Orbital forcing of aridity/humidity fluctuations in the Hexi Corridor and Alxa Plateau, NW China, during the last 1.8 million years

Abstract

The processes controlling aridity/humidity variations in mid-latitude Asia dust source regions on orbital timescales are unclear. Both insolation and polar ice sheets can affect the climate at mid-latitudes, but determining their individual contributions is challenging. Here we present a compilation of paleoclimate data (the content of smectite and aeolian sand, and the proportion of the hydraulic component) from sites in the Hexi Corridor and Alxa Plateau, located at the junction of the regions influenced by the mid-latitude East Asian Monsoon (EAM) and the Westerlies. Our objectives were to determine the links between aridity/humidity variations in this region and Earth orbital forcing and changes in high-latitude ice sheets. We found that the aridity/humidity variations in the Hexi Corridor and Alxa Plateau were paced mainly by the long eccentricity cycle (∼400 ka), facilitating roughly coherent beat in changes of the mass accumulation rate (MAR) and the excursions of thick/coarse loess layers L1, L5, L9, L15 and L24 on the Chinese Loess Plateau. Additionally, spectral analysis of the paleoclimate data revealed that the expression of the Mid-Pleistocene transition (MPT) was spatially variable. A transition between the dominant periodicities in the western Hexi Corridor and Alxa Plateau occurred at ∼0.9 Ma, but in the eastern Alxa Plateau this transition occurred at ∼0.7 Ma. Our data compilation also demonstrates an interval of wet climate in the Hexi Corridor and Alxa Plateau after ∼0.34 Ma, which is consistent with paleoclimate records from loess deposits in Westerlies-dominated Central Asia. We attribute this to insolation forcing via complex internal feedbacks in the Southern Ocean, involving the enhancement of the Atlantic deep-water circulation, and the interplay between Indian Monsoon and the Westerlies. Overall, our findings highlight the importance of the Earth orbital control of aridity/humidity cycles on the boundary of the EAM and the Westerlies in mid-latitude Asia.