Acute Asian cooling across the Eocene–Oligocene transition evidenced by ecosystem restructuring on the Tibetan Plateau

• Main Authors: Barbolini, Natasha, Dupont-Nivet, Guillaume, Meijer, Niels, Ao, Hong, Licht, Alexis, Hoorn, Carina
• Other Authors: University of Amsterdam Amsterdam = Universiteit van Amsterdam (UvA), Géosciences Rennes (GR), Université de Rennes (UR)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Rennes (OSUR), Université de Rennes (UR)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), University of Potsdam = Universität Potsdam, University of Washington Seattle, Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED)
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2018
• Subjects: [SDU.STU.CL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Climatology; Antarctic; Antarc*; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://insu.hal.science/insu-02060560

International audience The Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT) represents a profound global climatic shift to a cool climate, but detailed environmental responses to this change are not yet well understood. High-resolution, well constrained terrestrial records spanning the EOT are comparatively rare, with most information deriving from the marine realm. Previous studies of Asian terrestrial ecosystems have employed pollen records as a powerful proxy for response to global climatic change in the Eocene. We present an updated and expanded Late Eocene palynological record for the Xining Basin on the northeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau, that now extends into the lower Oligocene. Together with regionally significant high-resolution palaeoclimatic multi-proxy records, Early Oligocene palynological samples indicate profound ecosystem restructuring consistent with acute cooling and a possible increase in seasonality across Asian environments. Major vegetation turnover is linked to massive Antarctic ice sheet expansion during the EOT and thus suggests global climate may have modulated monsoonal systems driving Asian environmental change.