Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology最新文献

{"title":"A meeting in the cave: Taphonomy and ecology of scutelluid trilobites in the Devonian Hamar Laghdad elevation, eastern Anti-Atlas, Morocco","authors":"Zdzislaw Belka ,&nbsp;Raimund Feist ,&nbsp;Jolanta Dopieralska ,&nbsp;Stanisław Skompski","doi":"10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113289","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113289","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Densely packed accumulations of scutelluid trilobite sclerites, found in subseafloor vent fissures and cavities within the Devonian Hamar Laghdad elevation (Anti-Atlas, Morocco), were investigated to understand their taphonomic, ecological, and behavioural significance. The assemblages are monospecific and composed of disarticulated exuviae, with a predominance of pygidia and no complete trilobite carapaces. Two Pragian-age lumachelles, deposited in subseafloor cavities within bioclastic packstones, are dominated by <em>Platyscutellum massai</em>, while five Emsian-age lumachelles occurring in fissures within the Kess-Kess mounds contain <em>Cavetia furcifera</em>. This study provides key insights into the moulting behaviour, life habits, and palaeoecological preferences of scutelluid trilobites during the Early Devonian. Morphological features indicates that both trilobite species were adapted to open marine environments, ruling out a permanent cave-dwelling lifestyle. The assemblages are interpreted as the result of mass moulting behaviour within subseafloor fissures and cavities. Size-frequency data suggest synchronised, size-segregated moulting events. Although a reproductive function for these aggregations remains speculative, parallels with modern arthropods suggest that mass moulting may have conferred both protective and reproductive advantages. These findings reinforce the interpretation that the mass gathering of trilobites, particularly during ecdysis, may have been an adaptive strategy in response to ecological pressures in Early Devonian marine environments. The preferred concave-up orientation of sclerites suggests passive gravitational settling within fissures and cavities, rather than transport by horizontal currents, while the breakage of smaller sclerites points to reworking by episodic hydrothermal fluid discharge.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19928,"journal":{"name":"Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology","volume":"679 ","pages":"Article 113289"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145096934","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The history of soil gleyization in the Songnen Plain over the last 195 ka, as revealed by the Harbin loess-paleosol sequence, NE China","authors":"Yujia Sun ,&nbsp;Yanru Wang ,&nbsp;Yuanyun Xie ,&nbsp;Chunguo Kang ,&nbsp;Chuanyi Wei ,&nbsp;Yehui Wang ,&nbsp;Jie Meng ,&nbsp;Lei Sun ,&nbsp;Peng Wu ,&nbsp;Ruonan Liu ,&nbsp;Zhenyu Wei ,&nbsp;Haijin Liu ,&nbsp;Yunping Chi","doi":"10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113287","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113287","url":null,"abstract":"&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Understanding the spatiotemporal evolution patterns of East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) precipitation and its forcing mechanisms is essential for comprehending global climate change and regional environmental shifts. Despite this significance, a lack of well-exposed outcrop sections has constrained our understanding of the evolution and forcing mechanisms of the EASM in the Songnen Plain, NE China. To address this critical issue, this study conducted a high-resolution analysis of magnetic susceptibility, goethite (Gt), and hematite (Hm) in the Harbin loess-paleosol sequence located in the southeastern Songnen Plain. In addition, a close-spaced OSL and ESR dating was employed, with the primary aim of unraveling the paleoclimatic significance of these proxies in the uniquely developed black paleosol regions of the cold climate. The results indicate that the black paleosol layers exhibit significantly lower values of low-frequency magnetic susceptibility (χ&lt;sub&gt;lf&lt;/sub&gt;), goethite (Gt) and hematite (Hm) compared to the loess layers, indicating a decoupling between these indicators and the pedogenic processes. These findings imply that gleyization has influenced the Harbin black paleosol layers during their development. Furthermore, a negative correlation was observed (R&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; = 0.65 for χ&lt;sub&gt;lf&lt;/sub&gt; and R&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt; = 0.42 for Hm/Gt ratio) between the χ&lt;sub&gt;lf&lt;/sub&gt; and the Hm/Gt ratio of the topsoil in potential dust sources, and mean annual precipitation (MAP). Consequently, the χlf-MAP and Hm/Gt-MAP climofunctions were proposed to reconstruct the paleoprecipitation recorded by the Harbin loess-paleosol sequence. The differences in precipitation, as constructed by χ&lt;sub&gt;lf&lt;/sub&gt; and Hm/Gt, can be used to characterize the degree in gleyization of the black paleosol. Based on the quantitative reconstruction of paleoprecipitation and