A 457-year reconstruction of precipitation in the southeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China using tree-ring records

This paper presents a 457-year reconstruction of precipitation in the southeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau using tree-ring records.Tree-ring samples were collected from the Hengduan Mountains in the southeastern part of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau,China.A nearly 500-year chronology was developed using tree-ring width records.Correlation analysis shows moisture is the main factor limiting tree growth in this region.Ring-widths were significantly positively correlated with the Palmer Drought Severity Index(PDSI) and precipitation in many months.The highest correlation coefficient was found between the annual growth of trees and precipitation from the previous September to the current June(0.738).Based on this relationship,we reconstructed the precipitation history from 1509 to 2006.The reconstruction explains 54.4%(Radj2=53.5%,N=49,F=56.12) of the actual precipitation variation during the calibration period(1958-2006).During the reliable period of the reconstruction(1549-2006),some low-frequency climate signals are included,indicating this region has been getting wetter in the last 20 years.The reconstruction documents six apparently dry and five pluvial periods and the 17th century dry period lasted longer than any other.When compared with other recent studies,this study and these earlier reconstructions show a similar trend in the variation of drought and pluvial.Further spatial correlation analysis confirms that the reconstructed precipitation adequately represents the rainfall history of the entire Hengduan Mountain area.The Multi-taper method,a type of spectral analysis,reveals that precipitation in this area had significant(P<0.01) spectral peaks at 3-5 a,60 a and 79-85 a.     

Spatial and temporal variations of C3/C4 relative abundance in global terrestrial ecosystem since the Last Glacial and its possible driving mechanisms

The primary factor controlling C 3 /C 4 relative abundance in terrestrial ecosystem since the Last Glacial has been widely debated. Now more and more researchers recognize that climate, rather than atmospheric CO 2 concentration, is the dominant factor. However, for a specific area, conflicting viewpoints regarding the more influential one between temperature and precipitation still exist. As temperature and precipitation in a specific area usually not only vary within limited ranges, but also covary with each other, it is difficult to get a clear understanding of the mechanism driving C 3 /C4 relative abundance. Therefore, systematic analysis on greater spatial scales may promote our understanding of the driving force. In this paper, records of C3/C4 relative abundance since the Last Glacial on a global scale have been reviewed, and we conclude that: except the Mediterranean climate zone, C3 plants predominated the high latitudes during both the Last Glacial and the Holocene; from the Last Glacial to the Holocene, C4 relative abundances increased in the middle latitudes, but decreased in the low latitudes. Combining with studies of modern process, we propose a simplified model to explain the variations of C3 /C4 relative abundance in global ecosystem since the Last Glacial. On the background of atmospheric CO2 concentration since the Last Glacial, temperature is the primary factor controlling C3/C4 relative abundance; when temperature is high enough, precipitation then exerts more influence. In detail, in low latitudes, temperature was high enough for the growth of C4 plants during both the Last Glacial and the Holocene; but increased precipitation in the Holocene inhibited the growth of C4 plants. In middle latitudes, rising temperature in the Holocene promoted the C4 expansion. In high latitudes, temperature was too low to favor the growth of C4 plants and the biomass was predominated by C3 plants since the Last Glacial. Our review would benefit interpretation of newly gained records of C3/C4 relative abundance from different areas and different periods, and has its significance in the understanding of the driving mechanisms of C3/C4 variations on longer timescales (e.g., since the late Miocene) with reliable records of temperature and atmospheric CO2 concentration.     

High-resolution climate change in mid-late Holocene on Tianchi Lake,Liupan Mountain in the Loess Plateau in central China and its significance

According to a core from Tianchi Lake, Liupan Mountain in Loess Plateau sediment, fossil pollen assemblages, magnetic suscep-tibility (MS) and color scale were measured based on reliable Abies leaf macrofossils radiocarbon chronology. We recovered a very good high-resolution mid-late Holocene climate change achieve for the transition area of the East Asia monsoon region and northwest arid region. The results show that the basic climate background was in agreement with the records from cave records in monsoon regions in eastern China. Besides, it shows more detailed records in abrupt climate change.     

