Palynological evidence for the Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum recorded in Cenozoic sediments of the Tian Shan Range, northwestern China

Sun, Jimin; Zhang, Zhenqing

doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2008.09.001

Cited by 97 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…7b) are consistent with a pollen study by Sun and Zhang (2008) and the low hypsodonty of this period (Fig. 10a).…”

Section: Aridity In C-asiasupporting

confidence: 91%

“…As illustrated in Fig. 3c and d, we replace the large desert area in C-Asia and NW-China by herbaceous vegetation in TORT (based on Wolfe, 1985;Sun and Zhang, 2008;Sun et al, 2009 The present-day vegetation is based on the GLC2000 data set (http: //bioval.jrc.ec.europa.eu/) which is used in the regional model by default. Tang and Shen, 1996).…”

Section: Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Regional climate model experiments to investigate the Asian monsoon in the Late Miocene

2011

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Abstract. The Late Miocene (11.6-5.3 Ma) is a crucial period in the history of the Asian monsoon. Significant changes in the Asian climate regime have been documented for this period, which saw the formation of the modern Asian monsoon system. However, the spatiotemporal structure of these changes is still ambiguous, and the associated mechanisms are debated. Here, we present a simulation of the average state of the Asian monsoon climate for the Tortonian (11-7 Ma) using the regional climate model CCLM3.2. We employ relatively high spatial resolution (1 • × 1 • ) and adapt the physical boundary conditions such as topography, land-sea distribution and vegetation in the regional model to represent the Late Miocene. As climatological forcing, the output of a Tortonian run with a fully-coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model is used. Our regional Tortonian run shows a stronger-than-present East Asian winter monsoon wind as a result of the enhanced mid-latitude westerly wind of our global forcing and the lowered present-day northern Tibetan Plateau in the regional model. The summer monsoon circulation is generally weakened in our regional Tortonian run compared to today. However, the changes of summer monsoon precipitation exhibit major regional differences. Precipitation decreases in northern China and northern India, but increases in southern China, the western coast and the southern tip of India. This can be attributed to the changes in both the regional topography (e.g. the lower northern Tibetan Plateau) and the global climate conditions (e.g. the higher sea surface temperature). The spread of dry summer conditions over northern China and northern Pakistan in our Tortonian run further implies that the monsoonal climate may not have been Correspondence to: H. Tang (hui.tang@helsinki.fi) fully established in these regions in the Tortonian. Compared with the global model, the high resolution regional model highlights the spatial differences of the Asian monsoon climate in the Tortonian, and better characterizes the convective activity and its response to regional topographical changes. It therefore provides a useful and compared to global models, a complementary tool to improve our understanding of the Asian monsoon evolution in the Late Miocene.

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“…7b) are consistent with a pollen study by Sun and Zhang (2008) and the low hypsodonty of this period (Fig. 10a).…”

Section: Aridity In C-asiasupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Experimental Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional climate model experiments to investigate the Asian monsoon in the Late Miocene

2011

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“…In Antarctica, a palynological study and leaf wax geochemistry revealed a warmer and wetter climate than today, and demonstrated that Antarctica could support a tundra vegetation [7,8]. In China, a lithological study conducted in the northeast Tibetan Plateau and a palynological investigation in Tian Shan (northwest China) show evidence of a warm and wet period during the MMCO [9,10], demonstrating that the lower latitude continental areas were also affected by the MMCO. However, it is still unclear how subtropical environments responded to the MMCO due to the scarcity of suitably dated outcrops.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lake geochemistry reveals marked environmental change in Southwest China during the Mid Miocene Climatic Optimum