paleogleyization, the paleoclimatic evolution of the Songnen Plain since 195 ka can be categorized into three stages: from 195 to 160 ka, the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) was strong, characterized by a cold and wet climate and a low degree of soil gleyization; from 160 ka to 123 ka, the intensity of the EASM weakened, with the warm and dry climate, as well as an increased degree of soil gleyization; after 123 ka, monsoon precipitation continued to decline, the climate became cool and dry, and the rate of permafrost melting slowed; however, from 105 to 100 ka, a modest increase in temperature and monsoon rainfall occurred, accompanied by intensified soil gleyization; in contrast, from 65 to 55 ka, the climate resembled that of the earlier cold interval. Overall, the evolution of summer monsoon precipitation in the Songnen Plain is jointly regulated by both high- and low-latitude processes. The summer solar radiation and changes in Arctic ice volume are the main factors affecting the evolution of the EASM. Additionally, the Western Pacific Subtropical High (WPSH) or El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO","PeriodicalId":19928,"journal":{"name":"Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology","volume":"679 ","pages":"Article 113287"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145096874","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The 9.2 ka event during the early Holocene recorded by a stalagmite from Dongge Cave","authors":"Chuntong He ,&nbsp;Bin Zhao ,&nbsp;Yongjin Wang ,&nbsp;Kan Zhao ,&nbsp;Shaohua Yang ,&nbsp;Qingfeng Shao ,&nbsp;Hai Cheng ,&nbsp;Yijia Liang","doi":"10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113271","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113271","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>It is important to understand the variability and mechanisms of the Asian summer monsoon during the Holocene, yet the dynamics of the Asian monsoon weakening in response to the 9.2 ka event remain controversial. We reconstructed paleoclimate records with 12 ²³⁰Th/U dates and 199 pairs of δ¹³C and δ¹⁸O from a stalagmite in Dongge Cave, southwestern China, covering from ∼2332 to 9793 a BP. Our records provide new evidence for interpreting centennial-scale monsoon variabilities and environmental changes during the early Holocene. Our sample sensitively captures the 8.2 and 9.2 ka events, exhibiting significantly positive isotopic shifts. Of note is the δ¹³C record, which displays dramatic oscillations during these events, reflecting the rapid response of terrestrial ecosystems and vegetation to abrupt climate changes. Comparison with other geological records suggests that the cause for the 9.2 ka event differs from the 8.2 ka event, the latter of which was dominantly forced by iceberg collapse and freshwater input in the North Atlantic. However, the 9.2 ka event may have been affected by the synergistic effect of solar activity and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, which leads to a southward shift of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and triggers sudden changes in the Asian summer monsoon.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19928,"journal":{"name":"Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology","volume":"679 ","pages":"Article 113271"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145096935","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Stable Isotope Ecology of the Early Miocene Rusinga Island Mammalian Communities from the Hiwegi and Kulu Formations (Nyanza Province, Western Kenya)","authors":"David L. Fox ,&nbsp;Nicole D. Garrett ,&nbsp;Daniel J. Peppe ,&nbsp;Lauren A. Michel ,&nbsp;Kirsten Jenkins ,&nbsp;Thomas Lehmann ,&nbsp;Kieran P. McNulty","doi":"10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113248","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113248","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Fossils from Rusinga Island, Kenya, provide an exceptional collection for understanding the evolution and diversification of Early Miocene mammals in Africa, preserving rich assemblages distributed across nearly 2 million years and a variety of habitats. Placing these mammal communities within clear ecological contexts is crucial to understanding the selection pressures that shaped individual taxa but also community composition through time. Although numerous paleoenvironmental reconstructions for these deposits have been suggested, they present conflicting interpretations, with reconstructed habitats for various lithostratigraphic units and/or fossil localities ranging from closed rainforests to open and semiarid environments. Here we present the first paleoenvironmental reconstructions based on carbon and oxygen isotope composition of fossil mammal tooth enamel from Rusinga Island's important fossil assemblages, focusing on specimens from the fossiliferous Hiwegi and Kulu Formations. Our results indicate that these Early Miocene mammals foraged on plants using the C₃ photosynthetic pathway in a range of habitats, including those experiencing light and/or water stress, and that habitats were differentially exploited by various species. Although the presence of a dense