Xiaomei Zhang , Haiwei Zhang , Rui Zhang , Jian Wang , Miaomiao Wang , Zeyuan Liang , Mei He , Rong Wei , Hai Cheng
{"title":"Spatiotemporal pattern of the East Asian monsoon hydroclimate during the 8.2 ka event inferred from a new speleothem multi-proxy record from SE China","authors":"Xiaomei Zhang , Haiwei Zhang , Rui Zhang , Jian Wang , Miaomiao Wang , Zeyuan Liang , Mei He , Rong Wei , Hai Cheng","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109141","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109141","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Many hydroclimatic records of the 8.2 ka event have been published in the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) region. However, there are few high-quality records in southeastern China, which limits our deep understanding of the spatiotemporal variation of EASM precipitation during this event. Southeastern China is located in the front region of the East Asian monsoon circulation and particularly sensitive to the EASM changes. This study presents a high-precision (dating error <35 yrs) and high-resolution (∼3 yrs) multi-proxy speleothem record (δ<sup>18</sup>O, δ<sup>13</sup>C, trace elements and growth rate) spanning 9.01-7.86 ka B.P. from Shennong Cave, Jiangxi Province, Southeast China. The results show that the 8.2 ka event in southeastern China began at 8.23 ± 0.02 ka B.P. and ended at 8.03 ± 0.03 ka B.P., consistent with Greenland ice cores and other high-resolution geological records within the dating errors. The structure of the 8.2 ka event in southeastern China is characterized by an asymmetric ‘double-plunging’ structure that can be divided into three stages, which is consistent with other stalagmite records from the Asian monsoon region and shows an antiphase pattern with stalagmite records from the South American monsoon region. These features indicate that low-latitude monsoons respond rapidly to high-latitude climate changes, and the internal structure of the event has close correlations. Combined with other high-resolution records from both high and low latitudes, our results are consistent with previous conclusions that freshwater injection into the North Atlantic weakened the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, and led to a southward shift of the Intertropical Convergence Zone, a weakening of the EASM. We also found that, during the 8.2 ka event, the amplitude of δ<sup>18</sup>O variations in the EASM region shows significant differences, with smaller variations in southeastern China compared to northern China, possibly related to changes in moisture sources and regional precipitation. The multi-proxy records of stalagmite SN31 reveal a significant weakening in the intensity of the EASM, resulting in an arid hydroclimate in the study area. This contrasts sharply with the wet climate observed in the region during the 4.2 ka weak EASM period. This contrasts sharply with the wet climate observed in the region during the 4.2 ka weak EASM period, where the EASM precipitation anomalies during the 4.2 ka (or 8.2 ka) event exhibited a dipole (or tripole) pattern across eastern China. Our multi-proxy record also indicates a precursor event occurred between 8.29 and 8.35 ka B.P., as suggested in previous studies, and the study region was characterized by a dry climate. Additionally, the Shennong record shows significant cycles of 4, 10–40 and 286 yrs within the 8.2 ka event, indicating that solar activity and internal forcing mechanisms may have amplified the decadal to multidecadal variability of EASM precipitation duri","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"349 ","pages":"Article 109141"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143138580","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Chris Baumann , Andrew W. Kandel , Shumon T. Hussain
{"title":"Evidence for the catalytic role of humans in the assembly and evolution of European Late Pleistocene scavenger guilds","authors":"Chris Baumann , Andrew W. Kandel , Shumon T. Hussain","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109148","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109148","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The evolving role of past human populations in broader ecosystem processes is an important frontier in palaeoecological research yet remains notoriously difficult to systematically address on a pan-European scale. This paper develops a macro-archaeological approach grounded in newer developments in niche construction theory, carrion ecology, and community ecology to reveal long-term predator-scavenger dynamics and the changing status of humans in Late Pleistocene scavenger communities. We analyse a filtered dataset of zooarchaeological observations from Europe between MIS 6 to MIS 3 sourced from the dynamic ROCEEH Out of Africa Database to chart scavenger promotion at human habitation sites through time. This analysis reveals that humans have long been integral to the functioning of Late Pleistocene scavenger communities and that human behaviour likely spurred an important transition in scavenging dynamics within MIS 3, increasingly favouring smaller bodied paleo-synanthropic animals such as foxes and some birds, at the expense of larger bodied confrontational scavengers such as hyenas and cave lions. We argue that this interpretation is consistent with other lines of archaeological evidence pointing to the emerging keystone role of Late Pleistocene foragers in tailoring ecosystem relations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"349 ","pages":"Article 109148"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143138583","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Trang T. Tran , Lora Stevens , Jessica E. Tierney , Tich Vu-Van