Lebreton-Anberrée

et al. 2016

Science Bulletin

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The Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum (MMCO; *15-17 Ma) was one of the short-term climatic warm events that punctuated the Cenozoic long-term cooling trend. Because there are very few terrestrial records of this event, most of our understanding comes from marine cores. In this report, we first present new palaeomagnetic data that revises the dating of our 400 m-thick lacustrine section in Wenshan (Yunnan), previously thought to be Late Miocene. These new data suggest an older age, ca. 15.2-16.5 Ma, coinciding with the MMCO. We measured d 13 C on bulk organic matter (d 13 C org ), total organic carbon (TOC), total nitrogen (TN) and C/N ratios at a high sample resolution to: (1) reconstruct the palaeoenvironmental changes in the lake catchment area, and (2) infer mechanisms responsible for these changes. Our results show that all four geochemical parameters demonstrate that a strong environmental change occurred around the middle of the section, shortly after the C5Cn/C5Br geomagnetic reversal and the Early/Middle Miocene boundary at 15.97 Ma. We propose that the environmental shift may be due to a combination of a change in climate, which became cooler, together with a change in organic matter cycling within the lake. This study provides a new insight into the MMCO and demonstrates that although the MMCO was generally a warm event, it was also a time of climatic instability and abrupt environmental changes.Keywords Yunnan Á Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum Á Bulk organic carbon isotopes (d 13 C org ) Á C/N ratio Á TOC Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article

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“…Several proxies have been used to study the evolution of the monsoon in the Neogene in China: carbon isotopic data (Kaakinen et al 2006, Passey et al 2009), oxygen isotopic data (Dettman et al 2003, Kaakinen et al 2006, Nd isotopic data (Garzione et al 2005), granulometry (Rea et al 1998, Vandenberghe et al 2004, Fan et al 2006, Guo et al 2008, marine sediments (Chen et al 2003, Jia et al 2003, Wan et al 2007, Steinke et al 2010, palaeomagnetic data , Qiang et al 2001, Guo et al 2002, hypsodonty , and the palaeobotanical record (Sun & Wang 2005, Song et al 2008, Jiang & Ding 2009, Sun & Zhang 2008, Xia et al 2009, Jacques et al 2011a, Yao et al 2011, Xie et al 2012. Most of these studies concern one or two sites; only a few gather information at a regional level or all around China (Sun & Wang 2005, Song et al 2008, Jiang & Ding 2009, Yao et al 2011.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Neogene zonal vegetation of China and the evolution of the winter monsoon

Jacques¹,

Shi²,

Wang³

2012

Bull. Geosci.

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When considering global change in China, it is important to understand how the strength of the monsoon has responded to changes in climate in the past. Here, we use a semi-quantitative reconstruction method, the Integrated Plant Record (IPR) vegetation analysis, to reconstruct the Neogene vegetation of China. The IPR method focuses on the taxonomic, physiognomic and autecological characteristics of fossil plants, whatever the organs concerned, such as palynomorph, diaspore, leaf and wood. Our study includes 107 Neogene fossil assemblages from 74 localities. There is an increase in the broad-leaved deciduous component in the northern areas during the Neogene. This is consistent with global cooling in the Neogene. At the same time, an increase of sclerophyllous and herbaceous components in west, central and north China occurs, which is indicative of aridification. There is no noticeable change in the vegetation of south China at that time. The Pliocene is characterised by an increasing contrast in vegetation between south and north China. The aridification of north China is due to a strengthening of the winter monsoon. Because there is no major change in the vegetation of south China, the weakening of East Asian summer monsoon is improbable. The Pliocene cooling is responsible for colder winters in Siberia, and the winter high pressure over Siberia becomes higher. As a result, the winter monsoon winds are stronger. The evolution of the summer and winter monsoons is not coupled.•

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Palynological evidence for the Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum recorded in Cenozoic sediments of the Tian Shan Range, northwestern China

Cited by 97 publications

References 38 publications

Regional climate model experiments to investigate the Asian monsoon in the Late Miocene

Regional climate model experiments to investigate the Asian monsoon in the Late Miocene

Lake geochemistry reveals marked environmental change in Southwest China during the Mid Miocene Climatic Optimum

Neogene zonal vegetation of China and the evolution of the winter monsoon

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