Extreme drought events and land surface temperature variations on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau over the last 350 ka

Abstract

The northeastern Tibetan Plateau (NETP) is located in the ecologically vulnerable northwestern China, with semi-humid and semi-arid conditions. Long-term paleo-hydrological and paleo-temperature variations and their mechanisms over the NETP remain ambiguous, primarily due to the limited availability of well-dated, long-term depositional archives and suitable proxies. In this paper, we investigate climate variations and their underlying mechanisms in the region using Glycerol Dialkyl Glycerol Tetraethers (GDGTs) spanning the last 350 ka. Our results suggest that the NETP underwent substantial drying during glacial periods, with the driest period occurring during the last glacial period. The intensity of drought during glacial periods is comparable to that in the Westerlies-dominated region but differs from that in the East Asian monsoon region. This suggests that the influence of the Westerlies surpassed that of the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM), becoming the major driver of warm-season drought events on the NETP during glacial periods. Additionally, the peaks of aridity events coincide with summer insolation maxima during glacial periods, which may be related to the direct influence of local insolation on regulating evaporation. The reconstructed land surface temperatures were about 6.7 °C during interglacial periods and 2.6 °C during glacial periods, which may be linked to a combination of variations in insolation, CO2 levels, and other internal feedback mechanisms. However, an unusual warming occurred during the last glaciation, with an average temperature of about 4.8 °C. This warming may be related to variations in soil moisture and vegetation resulting from extreme drought. Our study highlights the sensitivity of hydrological variations over the NETP to insolation and Westerlies, as well as the critical roles of soil moisture and vegetation in land surface temperature variations.