Abstract
In the context of ongoing global warming, understanding the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) dynamics is of great significance for predicting future climate changes. This study reconstructed the mid-Holocene precipitation variations on the basis of pollen data obtained from Taojiacun section in the Luoyang Basin within the Central Plains of China. Our research results show that the region experienced three dry intervals during the data-covering period (~ 8.08 to ~ 4.76 cal. kyr BP): ~8.08 to ~ 7.35, ~ 6.42 to ~ 5.59, and ~ 4.94 to ~ 4.76 cal. kyr BP. The intervened were two wet intervals: ~7.35 to ~ 6.42 and ~ 5.59 to ~ 4.94 cal. kyr BP. The chronological correspondence between drier (wetter) intervals in the Luoyang Basin and warmer (cooler) intervals in the western Tropical Pacific implies that the north-south shifts of the Western Pacific Subtropical High (WPSH), driven by the western Tropical Pacific Sea Surface Temperature (SST), regulated the positions of the EASM-related rain-belt during the data-covering period. We compared the mean annual precipitation (Pann) sequence from Taojiacun section with those from the southern and northern neighboring areas. With a full consideration of chronological uncertainties and sampling resolution differences, it can be generalized that those drier (wetter) intervals in the Luoyang Basin within the Central Plains of China were broadly correspondent with those drier (wetter) intervals expressed in the sequences of the southern neighboring areas (i.e., the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River with an addition of the Huai River Basin). It means that the changes in precipitation in the Central Plains was most likely coincident with that in the southern neighboring areas during the data-covering period (~ 8.08 to ~ 4.76 cal. kyr BP).
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Data availability
The datasets generated during and analyzed during the current study are not publicly available but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Data avxailability
The datasets and material generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available upon request to zijuanyong@163.com on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
Professor Zhang Shengrui of Hebei Normal University did the pollen identification. We thank Mr. Hui Zhengchuang, Mr. Li Hongbin, Mr. Liu Chang, Mr. Zhang Yangyang and Mr. Sun Yuanhao for their assistance.
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This work was supported by sub-project of the National Key R&D Project on “the ancient environment and human-land relationship in the process of the origin of Chinese civilization” (No. 2020YFC1521605).
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Material preparation and data analysis were performed by Liang Chen and Zijuan Yong respectively. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Zijuan Yong and Zhaodong Feng and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript.
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Yong, Z., Chen, L. & Feng, Z. Mid-Holocene precipitation variations in the Luoyang Basin within the Central Plains of China: a pollen-based reconstruction. Clim Dyn 61, 5673–5685 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-023-06876-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-023-06876-7