Precipitation changes recorded in the sedimentary total organic carbon isotopes from Lake Poyang in the Middle and Lower Yangtze River, southern China over the last 1600 years

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Abstract Lake Poyang, the largest freshwater lake of China, is well known for its ecological and hydrological importance as a dynamic wetland and lake system. The climatic change and its effect on ecological and hydrological system of the lake has aroused considerable interest in recent years. So, a sediment core from Lake Poyang was analyzed for δ 13 C total organic matter (δ 13 Corg) to study the hydrological changes in the Lake Poyang catchment. By comparing with modern meteorological data (precipitation and temperature) and hydrological data (volume of runoff), the result showed that the δ 13 Corg values in the sediment are negatively correlated with the total runoff of the 5 main rivers supplying water to Lake Poyang and precipitation in this area over the past 50 years. Therefore, the δ 13 Corg values of the Lake Poyang sediment can serve as reliable proxies for reconstruction of river discharge and regional precipitation, with negative δ 13 Corg values representing increased precipitation in the Lake Poyang area. On this basis, the river discharge and regional precipitation variation in the Lake Poyang catchment over the past 1600 years were discussed. The δ 13 Corg values suggest that the precipitation was highest in the period 340–880 AD, and then decreased with fluctuations to the minimum at approximately 1110 AD. During the period of Medieval Warm Period (1110–1350 AD, MWP), the precipitation was generally in the high level except low amount during period of 1140 AD to 1220AD. The precipitation was in low amount during the Little Ice Age (1350–1620 AD, LIA), except for a sudden increase at approximately 1550–1560 AD. The precipitation continuously increased with little fluctuation from 1610 AD until now. In general, changes in regional precipitation and river discharge were dominated by variations in the Asian Summer Monsoon (ASM) precipitation in the Lake Poyang area, consistent with other records from the ASM-controlled areas of China.