Title

Quantitative Holocene climatic reconstructions for the lower Yangtze region of China

Authors

Li, JY ; Dodson, J ; Yan, H ; Wang, WM ; Innes, JB ; Zong, YQ ; Zhang, XJ ; Xu, QH ; Ni, J; Lu, FY

Abstract

Quantitative proxy-based and high-resolution palaeoclimatic datasets are scarce for the lower reaches of the Yangtze River (LYR) basin. This region is in a transitional vegetation zone which is climatologically sensitive;

and as a birthplace for prehistorical civilization in China, it is important to understand how palaeoclimatic dynamics played a role in a？ecting cultural development in the region. We present a pollen-based and regionally-averaged Holocene climatic twin-dataset for mean total annual precipitation (PANN) and mean annual temperature (TANN) covering the last 10,000 years for the LYR region. This is based on the technique of weighted averaging-partial least squares regression to establish robust calibration models for obtaining reliable climatic inferences. The pollen-based reconstructions generally show an early Holocene climatic optimum with both abundant monsoonal rainfall and warm thermal conditions, and a declining pattern of both PANN and TANN values in the middle to late Holocene. The main driving forces behind the Holocene climatic changes in the LYR area are likely summer solar insolation associated with tropical or subtropical macro-scale climatic circulations such as the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), Western Pacifc Subtropical High (WPSH), and El Ni？o/Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Regional multiproxy comparisons indicate that the Holocene variations in

precipitation and temperature for the LYR region display an in-phase relationship with other related proxy records from southern monsoonal China and the Indian monsoonin？uenced regions, but are inconsistent with the Holocene moisture or temperature records from northern monsoonal China and the westerly-dominated region in northwestern

China. Overall, our comprehensive palaeoclimatic dataset and models may be signifcant tools for understanding the Holocene Asian monsoonal evolution and for anticipating its future dynamics in eastern Asia.

Corresponding author

Li Jianyong

Volume

50

Issue

3-4

Page

1101-1113

Pub year

2018

Publication name

CLIMATE DYNAMICS

Details

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00382-017-3664-3