Climate change during the Holocene in South Asia: A review study of Pakistan

Abstract

The climatic challenges faced by Pakistan, such as heat waves, glacier melting, and increased frequency of catastrophic floods, underscore the urgency of addressing climate change. Understanding historical climatic patterns, especially during the Holocene epoch, is crucial. Various proxy archives in Pakistan offer valuable resources for accurately reconstructing paleoclimatic conditions. This paper compiles and reviews available paleoclimate records to comprehensively understand Holocene climate variations in Pakistan, focusing on the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) and Westerly variations. While some proxies like tree rings have been well-studied, others, such as ice cores, peat, lake sediments, and speleothems, remain largely unexplored. Our synthesis indicates heightened frequency and intensity of extreme weather events in the past century, centennial-scale variations showing a shift from persistent dry conditions to punctuated wet periods, and notable climatic anomalies like the Medieval Warm Period/Anomaly (MWM) and the Little Ice Age (LIA). Mid-to-late Holocene witnessed decreased precipitation, possibly contributing to the decline of ancient civilizations. Early Holocene was comparatively more humid, with glacier advancements around 8–9 kyr BP (cal). The review advocates for generating high-resolution data and revisiting multiple sites across diverse climatic zones to refine climatic reconstructions.