Modern and past periglacial features in Central Asia and their implication for paleoclimate reconstructions

2015 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Lehmkuhl
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Large Degree ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Soil Humidity ◽  
Air Temperatures ◽  
Rock Glaciers ◽  
Ice Wedge ◽  
Moisture Conditions

In the continental areas of Central and High Asia, periglacial landform assemblages, sediment structures and processes are mainly influenced and determined by of soil humidity during freeze–thaw cycles. These cryogenic processes result in periglacial landforms such as solifluction, earth hummocks or patterned ground. The distribution of rock glaciers as clear indicators of permafrost is additionally determined by rock fall or moraine debris composed of large boulders (e.g. of granite). Periglacial features were used to reconstruct past climatic conditions, e.g. relict involutions and ice-wedge casts provide evidence for the distribution of former permafrost, say, for the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Past temperatures, e.g. mean annual air temperatures, can be estimated from these periglacial features and can be compared with other proxy data, such as glacier fluctuations. Examples from late Holocene solifluction activity in the Altai, Khangai and north-eastern Tibetan Plateau show a different intensity of solifluction processes during the late Holocene and Little Ice Age due to a decrease in temperature and higher soil humidity. The distribution of past permafrost in some regions is still a matter of debate because of different interpretations of sediment structures: sometimes features described as ice-wedge casts may be caused by roots or desiccation cracks due to drying of clay rich sediments. Seismically deformed unconsolidated deposits (seismites) can also be misinterpreted as periglacial involutions. The lack of certain landform assemblages and sediment structures does not necessarily mean that the area had no permafrost. Moisture conditions can also determine the periglacial landform generation to a large degree. They can be ordered in Central Asia as follows (from highest moisture availability to lowest): solifluction; rock glacier; permafrost involutions; ice-wedge casts; sand-wedge casts.

Unstable Climate Oscillations during the Late Holocene in the Eastern Bransfield Basin, Antarctic Peninsula

2002 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 234-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boo-Keun Khim ◽  
Ho Il Yoon ◽  
Cheon Yun Kang ◽  
Jang Jun Bahk
Keyword(s):  
Antarctic Peninsula ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Accumulation Rate ◽  
Silica Content ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Geochemical Data ◽  
Sediment Properties ◽  
Bransfield Basin ◽  
Distinct Features

AbstractCore A9-EB2 from the eastern Bransfield Basin, Antarctic Peninsula, consists of pelagic (diatom ooze-clay couplets and bioturbated diatom ooze) and hemipelagic (bioturbated mud) sediments interbedded with turbidites (homogeneous mud and silt–clay couplets). The cyclic and laminated nature of these pelagic sediments represents alternation between the deposition of diatom-rich biogenic sediments and of terrigenous sediments. Sediment properties and geochemical data explain the contrasting lamination, with light layers being finer-grained and relatively rich in total organic carbon and biogenic silica content. Also, the high-resolution magnetic susceptibility (MS) variations highlight distinct features: high MS values coincide with clastic-rich sections and low MS values correspond to biogenic sections. The chronology developed for core A9-EB2 accounts for anomalous ages associated with turbidites and shows a linear sedimentation rate of approximately 87 cm/103 yr, which is supported by an accumulation rate of 80 cm/103 yr calculated from 210Pb activity. The late Holocene records clearly identify Neoglacial events of the Little Ice Age (LIA) and Medieval Warm Period (MWP). Other unexplained climatic events comparable in duration and amplitude to the LIA and MWP events also appear in the MS record, suggesting intrinsically unstable climatic conditions during the late Holocene in the Bransfield Basin of Antarctic Peninsula.

scholarly journals High-resolution leaf wax carbon and hydrogen isotopic record of the late Holocene paleoclimate in arid Central Asia

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 619-633 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Aichner ◽  
S. J. Feakins ◽  
J. E. Lee ◽  
U. Herzschuh ◽  
X. Liu
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Precipitation Amount ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Late Winter ◽  
Arid Central Asia ◽  
Leaf Wax ◽  
D Values

