The Holocene

 

Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Maher, B. A.
Right arrow Articles by Hu, M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?
The Holocene, Vol. 16, No. 3, 309-319 (2006)
DOI: 10.1191/0959683606hl929rp

A high-resolution record of Holocene rainfall variations from the western Chinese Loess Plateau: antiphase behaviour of the African/Indian and East Asian summer monsoons

Barbara A. Maher

Centre for Environmental Magnetism and Palaeomagnetism, Lancaster Environment Centre, Department of Geography, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA 4 YB, UK b.maher{at}lancs.ac.uk

Mengyu Hu

Centre for Environmental Magnetism and Palaeomagnetism, Lancaster Environment Centre, Department of Geography, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA 4 YB, UK

Tropical monsoons are key mechanisms for transfer of heat and moisture to higher latitudes. Here we present a high-resolution, terrestrial proxy summer monsoon record for the southeast Asian monsoon, from a rapidly accumulating Holocene loess/soil sequence in the western Chinese Loess Plateau. We use magnetic and clastic grain size proxies to make quantitative estimates of Holocene rainfall and identify variations in winter monsoon intensity. Our record reveals cyclical millennial and multimillennial rainfall changes. As with the northwest African/southwest Asian monsoon records, a short arid interval at - 12.5 to 11.5 ka BP (the Younger Dryas) and subsequent summer monsoon intensification are recorded. However, at 6 ka BP, the southeast Asian summer monsoon weakened, when the northwest African/ southwest Asian monsoons strengthened, and then, from - 5 ka BP, intensified, when northwest Africa/ southwest Asia became dry. These antiphase monsoonal relationships may reflect competition between sea surface temperature changes and solar forcing. The intensity of the southeast Asian winter monsoon intensified from - 9 ka BP onwards, varying in its phase relationships with summer monsoon intensity. After - 2.25 ka BP, extreme climatic instability is indicated by both climate proxies.

Key Words: Loess • palaeosols • rainfall variability • tropical climate • monsoon intensity • antiphasing • Indian monsoon • East Asian monsoon • Loess Plateau • China • Holocene


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 The HoloceneHome page
B.A. Maher
Holocene variability of the East Asian summer monsoon from Chinese cave records: a re-assessment
The Holocene, September 1, 2008; 18(6): 861 - 866.
[Abstract] [PDF]