Droughts in the East Asian summer monsoon margin during the last 6 kyrs: Link to the North Atlantic cooling events

Abstract

Abstract Teleconnections to the high latitudes, forcing by the tropical oceans and solar variability have all been suggested as dominant factors in the sub-millennial global climate changes, yet there is little consensus as to the relative importance of these factors for the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) variability. This study presents the results of high-resolution analyses of Ca and Mg concentrations, Mg/Ca ratio, δ 18 O and δ 13 C values of endogenic calcites from a sediment core from Dali Lake in the EASM margin, in order to investigate the sub-millennial EASM variability and its possible driving forces during the last 6 kyrs. Increases in these chemical proxy data were interpreted as drought events in the region due to the intensive evaporation losses overwhelming the water input to the lake. The chemical proxy data in this study combined with multi-proxy indicators including grain size component and total organic carbon concentrations from the same sediment core imply that declines in the EASM intensity may have played a dominant role in triggering the drought events during the last 6 kyrs. The results indicate that the EASM intensity significantly declined at the intervals of 5.8–4.75, 3.2–2.8, 1.65–1.15 and 0.65–0.2 kyrs BP. Large declines in the EASM intensity during the last 6 kyrs correspond in time to occurrences of ice-rafted debris in the North Atlantic, indicating that millennial-to-centennial scale changes in the EASM intensity were mainly controlled by climatic processes occurring in the northern high latitudes. These data imply that persistent global warming may be favorable for the strengthening of the EASM circulation and for the transportation of more rainfall to the semi-arid regions of northern China on sub-millennial scales.