Grain‐size Age Model in Reconstructing Orbital‐ and Suborbital‐scale Climate Changes on the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau Since the Late Glacial

Abstract

AbstractReconstructions of past climatic changes on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau (NETP) can provide insights into the Asian summer monsoon (ASM) variability. However, the regional climate changes on both orbital and suborbital time scales since the late Glacial remain controversial. Here we present the results of high‐resolution geochemical and grain‐size analyses of a sediment core from Genggahai Lake, a small, shallow lake in this area. Changes of the accumulation rate of the core sediments show a similar trend with variations of the coarse fraction. Accordingly, the chronological framework is constructed using a grain‐size age model. In addition, the histories of chemical weathering and aeolian activity since the late Glacial are reconstructed based on the Al/Ti ratios and coarse fractions, respectively. The results suggest that an enhanced chemical weathering and a weakened aeolian activity occurred on the NETP under a warmer, wetter climate during the early to mid‐Holocene (11.3–6.3 ka cal BP), compared with the late Glacial (17.1–11.3 ka cal BP) and the late Holocene (6.3 ka cal BP to present), which responded mainly to the strengthened ASM on orbital time scale. In addition, the synchronous occurrences of weakened chemical weathering, low lake level and intense aeolian activity on suborbital time scale reflect several episodes of weakened ASM. Furthermore, these episodes largely coincide with the centennial‐ to millennial‐scale cold events in the North Atlantic, which demonstrates the close connection between the ASM and the cooling at high latitudes.