closed-canopy forest has been documented from at least one Hiwegi stratum, specimens sampled for our analysis exhibit only rare isotopic evidence for foraging within that habitat. Additionally, this study documents a significant difference in the oxygen isotope composition of meteoric water available to fauna found in the Hiwegi Formation versus the younger Kulu Formation. This signals a change in moisture source and/or transport path, or a climatic shift including an increase in mean annual temperature, an increase in aridity, and/or a decrease in mean annual precipitation from the Hiwegi to the Kulu Formation. These results suggest marked differences in paleoenvironmental conditions experienced by these two Early Miocene mammalian communities and underscore the need for more detailed and rigorous analyses of their taxonomic compositions, species abundances, and ecological structures.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19928,"journal":{"name":"Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology","volume":"679 ","pages":"Article 113248"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145109599","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Permafrost peatland development at thermokarst lake margins in the northern Greater Khingan Mountains of Northeast China: Rapid areal increase and carbon accumulation since the 1950s","authors":"Jiangtao Gao ,&nbsp;Jinxin Cong ,&nbsp;Guangxin Li ,&nbsp;Yingjie Shi ,&nbsp;Dongxue Han ,&nbsp;Guoping Wang ,&nbsp;Chuanyu Gao","doi":"10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113281","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113281","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Peatlands are major carbon sinks and play a crucial role in the carbon cycle. Permafrost peatlands in mid-to-high latitude regions are highly sensitive to climate change, leading to the formation of thermokarst lakes in widely distributed areas of permafrost degradation. In this study, seven peat cores from typical peatlands at thermokarst lake margins in the northern Greater Khingan Mountains of northeast China were used to reconstruct the formation age and accumulation history of peatlands, and to analyze the change in the stability of the peatland carbon pool over time. Results show that drought events and local topography influence the lakeward expansion of the peatlands at thermokarst lake margins, with expansion rates ranging from 2 cm yr⁻¹ to 32 cm yr⁻¹. Strongly influenced by hydrological fluctuations and warming, the carbon accumulation of the studied peatlands commenced with a stage of slow accumulation, and then entered a rapid accumulation stage after the 1950s, with the carbon accumulation rates increasing from 45.2 ± 5.5 g C m⁻² yr⁻¹ to 330.5 ± 14.4 g C m⁻² yr⁻¹. Moreover, the stability of the peatland carbon pool has improved with more stable aromatic compounds increasing from 29.3 % to 32.3 %, as peat accumulation has entered a rapid accumulation stage.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19928,"journal":{"name":"Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology","volume":"679 ","pages":"Article 113281"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145096930","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Settlement adaptation and social evolution under mid-holocene environmental duress in the Yellow River Basin","authors":"Tingting Zhou ,&nbsp;Nufang Fang ,&nbsp;Jianxin Cui ,&nbsp;Hongfei Zhao ,&nbsp;Hongming He","doi":"10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113280","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113280","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study aims to elucidate the adaptation mechanisms of prehistoric settlements in the Yellow River Basin to extreme climate events spanning from the pre-Yangshao period (9.0–7.0 cal. ka BP) to the Bronze Age (4.0–2.0 cal. ka BP). By integrating archaeological site data with ancient environmental records and employing spatial statistical methods such as kernel density estimation and nearest neighbor analysis, this research reconstructs the spatial and temporal evolution of settlement patterns under climate stress. Furthermore, it discusses the relationship between these patterns and natural disasters, uncovering the mechanisms of human-land interaction and the adaptive strategies that shaped regional resilience during periods of environmental stress. The results reveal three key findings. Firstly, the distribution of settlements exhibits significant spatial differentiation; while the middle reaches consistently maintained high density, a secondary core emerged in the upper Hehuang Valley during the Yangshao period. Secondly, settlement patterns demonstrate simultaneous trends of expansion in scale and reduction in number, indicating an increase in social complexity and stratification, which laid the groundwork for early state formation. Thirdly, the selection of settlement sites reflects clear climate adaptation: the average elevation rose by 56.98 m from the Yangshao to Longshan periods, and the proportion of settlements located farther from water sources increased by 12.3 % during the late Longshan period, strongly correlating with flood sediment records. Additionally, erosion and sedimentation in downstream areas provided fertile land, playing a crucial role in sustaining social development. This study illustrates that mid-Holocene climate variability, particularly in the form of intensified flooding and environmental pressures, drove adaptive strategies such as elevation migration and spatial differentiation. These dynamics, coupled with emerging sociopolitical structures, facilitated the rise of early complex societies in the middle and lower Yellow River Basin.