China Vitae

Biography

Li Jijun, male, Han nationality, is a native of Penxian County, Sichuan Province. He graduated from Nanjing University.

Li Jijun was professor of the Geography Department of Lanzhou University. He has studied glaciology, physiognomy and quaternary. Li is well known for studying the bulging of Qing-Tibet Highland and its influence on the environment. As a result, he hypothesized that the Highland was leveled twice and rose thrice during the late Cenozoic era, with the latest intense rising commencing 3.6m years ago, preceding through the Qing-Tibet Movement (3.6m - 1.7m years), the Kunhuang Movement (1.2m - 0.6m years) and the Republic Movement (0.15m years) until it reached its present height, accumulating 3,500 - 4,000m.

He has also pointed out that multiple-level terracing in the upstream of the Yellow River has been the reflection of rising stages of the highland, formed 1.7m, 1.5m, 1.2m, 0.6m, 0.15m years ago, respectively. He also carried out detailed probing into Tibet and the modern glaciers crossing its mountain ranges. He was the first to point out that there is a great deal of wet and hot relief relics, and certain cold and mud flow relief systems in Lushan Mountain, replacing the older interpretations of the formation of glaciers. He studied the environmental changes of loess and ancient soils near Lanzhou, reconstructing the environmental flux in comparison with the ice core of the South Pole over the last 150,000 years.

Li Jijun was elected an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1991.