Abrupt Freshening Since the Early Little Ice Age in Lake Sayram of Arid Central Asia Inferred From an Alkenone Isomer Proxy

Hydroclimatic variations of arid central Asia (ACA) significantly impact regional ecosystems and human civilizations. Here we present a lake water salinity record of the last 3,000 years from Lake Sayram in the core area of ACA using a new alkenone isomer-based RIK(37)index. Our record shows an abru...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Yao, Yuan, Lan, Jianghu, Zhao, Jiaju, Vachula, Richard S., Xu, Hai, Cai, Yanjun, Cheng, Hai, Huang, Yongsong
Format: Report
Language:English
Published: AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION 2020
Subjects:
alkenone isomer
Group I Isochrysidales
salinity
early Little Ice Age
arid central Asia
westerly
LONG-CHAIN ALKENONES
HOLOCENE MOISTURE EVOLUTION
NORTH-ATLANTIC OSCILLATION
ISOTOPIC COMPOSITION
CLIMATE-CHANGE
TEMPERATURE
PRECIPITATION
CHINA
PALEOTEMPERATURE
DISTRIBUTIONS
Geology
Geosciences
Multidisciplinary
Arctic
Climate change
North Atlantic
North Atlantic oscillation
Sea ice
Online Access:http://ir.ieecas.cn/handle/361006/15243
http://ir.ieecas.cn/handle/361006/15244
https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL089257
Description
Summary:Hydroclimatic variations of arid central Asia (ACA) significantly impact regional ecosystems and human civilizations. Here we present a lake water salinity record of the last 3,000 years from Lake Sayram in the core area of ACA using a new alkenone isomer-based RIK(37)index. Our record shows an abrupt decrease in salinity by more than 5 parts per thousand since the "early" Little Ice Age (LIA) (about CE 1150), which can be attributed to the combined effect of regional wetting, cooling, and topographic features. Combined with other moisture records in the region, we find two periods of relatively wet conditions during CE 1150-1550 and 1850 to present, which may be linked to Arctic sea ice expansion due to natural variability and, from CE 1950, anthropogenically induced warming. The wet conditions during CE 1206-1260 may have favored the spread of the Mongol Empire across the entire core area of ACA.

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