{"title":"Corrigendum to “Biomarker reconstructions of temperature and hydroclimate variability in Vietnam during Marine Isotope Stage 3” [Quat. Sci. Rev. 341 (2024) 108893]","authors":"Trang T. Tran , Lora Stevens , Jessica E. Tierney , Tich Vu-Van","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109009","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109009","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"349 ","pages":"Article 109009"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143137905","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Qiong Chen , Wei Wang , Jie Peng , Zhuo Zheng , Xiaoqiang Yang
{"title":"Reduced C3 plants on the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau during the Late Pleistocene and implications for human dispersal into southern China","authors":"Qiong Chen , Wei Wang , Jie Peng , Zhuo Zheng , Xiaoqiang Yang","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109150","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109150","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Determining the vegetation that prevailed on the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau during the Late Pleistocene is critical to debates on human dispersal into East Asia during the early Late Pleistocene. Here, we present a carbon stable isotope (δ<sup>13</sup>C) record for lake sediments from Tengchong Qinghai Lake in Yunnan, and we reconstruct the vegetation changes over the past 90000 years in terms of the relative abundances of C<sub>3</sub> and C<sub>4</sub> plants. Our δ<sup>13</sup>C record shows that the vegetation shifted from C<sub>3</sub>-plant dominance to more mixed C<sub>3</sub> and C<sub>4</sub> plants during 78.6 to 58.6 ka B.P., indicating a shift to a more open forest environment. These changes coincided with the occupation history of <em>Homo sapiens</em> in southern China. We propose that a biome shift from dense forest to more open environments on the southeastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau may have provided dispersal corridors into southern China.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"349 ","pages":"Article 109150"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143137906","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Substantial invasion of Antarctic Intermediate Water into the Arabian Sea during Younger Dryas and Heinrich Stadials","authors":"Arvind Shukla , Tapas Kumar Mishra , Sunil Kumar Singh , Arun Deo Singh","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109115","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109115","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW) is an important component of the global thermohaline circulation and an essential limb of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), which redistributes heat, oxygen, and nutrients in the global ocean. Understanding the dynamics of intermediate water circulation over a millennial timeframe is essential to determine the impact of AMOC changes on ocean heat transport during abrupt climatic events. However, the precise relationship between global ocean intermediate water circulation and abrupt climate events, such as the Younger Dryas (YD) and Heinrich Stadials (HS), is not yet fully understood, particularly in tropical regions. Here, we present a ∼29 ka high-resolution record of Neodymium isotope (Ɛ<sub>Nd</sub>) in authigenic phases, a water mass tracer, of a sediment core collected from the intermediate depth (840 m) in the eastern Arabian Sea (off Goa) to understand the past variability in AAIW circulation in the northern Indian Ocean on a millennial time scale. Our new Ɛ<sub>Nd</sub> record reveals the pronounced temporal variation (−9.5 to −6.1) throughout the core, marked with enhanced radiogenic Nd signature during the YD, HS1, and HS2. These episodes of enhanced radiogenic Nd signatures signify an increased northward penetration of Antarctic Intermediate Water into the Northern Indian Ocean. The intervals of northward progression of AAIW coincide with the Northern Hemisphere cold events which could have resulted from the enhanced formation of AAIW in the Southern Ocean that occurred due to the warming-induced deceleration of the AMOC. This correlation underscores a robust connection between the formation of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) and Southern Ocean climate dynamics through the \"bipolar seesaw\" mechanism. Our study emphasizes that tracking changes in AAIW in the Arabian Sea can provide insights into the past and future variations in AMOC.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"349 ","pages":"Article 109115"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143138452","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Impact of genera-specific traits on wood-to-charcoal conversion rates: Implications for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction in European Palaeolithic contexts","authors":"Rupert Knight","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109113","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109113","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction, especially in prehistoric contexts, is frequently dependent on anthracology, the identification of charcoal to at least the genus level. However, in order to understand past arboreal compositions, and by proxy wider environments and hominin-environment interactions, the charcoal found must accurately represent the original hearth assemblages, to enable further interpretations of local palaeoenvironments. Several filters affect this, including anthropogenic fuel choice, differential charcoal fragmentation, and varying archaeological