Spatiotemporal variations of Chinese lakes and their driving mechanisms since the Last Glacial Maximum: A review and synthesis of lacustrine sediment archives

Abstract

In this article, the author provides the first synthesis and classification of available environment-indicating proxies for lacustrine sediment. A review of spatio-temporal variations in lakes from the Tibetan Plateau, the dry areas of Northwestern China, the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and the plains of Eastern China since the LGM is then provided. The driving mechanism for variations in lake processes and characteristics is also discussed based on various temporal scales. The author then proposes that future investigations be conducted to: (1) strengthen the study of theoretics and interpretation of environment-indicating proxies, (2) enhance the study of high-resolution time series and spatial variability of lake environment evolution, (3) provide more attention on the influence of human activities on lake environments, and (4) boost construction of the Quaternary lake database of China. Lakes are normally formed under various geological and geographical backgrounds. As a component of the terrestrial hydrosphere, lakes have close relationships with the atmosphere, biosphere and lithosphere, and serve as the connection between these systems. Once a lake is formed, it is influenced by a series of tectonic, climatic and anthropogenic factors. As a result, lacustrine evolutional processes usually involve geological, physical, chemical and biological processes and the interactions between them, and these processes are all documented by lacustrine sediment archives. Because lakes are widely distributed worldwide and normally undergo a long history of evolution, lacustrine sediment generally possesses a continuous record with highresolutions that provides abundant information regarding regional environmental and climatic variations that can be used in global change studies. Lacustrine sediment also contains information pertaining to human activities, since people tend to settle around lakes owing to the resources they provide. Synthesis and classification of proxies in lacustrine sediment describing environmental conditionsLakes generally have an independent watershed that serves as a source of water, sediment, biomass and chemicals, while the lake serves as a sink for all of these materials. Accordingly, lacustrine sediment can record all information regarding the source-sink interactions and mass balances including water balances (watershed rainfall and lake level stands), sediment balances (watershed erosion intensity and lake sedimentation rate), biological balances (watershed vegetation and lake biomass) and chemical balances (watershed soluble materials and lake water ion concentrations) [1].

Variation of East Asian monsoon precipitation during the past 21 k.y. and potential CO2 forcing

“…This pattern of monsoon precipitation variation during the past 21 k.y. is consistent with the records from monsoon-dominated dune fi elds (Lu et al, 2005;Mason et al, 2009) and lake sediments Shen, 2013) and with previous loess records (Stevens et al, 2008), suggesting …”

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

“…We have previously reported palynological results from a 400 m-thick sedimentary succession in Wenshan, southeast Yunnan, to reveal how the vegetation dynamics responded to a monsoonal climate [11]. Lakes are environmentally sensitive and so are ideal to study past climatic fluctuations [18]. For example, lake sediment geochemistry has been widely used to explore environmental changes on the Tibetan Plateau during the Miocene [19,20] and in Yunnan during the Quaternary [21][22][23].…”

Reconstructing Mid- to Late Holocene East Asian Monsoon Variability in the Jingpo Lake, Northeastern China

“…The palaeoclimatic development of NE China has been of considerable interest because of the region's sensitivity to climate fluctuations driven by the EAM and associated shifts in precipitation (Shen 2012). Therefore, the NE China is likely to be a key region for studying the Holocene EAM variability.…”

“…Lacustrine sediments have widely been used in palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions, because it provides abundant information regarding lacustrine evolutional processes (geological, physical, chemical and biological processes) and regional environmental and climatic variations (Shen 2012). In this study, we present the results of high-resolution multi-proxy (sedimentological, magnetic, geochemical and isotopic proxies) of the well-dated lacustrine sediment core from the Jingpo Lake in Heilongjiang Province, NE China, which is utilized to reconstruct the EAM variation during the Mid-to Late Holocene.…”