Holocene dust activity in inland Asia driven by both the mid-latitude Westerlies and the East Asian winter monsoon

Abstract

Inland Asia is a major global source of dust and the dust transport from this region has global implications. However, the processes and forcing mechanisms of dust activity in inland Asia during the Holocene are still debated due to the lack of high-quality records with accurate dating, unambiguous dust signals, and a high resolution. Here we present a well-dated record of dust activity based on the Ti content of the sediments of Shuanghu Lake, in the southern Altai Mountains, with a ∼ 15-yr-resolution and covering the entire Holocene. This record shows a gradual decrease in dust intensity during ∼11.7–6 thousand years ago (ka), followed by a persistent increase since ∼6 ka. Frequent dust events are also evident, lasting hundreds of years, and are superimposed on the millennial-scale trend, corresponding to the nine North Atlantic Bond events. We propose that the millennial-scale trend of dust activity was primarily influenced by variations in the mid-latitude Westerlies, while the dust events on the centennial scale were driven primarily by a strengthened East Asian winter monsoon. Overall, this study provides a reliable, high-resolution record of Holocene dust activity in inland Asia, and it updates the previous view that dust activity in this region was solely controlled by the mid-latitude Westerlies or the Siberian High. Our findings contribute to an improved understanding of global dust transport with implications for predicting future dust activity in this region.