Abstract. Central Asia is located at the confluence of large-scale atmospheric circulation systems. It is thus likely to be highly susceptible to changes in the dynamics of those systems; however, little is still known about the regional paleoclimate history. Here we present carbon and hydrogen isotopic compositions of n-alkanoic acids from a late Holocene sediment core from Lake Karakuli (eastern Pamir, Xinjiang Province, China). Instrumental evidence and isotope-enabled climate model experiments with the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique Zoom model version 4 (LMDZ4) demonstrate that δ D values of precipitation in the region are influenced by both temperature and precipitation amount. We find that these parameters are inversely correlated on an annual scale, i.e., the climate has varied between relatively cool and wet and more warm and dry over the last 50 years. Since the isotopic signals of these changes are in the same direction and therefore additive, isotopes in precipitation are sensitive recorders of climatic changes in the region. Additionally, we infer that plants use year-round precipitation (including snowmelt), and thus leaf wax δ D values must also respond to shifts in the proportion of moisture derived from westerly storms during late winter and early spring. Downcore results give evidence for a gradual shift to cooler and wetter climates between 3.5 and 2.5 cal kyr BP, interrupted by a warm and dry episode between 3.0 and 2.7 kyr BP. Further cool and wet episodes occur between 1.9 and 1.5 and between 0.6 and 0.1 kyr BP, the latter coeval with the Little Ice Age. Warm and dry episodes from 2.5 to 1.9 and 1.5 to 0.6 kyr BP coincide with the Roman Warm Period and Medieval Climate Anomaly, respectively. Finally, we find a drying tend in recent decades. Regional comparisons lead us to infer that the strength and position of the westerlies, and wider northern hemispheric climate dynamics, control climatic shifts in arid Central Asia, leading to complex local responses. Our new archive from Lake Karakuli provides a detailed record of the local signatures of these climate transitions in the eastern Pamir.

scholarly journals Accelerated wastage of the Monte Perdido Glacier in the Spanish Pyrenees during recent stationary climatic conditions

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 5021-5051 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. I. López-Moreno ◽  
J. Revuelto ◽  
I. Rico ◽  
J. Chueca-Cía ◽  
A. Julián ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Temperature ◽  
Laser Scanning ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Snow Accumulation ◽  
Airborne Lidar ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Aerial Photographs ◽  
Ice Volume ◽  
Accelerated Degradation ◽  
Air Temperatures

Abstract. This paper analyzes the evolution of the Monte Perdido Glacier, the third largest glacier of the Pyrenees, from 1981 to the present. We assessed the evolution of the glacier's surface area by use of aerial photographs from 1981, 1999, and 2006, and changes in ice volume by geodetic methods with digital elevation models (DEMs) generated from topographic maps (1981 and 1999), airborne LIDAR (2010) and terrestrial laser scanning (TLS, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014). We interpreted the changes in the glacier based on climate data from a nearby meteorological station. The results indicate an accelerated degradation of this glacier after 2000, with a rate of ice surface loss that was almost three-times greater from 2000 to 2006 than for earlier periods, and a doubling of the rate of ice volume loss from 1999 to 2010 (the ice depth decreased 8.98 ± 1.8 m, −0.72 ± 0.14 m w.e. yr−1) compared to 1981 to 1999 (the ice depth decreased 8.35 ± 2.12 m, −0.39 ± 0.1 m w.e. yr−1). This loss of glacial ice has continued from 2011 to 2014 (the ice depth decreased 2.1 ± 0.4 m, −0.64 ± 0.36 m w.e. yr−1). Local climatic changes during the study period cannot explain the acceleration in wastage rate of this glacier, because local precipitation and snow accumulation increased slightly, and local air temperature during the ablation period did not significantly increase. The accelerated degradation of this glacier in recent years can be explained by the lack of equilibrium between the glacier and the current climatic conditions. In particular, the average air temperature increased by at least 0.9 °C in this region since the end of the Little Ice Age (LIA) in the mid-1800s. Thus, this glacier shrinks dramatically during years with low accumulation or high air temperatures during the ablation season, but cannot recover during years with high accumulation or low air temperatures during the ablation season. The most recent TLS data support this interpretation. These data indicated that two consecutive markedly anomalous wet winters and cool summers (2012–13 and 2013–14) led to near zero mass balance conditions, with significant losses of ice in some areas. These anomalous periods could not counteract the dramatic shrinkage that occurred during the dry and warm period of 2011–2012.

scholarly journals Development of Solontsovskie Lakes as indicator of humidity within Central Sikhote-Alin in the Late Holocene

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-304
Author(s):  
N.G. Razjigaeva ◽  
◽  
L.A. Ganzey ◽  
T.A. Grebennikova ◽  
T.A. Kopoteva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Late Holocene ◽  
Hydrological Regime ◽  
Taxonomic Composition ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Sikhote Alin ◽  
Frequent Change ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Trophic Preferences ◽  
Middle Mountains

