Chinese loess and the evolution of the east Asian monsoon
The history of the east Asian monsoon has been reconstructed from proxy records from the aeolian loess-palaeosol sequence in the Loess Plateau. It has been suggested that the monsoonal atmospheric circulation was initiated abruptly at 2.6 M yr BP. From about 1.2 M yrBP, the climate was characterized...
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crsagepubl:10.1177/030913330002400104 2024-04-07T07:52:04+00:00 Chinese loess and the evolution of the east Asian monsoon Huang, Chun Chang Pang, Jiangli Zhao, Jingpo 2000 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/030913330002400104 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/030913330002400104 en eng SAGE Publications http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment volume 24, issue 1, page 75-96 ISSN 0309-1333 1477-0296 General Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Geography, Planning and Development journal-article 2000 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1177/030913330002400104 2024-03-08T03:20:38Z The history of the east Asian monsoon has been reconstructed from proxy records from the aeolian loess-palaeosol sequence in the Loess Plateau. It has been suggested that the monsoonal atmospheric circulation was initiated abruptly at 2.6 M yr BP. From about 1.2 M yrBP, the climate was characterized by contrasts between dry-cold periods brought on by the northwesterly monsoon and humid-warm periods brought about by the southeasterly monsoon. The periodic changes related to the earth’s orbital cycles have been clearly identified. Since about 0.6 M yr BP, the monsoonal climatic variations have become extremely pronounced and these correlate well with the marine isotope stages. The three-step shift in the east Asian monsoon towards greater variation seems to have been caused by the accelerated uplifting of the Tibetan Plateau. Climatic change during the last interglacial-glacial cycle recorded in the loess seems to match the SPECMAP δ 18 O record exactly. Six episodes of extremely strong dustfall events (brought on by the strengthened northwesterly monsoon winds) have been identified during the last glaciation. The ages of these episodes seem to match the Heinrich events in the North Atlantic and the Dansgaard-Oeschger events in Greenland. It is therefore suggested that the atmospheric circulation in east Asia is very sensitive to climatic change in high latitudes and has been responsive to global climatic change over the last 2.6 M yr. Millennial-scale climatic variations have also been identified in the Holocene loess. The article concludes by suggesting areas of research that might be undertaken in order to improve our understanding of the Chinese loess and of the evolution of the east Asian monsoon. Article in Journal/Newspaper Dansgaard-Oeschger events Greenland North Atlantic SAGE Publications Greenland Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment 24 1 75 96 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
SAGE Publications |
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crsagepubl |
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English |
topic |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Geography, Planning and Development |
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General Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Geography, Planning and Development Huang, Chun Chang Pang, Jiangli Zhao, Jingpo Chinese loess and the evolution of the east Asian monsoon |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Geography, Planning and Development |
description |
The history of the east Asian monsoon has been reconstructed from proxy records from the aeolian loess-palaeosol sequence in the Loess Plateau. It has been suggested that the monsoonal atmospheric circulation was initiated abruptly at 2.6 M yr BP. From about 1.2 M yrBP, the climate was characterized by contrasts between dry-cold periods brought on by the northwesterly monsoon and humid-warm periods brought about by the southeasterly monsoon. The periodic changes related to the earth’s orbital cycles have been clearly identified. Since about 0.6 M yr BP, the monsoonal climatic variations have become extremely pronounced and these correlate well with the marine isotope stages. The three-step shift in the east Asian monsoon towards greater variation seems to have been caused by the accelerated uplifting of the Tibetan Plateau. Climatic change during the last interglacial-glacial cycle recorded in the loess seems to match the SPECMAP δ 18 O record exactly. Six episodes of extremely strong dustfall events (brought on by the strengthened northwesterly monsoon winds) have been identified during the last glaciation. The ages of these episodes seem to match the Heinrich events in the North Atlantic and the Dansgaard-Oeschger events in Greenland. It is therefore suggested that the atmospheric circulation in east Asia is very sensitive to climatic change in high latitudes and has been responsive to global climatic change over the last 2.6 M yr. Millennial-scale climatic variations have also been identified in the Holocene loess. The article concludes by suggesting areas of research that might be undertaken in order to improve our understanding of the Chinese loess and of the evolution of the east Asian monsoon. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Huang, Chun Chang Pang, Jiangli Zhao, Jingpo |
author_facet |
Huang, Chun Chang Pang, Jiangli Zhao, Jingpo |
author_sort |
Huang, Chun Chang |
title |
Chinese loess and the evolution of the east Asian monsoon |
title_short |
Chinese loess and the evolution of the east Asian monsoon |
title_full |
Chinese loess and the evolution of the east Asian monsoon |
title_fullStr |
Chinese loess and the evolution of the east Asian monsoon |
title_full_unstemmed |
Chinese loess and the evolution of the east Asian monsoon |
title_sort |
chinese loess and the evolution of the east asian monsoon |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2000 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/030913330002400104 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/030913330002400104 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Dansgaard-Oeschger events Greenland North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Dansgaard-Oeschger events Greenland North Atlantic |
op_source |
Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment volume 24, issue 1, page 75-96 ISSN 0309-1333 1477-0296 |
op_rights |
http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/030913330002400104 |
container_title |
Progress in Physical Geography: Earth and Environment |
container_volume |
24 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
75 |
op_container_end_page |
96 |
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1795667260005679104 |