Abstract
Pliocene warmth has been used as an analogue for predicting climate response to the rapid atmospheric CO2 increase in the future. Pedogenic carbonates provide an essential archive to reconstruct terrestrial paleoenvironment in a warm world. The stable carbon isotopic compositions of pedogenic carbonate (\({\updelta }^{13}{\mathrm{C}}_{\mathrm{carb}}\)) are principally used to reconstruct the history of C4 plants along with coexisting organic matter \({\updelta }^{13}{\mathrm{C}}_{\mathrm{SOM}}\). However, a growing body of evidence shows spatial and temporal decoupling between \({\updelta }^{13}{\mathrm{C}}_{\mathrm{carb}}\) and \({\updelta }^{13}{\mathrm{C}}_{\mathrm{SOM}}\) especially in arid regions, raising concerns when using \({\updelta }^{13}{\mathrm{C}}_{\mathrm{carb}}\) as a proxy for photosynthetic pathway. Here, we report paired \({\updelta }^{13}{\mathrm{C}}_{\mathrm{carb}}\) and \({\updelta }^{13}{\mathrm{C}}_{\mathrm{SOM}}\) data from Pliocene to early Pleistocene loess-paleosols in Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP), middle latitude East Asia. The model sensitivity analysis suggests the dominant control of soil respiration flux (SRF) on \({\updelta }^{13}{\mathrm{C}}_{\mathrm{carb}}\) values in this region. SRF is then reconstructed using the Monte Carlo simulation method. Our results show that the SRF was enhanced during Pliocene warmth, associated with increased vegetation density and East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) precipitation. An overall higher SRF across the CLP during the mid-Pliocene, compared with the Holocene and Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) period, suggests there was a northwestward shift of the EASM rain belt and vegetation under warmer climate. Our results suggest that global temperature has dominated the middle latitude ecosystem and soil variations through its influence on the hydrological cycle, providing insights into future ecological and environmental response to global warming in East Asia.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Mengchun Cui, Han Feng, Dongyu Xiang, Zihan Huang, Yao Chen, Hengzhi Lv, Hanlin Wang, Susu Wang, Jing He, Xianqiang Meng, and Junfeng Ji for their help in field sampling and laboratory measurements. Supported by program B for the Outstanding PhD candidate of Nanjing University.
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This research is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants 42021001, 41920104005, 42111530065) and the U.S. National Science Foundation (1545859).
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HYL designed and organized this study. HYL, KXW, LZ, HYZ and FL performed the fieldwork, KXW, CHL, SYL carried out the laboratory analyses, KXW undertook the Monte Carlo simulation, KXW, HYL and CG wrote the manuscript, and all the authors discussed and contributed to the manuscript.
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Wang, K., Lu, H., Garzione, C.N. et al. Enhanced soil respiration, vegetation and monsoon precipitation at Lantian, East Asia during Pliocene warmth. Clim Dyn 59, 2683–2697 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-022-06243-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-022-06243-y