Environmental conditions on the Tibetan Plateau are changing
rapidly. This study reconstructs late Quaternary environmental
changes on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau based on sand
deposits. The study area is located close to the present maximum
extent of the East‐Asian summer monsoon and is likely to
register shifts in monsoon extent. Furthermore, different
sediment deposits are available that allow reconstruction of
sediment pathways between the different archives. Sediment
deposition in the catchment is dominated by deposition of sand.
Sandy deposits in the form of dune fields and sand sheets are
widespread on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau and are an
important archive for paleoclimatic reconstruction. This study
shows that sand deposits on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau are
local phenomena that still bear the sedimentological and
geochemical fingerprint of their source materials.
Reconstruction of transport processes in the local sediment
cascade shows that local sand deposits are the main source of