Timing, duration, and transitions of the Last Interglacial Asian Monsoon

• Published in: Science
• Main Authors: Yuan, DX, Cheng, H, Edwards, RL, Dykoski, CA, Kelly, MJ, Zhang, ML, Qing, JM, Lin, YS, Wang, YJ, Wu, JY, Dorale, JA, An, ZS, Cai, YJ
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE 2004
• Subjects: Science & Technology - Other Topics; ICE-CORE RECORD; STABLE ISOTOPES; TERMINATION II; CLIMATE; PERIOD; PRECIPITATION; SPELEOTHEMS; HOLOCENE; EVENT; Multidisciplinary Sciences; ice core
• Online Access: http://ir.ieecas.cn/handle/361006/11824; https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1091220

Thorium-230 ages and oxygen isotope ratios of stalagmites from Dongge Cave, China, characterize the Asian Monsoon and low-latitude precipitation over the past 160,000 years. Numerous abrupt changes in O-18/O-16 values result from changes in tropical and subtropical precipitation driven by insolation and millennial-scale circulation shifts. The Last Interglacial Monsoon lasted 9.7+/-1.1 thousand years, beginning with an abrupt (less than 200 years) drop in O-18/O-16 values 129.3+/-0.9 thousand years ago and ending with an abrupt (less than 300 years) rise in O-18/O-16 values 119.6+/-0.6 thousand years ago. The start coincides with insolation rise and measures of full interglacial conditions, indicating that insolation triggered the final rise to full interglacial conditions.