Tree ring based streamflow reconstruction for the Upper Yellow River over the past 1234 years

We established a Juniperus przewalski tree ring width chronology, based on tree ring cores collected from the A’nyêmaqên Mountains. Statistical analysis showed that the chronology was highly correlated with instrumental streamflow records from previous August to current July from the Tangnaihai Station in the upper reaches of the Yellow River, with a correlation coefficient of 0.656. Streamflow for the upper reaches of the Yellow River was reconstructed for the past 1234 years. Low flow periods for the 11-year averaged streamflow reconstruction were definite as lower than mean plus 1 standard deviation, and high flow periods were higher than mean minus 1 standard deviation. Over the past 1234 years, high flows occurred 18 times, and low flows occurred 12 times. The main low flow periods were identified as AD 1140–1156, AD 1295–1309, AD 1473–1500, and AD 1820–1847, and the main high flow periods were identified as AD 846–873, and AD 1375–1400. Extremely low streamflow over the reconstruction period was seen during the late 15th century, coinciding with a widespread drought phenomenon, which took place in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau over the same period. Reconstructed streamflow shows significant low-frequency variability, which is in line with drought variability of neighboring regions, as inferred from tree rings and other proxies. Multi-taper spectral analysis suggests the existence of significant periods of 2–5, 22, 35–38, 55–62, and 114–227 years, particularly significant for cyclic variations of years 159 and 36.     

Evolution of prehistoric agriculture in central Gansu Province,China: A case study in Qin’an and Li County

This study, based on environmental archaeological studies focused on Qin’an County and Li County in Gansu Province, China, shows that during 8–7.3 ka BP few cultivated crop seeds were found. After 6.4 ka BP, during the Banpo period, many crop seeds appeared, indicating the development of agriculture. Millet agriculture in this area appeared and flourished a little later than in the Central Plain of China. Climate change is an important factor that influenced the development of agriculture in this area. The rapid expansion of agriculture during late Yangshao and Changshan benefited from the humid and warm climate in the mid-Holocene, especially the emergence of rice. After 4 ka BP, climate became drier, and agriculture began to decline. So Siwa Culture is char-acterized by pastoral economy, until the Eastern Zhou period, agriculture began to recover, when wheat and barley appeared in Li County, indicating diversification of agriculture of this time.     

Relationship between climatic conditions and the relative abundance of modern C3 and C4 plants in three regions around the North Pacific

Using −24‰ and −14‰ as the endpoints of stable carbon isotopic composition of total organic carbon (δ¹³C_TOC) of surface soil under pure C₃ and C₄ vegetation, and surface soil δ¹³C_TOC data from eastern China, Australia and the Great Plains of North Amer- ica, we estimate the relative abundance of C₃/C₄ plants (i.e., the ratio of C₃ or C₄ biomass to local primary production) in modern vegetation for each region. The relative abundance of modern C₃/C₄ vegetation from each region is compared to the corresponding climatic parameters (mean annual temperature and precipitation) to explore the relationship between relative C₄ abundance and climate. The results indicate that temperature controls the growth of C₄ plants. However, even where temperature is high enough for the growth of C₄ plants, they will only dominate the landscape when precipitation declines as temperatures increase. Our results are consistent with those of other investigations of the geographic distribution of modern C₄ plant species. Therefore, our results provide an important reference for interpretation of past C₃/C₄ relative abundance records in these three regions.     

Interannual precipitation variations in the mid-latitude Asia and their association with large-scale atmospheric circulation

This study analyzed the spatial differences of the precipitation variations in the mid-latitude Asia and their possible physical mechanisms during 1960–2009. The annual precipitation showed an opposite variations between the westerlies-dominated arid Central Asia (ACA) and monsoon-dominated North China (NC) during the study period. Given the different contributions of seasonal precipitation to annual total precipitation in ACA and NC, the atmospheric circulation anomalies during the major precipitation seasons (winter in ACA/summer in NC) were analyzed. In winter, negative North Atlantic Oscillation may cause negative height anomalies over the north side and positive anomalies over the south side of the ACA. Together, the enhanced pressure gradient and anomalous westerly wind brings more water vapor to ACA, and leaves less precipitation in NC. In summer, the low-pressure anomalies in Northeast China, along with a weaker summer monsoon and negative height anomalies in Eastern Europe together contribute to reduced (excessive) summer precipitation in NC (ACA). The interactions between ENSO and NAO may result in the opposite precipitation variations between ACA and NC. A significant 2–3-year cycle is identified in ACA, which is linked to the variations of westerly circulation in the middle troposphere.     

