Climate changes recorded by Hani Peat in Northeast China over the past 13.8 cal ka BP

Abstract

Abstract. The Hani peatland is one of the few that remain well-preserved in northeast China, which makes it a valuable site for paleoclimate research. Here, two sediment cores, which cover the past 13.8 ka, were collected, and loss on Ignition (LOI550°C) and X-ray Fluorescence Scanning (XRF) were carried out to build organic matter content and Rb/Sr ratio profiles, in order to assess the climate changes and associated East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) evolution since the last deglaciation. The results show that organic content and the chemical weathering index increased from the early to mid Holocene, possibly reflecting increased precipitation and an enhanced EASM. During the mid to late Holocene, the organic content and the chemical weathering index values decreased, implying that the EASM weakened. The variations of monsoon intensity during the Holocene derived from the Hani peat are consistent with the EASM reconstructions from the Gonghai, Daihai, Qinghai Lake, Hexiazi Island and the Yulin loess-paleosol section. Thus the Hani and other published EASM records from northern China demonstrate that the evolution of EASM during the Holocene was likely to be dominated by the combination of the influences from changing solar insolation and northern hemisphere ice volumes. In addition, a 0.5–2 ka band filtering analysis of LOI550°C data show that millennial scale climate changes in northeast China were teleconnected with the North Atlantic ice-rafted debris and solar irradiance records, indicating that both North Atlantic climate changes and solar activity probably affected EASM variations.