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Holocene climate events inferred from modern and fossil pollen records in Butuo Lake, Eastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau

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Abstract

Expansion of the spatial coverage of pollen data is essential to improve understanding of Holocene climate variation. To address this, we collected 25 surface and 72 fossil samples from Butuo Lake in the eastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau, China. We reconstructed the vegetation history of the region through detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) of the pollen data. Based on the results of this analysis, we divided the samples into five pollen zones (alpine sparse cushion vegetation, alpine scrub, alpine meadow, montane scrub meadow, and montane coniferous forest) corresponding to the major vegetation types. The observed temporal changes in vegetation (as indicated by the DCA of surface and fossil pollen spectra results, ratios of Artemisia to Cyperaceae (A/Cy), the sum of percentages of dryness indicators (SDI), and percentages of main pollen types) and modern pollen–climate transfer function (developed using the weighted averaging partial least squares regression method (WAPLS)) yield a sensitive record of Holocene monsoonal climate change in the area. During 11,140–8700, 8000–6000, and 5600–1780 cal. yr BP, the climate was wet and the vegetation was dominated by alpine meadow, indicating the occurrence of a strong southwest Asian monsoon that spanned almost the entire Holocene. Notably, two major cold and drought episodes are detected at 8700–8000 and 6000–5600 cal. yr BP, with vegetation dominated by alpine steppe, suggesting that the southwest Asian monsoon was extremely weak during these periods. The data will improve understanding of long-term variations of the southwest Asian monsoon in the region.

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Acknowledgments

This research was jointly funded by the Innovation Project of the National Natural Science Foundation (NSFC Grant No. 41230101, 41272386 and 40601104), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KSCX-YW-Z-1022), and Returned Overseas Chinese Scholars, State Education Ministry of China. We specially thank other team members and two Tibetan people for their helps with sample collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiangshan Nanxincun 20, Beijing, 100093, China

    Yun Zhang, Zhaochen Kong & Qi-Bin Zhang

  2. Institutes of Hydrogeology and Environmental Geology, Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, Zhengding, 050803, China

    Zhenjing Yang

Authors
  1. Yun Zhang
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  2. Zhaochen Kong
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  3. Qi-Bin Zhang
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  4. Zhenjing Yang
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Correspondence to Yun Zhang.

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Fig. S1

Modern pollen percentages in Dingqing County, Changdu District, Tibet, China. (PDF 513 kb)

Fig. S2

Age-depth curve of Butuo Lake in the eastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau, China. (PDF 59 kb)

Fig. S3

Weighted averaging partial least squares (WAPLS) results of Butuo Lake in the eastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau, China. (PDF 555 kb)

Fig. S4

The vegetation zone in the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau, China. (PDF 661 kb)

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Zhang, Y., Kong, Z., Zhang, QB. et al. Holocene climate events inferred from modern and fossil pollen records in Butuo Lake, Eastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. Climatic Change 133, 223–235 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-015-1463-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-015-1463-6

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