Holocene vegetation cover in Qin’an area of western Chinese Loess Plateau revealed by n-alkane

Previous studies have found that wetlands prevailed in western Chinese Loess Plateau and pine pollen could reach up to 80% in Qin＇an area of the plateau during middle Holocene. It was then deduced that forest vegetation covered Qin＇an area in a warm and wet climate during middle Holocene. The proxies of molecule biomarkers from two Holocene sections, a swamp-alluvial loess section and a typical Ioess-paleosol section are used to reconstruct regional vegetation history. It is found that the heavy-molecular-weight （HMW） homologues of the n-alkanes in all samples exhibit a pronounced odd-over-even predominance, maximizing at C31 and the abundance of the nC27-alkanes is the lowest in nC27, nC29, nC31, i.e. C27〈C29〈C31, a typical grass n-alkanes model. The results are the same as those of model surface soil samples under grass cover but different from both forest cover and modern pine leaves, which yield preferentially nC29-alkanes peak. It could be inferred that the area was dominated by grass cover but not forest cover during whole Holocene epoch. The study shows that combining both molecule biomarkers and pollen analysis can avoid the disadvantage of pollen analysis in reconstruction of regional vegetation cover.     

Modern stalagmite oxygen isotopic composition and its implications of climatic change from a high-elevation cave in the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau over the past 50 years

An oxygen isotope record of a stalagmite from Huanglong Cave in the eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau dated with 230Th and 210Pb methods provides variations of the Asian monsoon with an average resolu-tion of 1 year over the past 50 years. This study shows that the δ18O of dripwater in the cave represents the annual mean δ18O of local meteoric precipitation and the stalagmites were deposited in isotopic equilibrium. A comparison of the stalagmite δ18O record with instrumentally meteorological data indi-cates that shifts of the δ18O are largely controlled by the amount effect of meteoric precipitation con-veyed through the southwest monsoon(the Indian monsoon) and less affected by temperature. Therefore,the variations of δ18O record reflect the changes in monsoon precipitation on inter-annual time scales under the influence of the southwest monsoon. Like many other stalagmite δ18O records in the Asian monsoon regions,the δ18O record of the stalagmite from Huanglong Cave also reveals a gradually enriched trend during the past 50 years,i.e. relatively enriched in 18O. This trend may indicate the decline of the Asian monsoon intensity which is consistent with the decrease of monsoon indices. The weakening of the modern Asian monsoon well matched with the temperature changes in strato-sphere,which may illustrate that the weakening of the monsoon mainly results from the lowering of solar radiation.     

Preliminary research on Megalake Jilantai-Hetao in the arid areas of China during the Late Quaternary

We identified geomorphological, sedimentary and biological evidence of high lake levels around the current Jilantai Salt Lake through field investigations and through analyses of regional remote sensing images. There are four groups of shorelines at elevations of around 1060, 1050, 1044 and 1035 m a.s.l., being 37, 27, 21 and 12 m above the current salt lake surface, respectively. Littoral deposits of sand and gravels are found at elevations between 1070 and 1080 m a.s.l., 47 to 57 m higher than the current salt lake surface, although palaeoshoreline landforms are only preserved at several sites. At Herimuxini, on the northern margin of the Ulan Buh Desert, typical lacustrine sediments and sand-gravel littoral deposits also occur at elevations of 1080 m a.s.I, and below. A 11-km-long typical spit extends eastward from this shoreline gradually reducing in elevation from 1050 to 1035 m a.s.I. In some sand-gravel quarries along the southern bank of the Yellow River on its Great Bend, such as those located near the Hydrological Gauge Station and Shilazhao Town, shoreline features were identified. Littoral deposits overlying the alluvial-diluvial layers occur in a sand quarry near Balagong in Hangjin County. There are also beachrock and littoral deposits preserved on the cut-and-built terraces at several sites along the southern piedmont of Langshan-Yinshan Mountains. In addition, a profile revealing subaqueous delta sediments was identified near Wuhai, where the Yellow River enters the basin. Typical lake sediments also exist at the Togtoh Platform on the eastern end of the Hetao Plain. Aquatic Mollusk shells are common in the littoral deposits, including several species of Corbicula, Radix lagotis, R. xauricularia and Gyraulus convexiusculus. Ostracode shells can also be identified in finer sediments. Typical ver- tical prograding sequences are evident in outcrops where lacustrine sediments were well preserved. Wave-rolled cobbles and beachrock are very commonly preserved on the top of profiles in the embankments at