Abstract
The strong present-day Asian monsoons are thought to have originated between 25 and 22 million years (Myr) ago, driven by Tibetan–Himalayan uplift. However, the existence of older Asian monsoons and their response to enhanced greenhouse conditions such as those in the Eocene period (55–34 Myr ago) are unknown because of the paucity of well-dated records. Here we show late Eocene climate records revealing marked monsoon-like patterns in rainfall and wind south and north of the Tibetan–Himalayan orogen. This is indicated by low oxygen isotope values with strong seasonality in gastropod shells and mammal teeth from Myanmar, and by aeolian dust deposition in northwest China. Our climate simulations support modern-like Eocene monsoonal rainfall and show that a reinforced hydrological cycle responding to enhanced greenhouse conditions counterbalanced the negative effect of lower Tibetan relief on precipitation. These strong monsoons later weakened with the global shift to icehouse conditions 34 Myr ago.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique/Centre de Calcul Recherche et Technologie for access to computing facilities; V. Barbin for cathodoluminescence microscopy; C. Fontaine for X-ray diffraction; R. Amiot, T. Bouten, M. Konert, M. Lebbink and T. Zalm for laboratory assistance; the many colleagues of the Franco-Burmese palaeontological team for field assistance; and D. Dettman and F. Fluteau for discussions. This work was supported by the ANR-09-BLAN-0238-02 Program, the University of Poitiers, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO-ALW) with funding to H.A. and G.D.-N., the Marie Curie CIG 294282, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, the French ministries of Foreign Affairs and of Higher Education and Research, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Chinese Ministry of Education and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). A.L. was also funded by a Fyssen Foundation study grant.
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A.L., J.-J.J., H.A. and G.D.-N. conceived the project. A.L., A.N.S. and J.-J.J. collected Burmese samples. A.L., T.R., C.F.-L. and C.L. performed isotopic analyses. H.A., G.D.-N., M.v.C., D.T. and Z.G. collected Chinese samples. M.v.C., H.A., J.T.A., D.T., J.V. and R.A. performed petrographic and grain-size analyses of the Xining sediment. J.-B.L. and Y.D. conducted numerical climate modelling. A.L., H.A., M.v.C. and G.D.-N. wrote the manuscript with contributions from all authors.
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Extended data figures and tables
Extended Data Figure 1 Palaeogeographic world maps of climatic simulations.
a, Palaeogeography at 40 Myr ago, built from the compilation of recently published reconstructions6,45,46,47. b, Palaeogeography at 34 Myr ago, extracted from another study49, showing a slightly lower resolution. The main differences in the map for 34 Myr ago are the retreat of the Tarim Sea, the northward motion of India and the eastward extrusion of Indochina. Note also that the reconstruction for 34 Myr ago shows higher altitudes in northern China and shallower marine depths in the Arctic Ocean and in the equatorial seas north to Australia as a result of the lower resolution.
Extended Data Figure 3 Quartz grain surface textures from red mudstone samples of the Shuiwan section.
a–f, SEM pictures displaying smooth precipitation surfaces (SMS; a, d), adhering clay particles (ACP; b, e, f), upturned plates (UP; b, f), and dish-shaped depression (DSD; c, d).
Extended Data Figure 4 Summer insolation during the Middle–late Eocene.
Data are averaged over Asia (0–45°N, 45–120°E), calculated from Earth’s orbital parameters of the 45–34 Myr period50, compared with the summer insolation of the warm austral and warm boreal scenarios.
Extended Data Figure 5 Diagenetic screening of Burmese fossil material.
a, Cathodoluminescence image of a shell fragment from the Eocene Pondaung Formation. Blue colour indicates a predominance of pure aragonite in the shell material; note the absence of red spots that are typical of calcite. Growth lines are well defined in the outer and inner layers of the shell. b, c, SEM pictures of a Pondaung shell fragment at low (b) and high (c) magnification. The excellent preservation of the aragonitic crossed laminar structure within the central layer of the shell indicates the absence of recrystallization. d, Comparison of the oxygen isotopic composition of the phosphate (δ18Op) and carbonate (δ18Oc) phases of single samples from the ten fossil individuals from the Pondaung Formation. Results fall in the range of the modern mammals, which is consistent with an absence of diagenetic impact on the isotopic composition of the fossil enamel24.
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Licht, A., van Cappelle, M., Abels, H. et al. Asian monsoons in a late Eocene greenhouse world. Nature 513, 501–506 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13704
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13704
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