This
study presents the changes in lake areas in the Valley of Lakes, the Govi
region, southern Mongolia. The recent changes in lake areas show decreases
depending on vulnerability of lake basins and response of Govi landscape to the
present climatic warming. During the recent 44 - 45 years (from 1970 to 2014 or
2015), modern lakes have encountered the present rapid increase in temperature,
water evaporation and drying up that induced the reduction in lake areas in the
Valley of Lakes. The finding of the reduction in lake areas is consistent with
the trends on increasing in temperature since 1995 and fluctuating
precipitation since 1975. Investigations with detailed chronology of lake
sediment are needed from the lakes to review a more complete evolution of lake
basins during the Late Quaternary paleoclimatic history in Mongolia and Central
Asia.
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