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A possible Younger Dryas-type event during Asian monsoonal Termination 3

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Abstract

Seven U-Th dates, 560 δ 18O data and microscopic sequences were measured for stalagmites from two high-altitude caves in Shennongjia area, Hubei Province. Variations of the decadal-resolution stalagmite δ 18O record from Swan Cave (1600 m elevation) reflect large spatial changes in circulation strength and precipitation of Asian monsoon. The evidence comes from a great similarity among the stalagmite δ 18O records from Nanjing, Jiangsu Province; Libo, Guizhou Province and here studied area during the last deglaciation, including a part interval of Younger-Dryas event and Bolling-Allerod. A 30-year-resolution stalagmite δ 18O record from Yongxing Cave (1400 m elevation), 70 km away from Swan Cave, reveals a rapid transition of Asian monsoon climate during Termination 3 at about 245±5 kaBP. Based on 3 U-Th dates and about 5000 continuous annual bands, a millennial dry episode has been observed during Asian monsoonal Termination 3 from the Yongxing δ 18O profile. With respect to its structure, duration and transition, the dry reversal, as indicated by our stalagmite δ 18O record, generally agrees with the pattern of the YD event well-expressed in the Chinese stalagmite δ 18O records. This YD-type event is characterized by a large decrease in δ 18O value as much as 2.30‰, more than half of the δ 18O excursion between glacial/interglacial periods, and lasts 1371±59 a determined by the annual counting chronology. After this event, the monsoon climate shifted abruptly into the interglacial period within 74±4 a. Our data corroborate the view that the repeated occurrence of YD-type event was not an “accident”, possibly resulted from the coupling of ice-sheet and oceanic/atmospheric circulations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Geography Science, Nanjing Normal University, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Environmental Change and Ecological Construction, Nanjing, 210097, China

    Chen Shitao, Wang Yongjin, Kong Xinggong & Liu Dianbing

  2. Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 55455, USA

    Cheng Hai & R. L. Edwards

Authors
  1. Chen Shitao
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  2. Wang Yongjin
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  3. Kong Xinggong
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  4. Liu Dianbing
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  5. Cheng Hai
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  6. R. L. Edwards
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Correspondence to Wang Yongjin.

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Chen, S., Wang, Y., Kong, X. et al. A possible Younger Dryas-type event during Asian monsoonal Termination 3. SCI CHINA SER D 49, 982–990 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-006-0982-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-006-0982-4

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