Speleothem-derived Asian summer monsoon variationsin Central China, 54–46 ka

• Published in: Journal of Quaternary Science
• Main Authors: Zhou,HY(Zhou,Houyun) 1,2,6 ou, Zhao,JX(Zhao,Jianxin) 3,4, Wang,Q(Wang,Qing) 5, Feng,YX(Feng,Yuexing) 3, Tang,J(Tang,Jing) 1
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: stalagmite; d18O; U–Th ages; climate change; Central China; Late Pleistocene; Greenland; Hulu; Indian
• Online Access: http://ir.ieecas.cn/handle/361006/10326; https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.1506

The oxygen isotope signature (d18O) 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 d18O record clearly shows a negative d18O 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 d18Orecords 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 d18O excursion at 47.5–46.6 ka, which is not clearly documented in two other speleothem d18Orecords 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 d18O record displays more significant centennial-scale variations than the other four speleothem d18Orecords 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.