Abstract
AbstractThe intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation (iNHG) and uplift of the Tibetan Plateau have been argued to be among the main drivers of climate change in midlatitude Central Asia during the Pliocene/Pleistocene. While most proxy records that support this hypothesis are from regions outside the Tibetan Plateau (such as from the Chinese Loess Plateau), detailed paleoclimatic information for the plateau itself during that time has yet remained elusive. Here we present a temporally highly resolved (~500 years) sedimentological record from the Qaidam Basin situated on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau that shows pronounced glacial‐interglacial climate variability during the interval from 2.7 to 2.1 Ma. Glacial (interglacial) intervals are generally characterized by coarser (finer) grain size, minima (maxima) in organic matter content, and maxima (minima) in carbonate content. Comparison of our results with Earth's orbital parameters and proxy records from the Chinese Loess Plateau suggests that the observed climate fluctuations were mainly driven by changes in the Siberian High/East Asian winter monsoon system as a response to the iNHG. They are further proposed to be enhanced by the topography of the Tibetan Plateau and its impact on the position and intensity of the westerlies.
Highlights
The latest Pliocene/early Pleistocene intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation marks a decisive step within the Earth's long‐term cooling during the Cenozoic (Hill et al, 2017; Ravelo et al, 2004; Zachos et al, 2008; Zhang et al, 2009)
Investigations in grain size of surface samples from modern lakes across the Tibetan Plateau (Lu et al, 2018), further support the Facies I is deposited in a stagnant central lake zone
High‐resolution (~500 years) loss on ignition (LOI) and grain size records from Core SG‐1b show pronounced glacial– interglacial climate fluctuations that have occurred on the NE Tibetan Plateau during the latest Pliocene and early Pleistocene (2.7–2.1 Ma)
Summary
The latest Pliocene/early Pleistocene intensification of Northern Hemisphere glaciation (iNHG) marks a decisive step within the Earth's long‐term cooling during the Cenozoic (Hill et al, 2017; Ravelo et al, 2004; Zachos et al, 2008; Zhang et al, 2009). Knowledge about the feedbacks between climate change and the iNHG is mainly based on lake sediments (Williams et al, 1997; Pross & Klotz, 2002; An et al, 2011), terrigenous proxy data sets from marine drill cores (Demenocal, 2004; Grant et al, 2017; Naafs et al, 2012), and loess sequences (Ding et al, 2002; Sun et al, 2006, 2010) In these records, the iNHG is marked by high‐amplitude fluctuations in temperature‐ and/or precipitation‐related parameters. Such high‐resolution data are yet scarce for the upper Pliocene and lower Pleistocene of the Tibetan Plateau (Cai et al, 2012; Herb et al, 2015; Koutsodendris et al, 2019), this region represents one of the most sensitive regions to climate change
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