The stages of development of small Solontsovskie (Shanduyskie) Lakes located in the middle mountains of the Central Sikhote-Alin within large landslides, formed on the slopes of the paleovolcano, are identified on the basis of complex study of the sediment section of the Nizhnee Lake. The ecological-taxonomic composition of the diatom flora, the botanical composition of peat have been analyzed, and the tendencies of lacustrine sedimentation depending on the different scale of hydroclimatic changes in the Late Holocene have been established. The age model is based on 6 radiocarbon dates. The temporary resolution for the reconstructions is 30–60 years. A comparison of the development of Nizhnee and Izyubrinye Solontsi Lakes was carried out, the stages of watering and shallowing of lakes were identified on the basis of their dynamics, which made it possible to restore the change in moisture in the middle mountains. Organogenic deposits in lacustrine basins accumulated at high rates (up to 1.7–1.9 mm/ year). The most detailed data were obtained for the last 2.6 thousand cal. yr BP based on the study of the sediment section of the Nizhnee Lake, which responded more sensitively to changing climatic conditions. Frequent changes in diatom assemblages and peat-forming plants indicate unstable hydroclimatic conditions with varying degrees of watering and drainage up to complete overgrowth of water bodies. According to the data of diatom analysis, a successive change in the trophicity of the lake was traced. A frequent change of sphagnum mosses of different sections with different trophic preferences was established. The main reason for the change in the hydrological regime of the lakes was variations in precipitation during the short-term climatic changes. The correlation of the identified paleoclimatic events with global data has been carried out. Cooling periods, as a rule, were accompanied by a decrease in moisture, but the Little Ice Age was wet due to an increase in precipitation.

Pollen Analysis of Hyena Coprolites and Sediments from Equus Cave, Taung, Southern Kalahari (South Africa)

1987 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 144-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Scott
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Pollen Analysis ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Optimal Temperature ◽  
Local Sources ◽  
Moisture Conditions

AbstractEquus Cave, in Quaternary tufa near Taung in the semiarid woodland of the southern Kalahari, yielded 2.5 m of sediment in which a rich assemblage of bones and coprolites was preserved. The fossils were accumulated mainly by hyenas during the late Pleistocene and Holocene. Pollen from coprolites reflects diet as well as vegetation over relatively large areas visited by hyenas, while pollen from sediments represents more local sources. The pollen sequence derived from coprolites and sediments demonstrates how the vegetation evolved from open grassland with small shrubs and occasional trees during the late Pleistocene, to open savanna with more small shurbs, then, during the last 7500 yr, to modern savanna. Temperatures were not more than 4°C cooler and it was slightly moister than today during the late Pleistocene phase; it became gradually warmer but relatively dry before optimal temperature and moisture conditions developed around 7500 yr B.P. Climatic conditions slightly less favorable for woodland occurred during part of the late Holocene.

Multiproxy paleoecological evidence of Holocene climatic changes on the Boothia Peninsula, Canadian Arctic

2016 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Claude Fortin ◽  
Konrad Gajewski
Keyword(s):  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Biological Production ◽  
The Past ◽  
Air Temperatures ◽  
Ecosystem Level ◽  
Rate Of Cooling

A study of chironomid remains in the sediments of Lake JR01 on the Boothia Peninsula in the Central Canadian Arctic provides a high-resolution record of mean July air temperatures for the last 6.9 ka. Diatom and pollen studies have previously been published from this core. Peak Holocene temperatures occurred prior to 5.0 ka, a time when overall aquatic and terrestrial biological production was high. Chironomid-inferred summer air temperatures reached up to 7.5°C during this period. The region of Lake JR01 cooled over the mid- to late-Holocene, with high biological production between 6.1 and 5.4 ka. Biological production decreased again at ∼2 ka and the rate of cooling increased in the past 2 ka, with coolest temperatures occurring between 0.46 and 0.36 ka, coinciding with the Little Ice Age. Although biological production increased in the last 150 yr, the reconstructed temperatures do not indicate a warming during this time. During transitions, either warming or cooling, chironomid production increases, suggesting an ecosystem-level response to climate variability, seen at a number of lakes across the Arctic.

scholarly journals Climate Change along the Silk Road and Its Influence on Scythian Cultural Expansion and Rise of the Mongol Empire

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 2530
Author(s):  
Ping Che ◽  
Jianghu Lan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Silk Road ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Mongol Empire ◽  
Cultural Expansion ◽  
The Silk Road ◽  
Southward Migration

Climate change and cultural exchange both influenced cultural development along the continental Silk Road during the late Holocene, but climate change and its influence on nomadic civilizations during that time has yet to be systematically assessed. In this study, we analyzed records of climate change along the Silk Road covering key periods in the late Holocene, based on multiproxies from various archives including lake sediments, shorelines/beach ridges, peatlands, ice cores, tree rings, aeolian sediments, moraines, and historical documents. Combined with archaeological data, we assessed the influence of climate on development and expansion of representative pastoral nomadism. Our results show that the most notable climate changes in Central Asia were characterized by decreasing temperature, expanding glaciers, increasing precipitation, and increasing humidity during transitions from the Sub-Boreal to Sub-Atlantic Period (ca. 9–8th century BC) and from the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age (ca. 13–14th century AD). The two periods coincided with Scythian Cultural expansion across the steppe landscape of Central Asia and rise of the Mongol Empire, respectively. These temporal coincidences are interpreted as causally related, where temperature fall and glacial advance may have forced the pastoral nomadism to southward migration. Coeval wetness and southward migration of steppe landscape in Central Asia were beneficial for these cultural expansions, which spanned the Eurasian arid and semi-arid zone westward. Therefore, during the historical period when productivity was underdeveloped, although expansions of pastoral nomadism were closely related to internal social structures, climate change was possibly the most critical controlling factor for sustainability development and collapse.

