500‐Year Periodic Vegetation and Monsoonal Climate Oscillations During the Last Deglaciation in East Asia

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Deke Xu, Guoqiang Chu, Caiming Shen, Qing Sun, Jing Wu, Fengjiang Li, Yajie Dong, Anning Cui, Naiqin Wu, Houyuan Lu
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2023
• Subjects: annually laminated Maar Lake; pollen assemblages; last deglacial period; East Asian monsoon; El Niño–Southern Oscillation; Geophysics. Cosmic physics; QC801-809; Tundra
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL103535; https://doaj.org/article/8de0e3b2b8b34655a32366f0acd3d0e1

Abstract Fluctuations in monsoonal climate on orbital‐ to millennial‐timescales have had a major impact on vegetation change in East Asia since the last deglaciation. However, the influence of centennial‐scale oscillations on the spatio‐temporal characteristics of vegetation and climate during the last deglaciation remains controversial. We present a well‐dated, decadal‐resolution pollen record from the sediments of annually laminated Lake Xiaolongwan in Northeast Asia, which reveals major orbital‐/millennial‐scale and minor quasi‐periodic, that is, ∼500‐year (yr) cyclic, vegetation changes from ∼19.96 to ∼10.79 Kyr ago (covering the last deglaciation). The ∼500‐yr cycles are characterized by alternations in broadleaved forest/boreal coniferous forest with tundra steppe representing warm and humid/cold and dry phases of the monsoonal climate. This cyclicity may be related to El Niño‐like/La Niña‐like state and low‐latitude atmosphere‐ocean processes, against the background of the long‐term trend of the deglacial climatic evolution. Our findings demonstrate a close relationship between ecosystem succession and climate change on centennial scale.