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19928,"journal":{"name":"Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology","volume":"679 ","pages":"Article 113280"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145046851","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Enhancing sustainability in early millet agriculture: Manuring practices in the Yellow River Valley","authors":"Huiyong Ouyang ,&nbsp;Xue Shang","doi":"10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113283","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113283","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The implementation of various agricultural strategies, including manuring, has long been considered a key factor in supporting the complexity of early societies worldwide. The Yellow River valley in China is recognized as the cradle of millet agriculture and civilization state. However, systematic research on manuring practices within spatiotemporal archaeological contexts in early millet agriculture within this region remains scarce. This paper synthesizes previously published isotopic data from foxtail and broomcorn millet at 33 archaeological sites spanning the late Neolithic to the Bronze Age, aiming to clarify the characteristics of early millet manuring management and its role in the sustainable development of ancient China. Nitrogen isotope results, together with evidence from soil nutrients, livestock husbandry, and archaeobotanical findings, suggest that manuring had been widely adopted in the dryland agriculture of the Yellow River valley since the late Neolithic period. Faced with increasing population pressures and environmental limitations, farmers in the Yellow River valley maintained manuring practices for farmland while expanding cultivated areas, though the intensity exhibited significant spatiotemporal variations. The refinement of agricultural strategies not only promoted the sustainable development and regional expansion of agricultural production but also played a crucial role in shaping the enduring features and trajectory of Chinese civilization.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19928,"journal":{"name":"Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology","volume":"679 ","pages":"Article 113283"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145046849","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Multi-proxy records of wildfires and climate-vegetation-wildfire interactions during the Middle Jurassic of the Santanghu Basin, northwest China","authors":"Jiamin Zhou ,&nbsp;Longyi Shao ,&nbsp;Timothy P. Jones ,&nbsp;Yangyang Huang ,&nbsp;Mengran Chen ,&nbsp;Yuedong Ma ,&nbsp;Jing Lu","doi":"10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113260","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113260","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Palaeowildfires have played an important role in terrestrial ecosystems since the evolution of land plants, and are a significant disturbance factor in many of the Earth's ecosystems. The Middle Jurassic was a period of rapid climatic fluctuations, and there is abundant evidence that wildfires were frequent at that time. The Santanghu Basin has Middle Jurassic inertinite-rich coals that are a source of high-quality information about palaeowildfires and palaeoenvironments; these provide an opportunity to study deep-time palaeowildfire evolution and their ecological effects. To better understand palaeowildfire events, a multi-proxy study was undertaken that analyzed coal macerals, inertinite reflectance, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in coal and mudstone samples from the Aalenian Santanghu Basin. In addition, normal alkanes (<em>n</em>-alkanes) were used as biomarkers of alterations in coal-forming vegetation, and natural char was used as complementary coal petrological evidence for palaeowildfires. The presence of high levels of inertinite, high natural char content, and high abundances of potentially combustion-derived PAHs demonstrate that multiple, widespread wildfires occurred during the Aalenian in the Santanghu Basin. Inertinite reflectance values ranging from 1.34 % to 2.67 %Ro indicate that palaeowildfires were dominated by lower temperature ground fires, with a small proportion of higher temperature crown fires. It is believed that the total amount of PAHs can be used as good evidence of palaeowildfires, but the ratios of high to low ring PAHs in the molecules are not necessarily indicative of combustion temperatures of palaeowildfires due to the extreme instability of low-ring PAHs. It is proposed that the abundant inertinites in Jurassic coals were accumulated as the result of a multi-factorial coupling; palaeoclimate was the main driver, paleo vegetation and gelified organic matter provided the fuel, and palaeowildfires were indirectly the mechanism of preservation. Furthermore, a potential mechanism has been proposed for wildfire activity to influence the growth of aquatic plants.