scholarly journals High resolution leaf wax carbon and hydrogen isotopic record of late Holocene paleoclimate in arid Central Asia

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 4385-4424 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Aichner ◽  
S. J. Feakins ◽  
J. E. Lee ◽  
U. Herzschuh ◽  
X. Liu
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Precipitation Amount ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Late Winter ◽  
Arid Central Asia ◽  
Leaf Wax ◽  
D Values

Abstract. Central Asia is located at the intersection of large scale atmospheric circulation systems. It is thus likely to be highly susceptible to changes in the dynamics of those systems, however little is still known about the regions paleoclimate history. Here we present carbon and hydrogen isotopic compositions of n-alkanoic acids from a late Holocene sediment core from Lake Karakuli (eastern Pamir, Xinjiang Province, China). Instrumental evidence and isotope-enabled climate model experiments with the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique Zoom model version 4 (LMDZ4) demonstrate that δ D values of precipitation in the region are influenced by both temperature and precipitation amount. We find that those parameters are inversely correlated on an annual scale; i.e. climate varies between cool/wet and dry/warm over the last 50 years. Since the isotopic signals of these changes are in the same direction and therefore additive, isotopes in precipitation are sensitive recorders of climatic changes in the region. Additionally, we infer that plants are using year round precipitation (including snow-melt) and thus leaf wax δ D values must also respond to shifts in the proportion of moisture derived from westerly storms during late winter/early spring. Downcore results give evidence for a gradual shift to cooler and wetter climates between 3.5 and 2.5 cal kyr BP, interrupted by a warm/dry episode between 3.0–2.7 kyr BP. Further cool and wet episodes occur between 1.9–1.5 kyr BP and between 0.6–0.1 kyr BP, the latter coeval with the Little Ice Age. Warm and dry episodes between 2.5–1.9 kyr BP and 1.5–0.6 kyr BP coincide with the Roman Warm Period and Medieval Climate Anomaly, respectively. Finally, we find a drying tend in recent decades. Regional comparisons lead us to infer that the strength and position of the Westerlies, and wider Northern Hemispheric climate dynamics control climatic shifts in arid Central Asia.

scholarly journals Inconsistency between records of δ18O and trace element ratios from stalagmites: Evidence for increasing mid–late Holocene moisture in arid central Asia

The Holocene ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 369-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaokang Liu ◽  
Jianbao Liu ◽  
Chuan-Chou Shen ◽  
Yan Yang ◽  
Jianhui Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Trace Element ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Term Trend ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
Element Ratios ◽  
Hydroclimatic Variability ◽  
Moisture Conditions ◽  
Long Term Trend

The interpretation of trace element/calcium ratios of speleothems as indicators of local hydroclimatic variability in the vicinity of caves has led to controversy in reconstructing the evolution of moisture conditions in arid central Asia (ACA) during the Holocene. Here we present records of Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca, Ba/Ca, and U/Ca from precisely dated stalagmites from Baluk cave in Xinjiang (northwest China), spanning the past 9370 years. The co-variations of the trace element ratios, together with the slopes of the regression lines of the corresponding logarithmically transformed data, suggest that they are dominated by prior calcite precipitation (PCP) and thus can be used as reliable proxies of changes in moisture/precipitation. The trace element ratios are relatively high during ~9 to 5 ka and lower from 5 ka to the present, indicating a trend of increasing mid–late Holocene moisture in ACA. The long-term trend of variation of the trace element ratios is correlative with two other records of speleothem trace element ratios from caves in ACA: Kesang cave (western Xinjiang) and Ton cave (Uzbekistan). This spatial coherency of the trend of inferred moisture conditions from three caves that are separated by hundreds of kilometers demonstrates that speleothem trace element ratios are indicative of large spatial scale rather than local hydroclimatic variability in ACA during the Holocene. However, the long-term trend of variation of the trace element ratios is the inverse of the corresponding oxygen isotope (δ18O) records from the same cave sites, which implies that Holocene speleothem δ18O records do not represent changes in the precipitation amount in ACA; rather, they most likely reflect moisture sources and related water vapor transport controlled by Northern Hemisphere summer insolation (NHSI). Our findings provide new evidence for a ‘westerlies-dominated climatic regime’, which influenced hydroclimatic changes in ACA during the Holocene.

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