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Variability of Monsoon Climate in East Asia at the End of the Last Glaciation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Zhou Weijian ,
Douglas J. Donahue ,
Stephen C. Porter ,
Timothy A. Jull ,
Li Xiaoqiang ,
Minze Stuiver ,
An Zhisheng ,
Eiji Matsumoto  and
Dong Guangrong
Zhou Weijian
Affiliation:
National Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, P.O. Box 17, Xi Ying Rd. 22-2, Xian 710054, China Northwest University, Xian 710069, China
Douglas J. Donahue
Affiliation:
NSF—Arizona Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility, Department of Physics, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 85721
Stephen C. Porter
Affiliation:
Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195 and National Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, P.O. Box 17, Xi Ying Rd. 22-2, Xian, 710054, China
Timothy A. Jull
Affiliation:
NSF—Arizona Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Facility, Department of Physics, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, 85721
Li Xiaoqiang
Affiliation:
National Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, P.O. Box 17, Xi Ying Rd. 22-2, Xian 710054, China Northwest University, Xian 710069, China
Minze Stuiver
Affiliation:
Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 98195 and National Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, P.O. Box 17, Xi Ying Rd. 22-2, Xian, 710054, China
An Zhisheng
Affiliation:
National Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, P.O. Box 17, Xi Ying Rd. 22-2, Xian 710054, China Northwest University, Xian 710069, China
Eiji Matsumoto
Affiliation:
Institute for Hydrospheric–Atmospheric Sciences, Nagoya University, Japan
Dong Guangrong
Affiliation:
Lanzhou Institute of Desert, Academia Sinica, Lanzhou 730000, China
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Abstract

High-resolution paleomonsoon proxy records from peat and eolian sand–paleosol sequences at the desert–loess transition zone in China denote a rapid oscillation from cold–dry conditions (11,200–10,600 14C yr B.P.) to cool–humid conditions (10,600–10,200 14C yr B.P.), followed by a return to cold–dry climate (10,200–10,000 14C yr B.P.). Variations in precipitation proxies suggest that significant climatic variability occurred in monsoonal eastern Asia during the Younger Dryas interval. Late-glacial climate in the Chinese desert–loess belt that lies downwind from Europe was strongly influenced by cold air from high latitudes and from the North Atlantic via the westerlies. The inferred precipitation variations were likely caused by variations in the strength of the Siberian high, which influenced the pressure gradient between land and ocean and therefore influenced the position of the East Asian monsoon front.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 46 , Issue 3 , November 1996 , pp. 219 - 229
Copyright
University of Washington

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