Speleothem‐derived Asian summer monsoon variations in Central China, 54–46 ka

• Published in: Journal of Quaternary Science
• Main Authors: Zhou, Houyun, Zhao, Jianxin, Qing, Wang, Feng, Yuexing, Tang, Jing
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2011
• Subjects: Paleontology; Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous); Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous); Greenland; Hulu; Indian
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jqs.1506; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fjqs.1506; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jqs.1506

Abstract The oxygen isotope signature (δ 18 O) of stalagmite SI3 collected from Shizi Cave in north‐east Sichuan Province provides an Asian Summer Monsoon (ASM) record in Central China for the period 54–46 ka. The SI3 δ 18 O record clearly shows a negative δ 18 O excursion centred around 49.4 ka, which was reported in Hulu Cave in East China but not identified in the speleothem records from South‐west China. As a whole, this record displays a higher coherence with the two Hulu records from East China than with the speleothem δ 18 O records from South‐west China, suggesting that at 54–46 ka, Central China was influenced more by the East Asian Summer Monsoon than by the Indian Summer Monsoon. It also displays a significant negative δ 18 O excursion at 47.5–46.6 ka, which is not clearly documented in two other speleothem δ 18 O records previously reported from South‐west China. This suggests that details of the Greenland interstadial 12 warrant further investigations in future in monsoonal China. The SI3 δ 18 O record displays more significant centennial‐scale variations than the other four speleothem δ 18 O records from East and South‐west China, which may be due to the fact that the study site is closer to the north‐west boundary of the ASM and more sensitive to variations of the ASM than East and South‐west China. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.