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Fifty years of Quaternary palynology in the Tibetan Plateau

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Abstract

Quaternary palynology in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) was initiated in the 1960s to meet the needs of economic development in western China. Pollen analysis was conducted for the first time on a 200-m long core of Quaternary lacustrine sediments taken from the main body of the TP in order to study pollen assemblages as well as vegetation and climate changes of glacial (cold)/interglacial (warm) periods. Pollen analysis of alpine snow and ice began at the first scientific expedition to the TP in the 1970s. After the 1980s, a series of international collaborative programs were carried out under Sino-French, Sino-German, Sino-Australian, and Sino-American cooperation, marking the integration of Chinese Quaternary palynology society with the international community. New methods for Quaternary palynology were gradually promoted and applied, changing the vegetational and climatic interpretation of Quaternary palynology from qualitative to quantitative. Since the 1990s, many palynologists have carried out extensive Quaternary palynological studies on fossil pollen sites of more than 60 lakes/sections and alpine glaciers in the TP to discuss the spatiotemporal vegetation changes and climatic and environmental evolution of the TP since the Pleistocene. Over the past half-century, Quaternary palynology in the TP has contributed to the establishment of the Chinese Quaternary pollen database and the study of vegetation and climate evolution since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) in the TP. Currently available pollen records revealed the spatial and temporal distribution of vegetation in the TP since the LGM, exhibiting expansions and shrinkages of forest, meadow, grassland and desert in different periods such as the LGM, the last deglaciation, and Holocene optimum period. The paleomonsoon reflected by paleovegetation since the LGM has undergone the changes of weak-strengthening-strong-weakening but still active-shrinking, which is mainly affected by solar insolation.

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Acknowledgements

We thank two anonymous reviewers, an editorial board member, and executive chief editor for their constructive comments. We also thank Kenneth Z. Shen for his helpful reviewing and English improvement of the manuscript. This work was supported by Special Project for Basic Research of Yunnan Province-Key Project (Grant No. 202101AS070006), the Yunnan Project for the Introduction of Advanced Talents (Grant No. 2013HA024), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41372191 and 42067061) and the Key Project of Education Department of Hunan Province (Grant No. 20A400).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Yunnan Key Laboratory of Plateau Geographical Processes and Environmental Changes, Faculty of Geography, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, 650500, China

    Lingyu Tang & Caiming Shen

  2. Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Lingyu Tang

  3. Key Laboratory of Cenozoic Geology and Environment, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Houyuan Lu

  4. Nanjing Institute of Geography & Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Chuanhai Li

  5. CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Beijing, 100101, China

    Houyuan Lu

  6. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Houyuan Lu

  7. Key Laboratory of Tibetan Environment Changes and Land Surface Processes, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Qingfeng Ma

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  1. Lingyu Tang
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Correspondence to Caiming Shen.

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Tang, L., Shen, C., Lu, H. et al. Fifty years of Quaternary palynology in the Tibetan Plateau. Sci. China Earth Sci. 64, 1825–1843 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-020-9809-5

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