from Lop Nur in the eastern Tarim Basin and a review of published records, we show that the Loulan Kingdom decline resulted from a man-made environmental disaster comparable to the recent Aral Sea crisis rather than from changing climate. Lop Nur and other lakes within the Han Dynasty realm experienced rapidly declining water levels or even desiccation whilst lakes in adjacent regions recorded rising levels and relatively wet conditions during the time of the Loulan Kingdom decline. Water withdrawal for irrigation farming in the middle reaches of rivers likely caused water shortage downstream and eventually the widespread deterioration of desert oases a long time before man initiated the Aral Sea disaster in the 1960s.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland.
authors.forename: Steffen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mischke
authors.affiliation: Institute of Mineral Resources, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China.
authors.forename: Chenglin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: MOE Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, Department of Geography, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Jiafu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Earth Sciences and Key Laboratory of Mineral Resources in Western China, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China.
authors.forename: Chengjun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Mineral Resources, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Mineral Resources, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Beijing 100037, China.
authors.forename: Pengcheng
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jiao
authors.affiliation: Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam 14473, Germany.
authors.forename: Birgit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Plessen