Glacial-interglacial variation in catchment weathering and erosion paces the Indian summer monsoon during the Pleistocene

Abstract

Silicate weathering via CO2 consumption is considered to regulate the long-term climate change. Discriminating silicate versus carbonate weathering from sedimentary records is helpful to understand the coupling relationship between weathering and past climate. However, owing to the paucity of well-dated and continuous records of weathering and erosion, the relationship between silicate and carbonate weathering and their links with mountain uplift and glacial-interglacial climate remain elusive. Geochemical analysis of a 666 m core from the Heqing basin, a paleolake situated at the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, demonstrates silicate versus carbonate weathering and erosion changes under Indian summer monsoon (ISM) conditions spanning the entire Pleistocene, via respective tracing between Rb/Sr and Al/Na ratios. The Rb/Sr record is interpreted as reflecting a competition between clayey silicate-origin Rb versus carbonate-origin Sr fluxes, whereas Al/Na ratio is a balance between weathering and erosion of silicate minerals, both pacing the glacial-interglacial cycles of the ISM. During interglacials, strong silicate weathering intensity reflected by low Al/Na values is mainly controlled by warmer temperatures, with the reduced variability during 1.82–0.92 Ma, recalling the pacing of the Arabian Sea surface temperature amplitudes. Within glacials, the weak carbonate leaching and clay erosion within the older and younger intervals are interrupted by strong clay erosion within the middle interval. In conclusion, the Heqing Rb/Sr and Al/Na records reveal the sensitivity of catchment weathering and erosion to ISM changes over glacial-interglacial timescales with warmer temperature enhancing silicate weathering and clay formation during interglacials and greater physical erosion during glacials.