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19928,"journal":{"name":"Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology","volume":"679 ","pages":"Article 113260"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145060724","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sedimentation in the ephemeral landslide dammed paleolake in Indo-Burmese Range: Late Pleistocene-Holocene climatic variability and surface processes coupling","authors":"Arindom Gogoi ,&nbsp;Prabha Pandey ,&nbsp;Anand K. Pandey","doi":"10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113279","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113279","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Late Pleistocene-Holocene marks a sharp transition in climate perturbation affecting landform patterns and depositional sequence in tectonically active regions. We investigate the fluvial landforms and Holocene fluvial-lacustrine sedimentary sequences in an ephemeral landslide-dammed intra-montane paleolake, which acts as an archive for reconstructing extreme events driven surface processes and paleo-climatic history along the Daili-Imphal River in the Indo-Burmese Range. The effect of climate-tectonic coupling on surface processes is explored through quantitative geomorphologic analysis of the landscape and sedimentological proxies, including grain size and shape analysis, geochemistry, and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of the lacustrine sequence. This analysis helps constrain the climatically sensitive hydrodynamics during the Late Pleistocene-Holocene period. The lack of grain size, geochemical variations in the sediment column, and geochemical affinity with the substrate, the Disang Shale Formation, point towards the dominance of erosion from a proximal sediment source. We argue that the pre-Holocene Bølling-Allerød (12–12.9 ka) climatic extreme caused excessive mass wasting, which blocked the Daili-Imphal River and formed a paleolake, paradoxically resulting in a low sedimentation rate during the early Holocene. The sedimentation rate increased during the Mid-Late Holocene due to local climatic optima. This unique setup highlights the role of local climatic fluctuations on the ephemeral growth of geomorphic and sedimentary archives.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19928,"journal":{"name":"Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology","volume":"679 ","pages":"Article 113279"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145046807","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Subtropical humid forests as a refuge for Late Miocene hominoids in Yunnan, southwestern China","authors":"Xiabo Li ,&nbsp;Qing Yang ,&nbsp;Xueping Ji ,&nbsp;Shufeng Li ,&nbsp;Renjie Zhou ,&nbsp;Zining Zou ,&nbsp;Wanshu Yang ,&nbsp;Zhenzhen Wang ,&nbsp;Hongbo Zheng","doi":"10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113282","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.palaeo.2025.113282","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Yuanmou Basin in Yunnan Province, southwestern China, preserves one of the latest surviving records of Eurasian hominoids, yet the chronological and paleoenvironmental framework for this region remains poorly constrained. Here we analyze hyena coprolites from hominoid-bearing strata to establish a robust chronology and reconstruct the paleoecology of the Late Miocene. In-situ LA-MC-ICP-MS U<img>Pb dating of carbonate crystals within coprolites yielded a geologically reliable age of 7.7 ± 1.4 Ma, providing the first direct radiometric constraint on hominoid survival in Yuanmou. Palynological analyses reveal a highly diverse vegetation assemblage encompassing coniferous, evergreen broadleaf, and deciduous taxa, with evidence of distinct vertical zonation. Bioclimatic Analysis (BA) indicates a subtropical humid climate, with mean annual temperature of 12.8–13.3 °C and mean annual precipitation of 1320–1409 mm, markedly cooler and wetter than today. These favorable climatic conditions, coupled with extensive dense forests, supplied abundant food resources for arboreal hominoids, as supported by dental adaptations for consuming hard fruits and nuts. Regional comparisons demonstrate that, unlike much of Eurasia where hominoids declined during the Late Miocene, Yunnan retained stable warm–humid environments buffered by the complex topography associated with Tibetan Plateau uplift and the evolving South Asian Monsoon. This long-term ecological stability made Yunnan a critical refuge for Late Miocene hominoids and underscores the importance of tectonic–climatic coupling in shaping primate evolutionary trajectories in East Asia.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19928,"journal":{"name":"Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology","volume":"679 ","pages":"Article 113282"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145096933","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}