recovery and identification techniques between sites. A further potentially confusing factor is genera-specific wood-to-charcoal conversion rates, whereby different genera of woods, through specific morphological or chemical characteristics, commonly create different quantities of charcoal on burning. It is debated whether this is an issue at all; to address this, this paper tests the wood-to-charcoal conversion rates of 42 arboreal and shrubby genera identified in Palaeolithic European contexts, burning them at 350 °C and 700 °C. Whilst those at 700 °C created somewhat random quantities of charcoal, genera-specific differences were identified at 350 °C, correlating with deciduous, evergreen and coniferous tree types, with conifers creating far more charcoal than other trees. These findings have wide applications for all palaeoenvironmental reconstruction relying on anthracology, especially where conifers are common.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"349 ","pages":"Article 109113"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143138459","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Ian Candy , Laura Boyall , Paul Lincoln , Celia Martin-Puertas , Ian Matthews , Tim Holt-Wilson , Jose Valcarcel
{"title":"A cold but stable 4,200 yr event in Britain and the northeastern Atlantic region","authors":"Ian Candy , Laura Boyall , Paul Lincoln , Celia Martin-Puertas , Ian Matthews , Tim Holt-Wilson , Jose Valcarcel","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109093","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109093","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The existence of an abrupt cold event in the British Isles at ca 4200 years before AD1950 (cal. yr BP) is investigated through analysis of the oxygen and carbon isotope value (δ<sup>18</sup>O and δ<sup>13</sup>C) of annually laminated, seasonally precipitated lake carbonates from the lake of Diss Mere in eastern England. Modern rainfall and lake water isotope data indicate that evaporation is a major control on the isotope value of modern lake waters, consistent with Diss Mere's current status as a small (0.0034 km<sup>2</sup>) and shallow (<6m), closed lake system. However, both the characteristics of isotope data from the interval 4700 to 3700 cal yr BP and the greater depth of the lake basin at that time (>15m water) indicates that whilst evaporation still operated, major shifts in δ<sup>18</sup>O values most likely reflect shifts in patterns of atmospheric circulation (primarily through air mass trajectory, air temperature and precipitation amount). A centennial-scale interval of persistently low δ<sup>18</sup>O values occurred between ca 4320 and 4210 cal yr BP and is interpreted as a cold event with changes in the elemental composition of the sediments supporting this interpretation. Correlation of this record with other sequences from the North Atlantic and western Europe, either through comparison of independent chronologies or age markers such as the Hekla 4 tephra, indicates that this event was well expressed across this region and was characterised by changes in temperature, storminess and ocean/atmospheric circulation. It is argued that increasing evidence exists for an abrupt event in this region at ca 4200 cal yr BP, but it is the high-resolution nature of the Diss Mere sequence and the regionally extensive tephras that this record contains that allows the timing and character of this event to be understood.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"349 ","pages":"Article 109093"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143138576","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A model of loess formation and atmospheric circulation regimes in the Azov region during the Middle and Late Pleistocene","authors":"P.I. Kalinin , I. Yu Kudrevatykh , P.G. Panin , G.V. Mitenko , V.V. Malyshev , A.O. Alekseev","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109135","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109135","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A comparison of the grain-size data, geochemistry and mineralogy of the loess-palaeosol sequences, glacial and river deposits of the East European Plain made it possible to determine of the provenance, stages of sedimentary differentiation and loess formation in the Azov region. It was revealed that the protolith of the loess of the Chumbur Kosa section consisted of rocks of the Fennoscandian Shield and deposit Eastern European Platform. The main source of mineral dust was the glacial deposits of the northern East European Plain. Proximal alluvial deposits of the Don and Dnieper rivers were a minor source of dust. Using grain-size EMMA, evidence was found that during the maximum glaciation in the Middle Pleistocene, a blocking anticyclone could have formed above the glacier, preventing the active penetration of air masses from the Atlantic and Siberia. Within the anticyclone there were cold and dry conditions in which dust of glacial provenance was transported south by high-altitude regional winds. In MIS 2–3, the disappearance of the blocking anticyclone led to the formation of the modern atmospheric circulation regime in the south of the East European Plain, determined by the competition of the North Atlantic cyclone and the Siberian anticyclone. The resulting model expands the understanding of the formation mechanisms of loess in the East European Plain and the atmospheric circulation regimes in the immediate vicinity of ice sheets.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"349 ","pages":"Article 109135"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143138579","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jian Zhang , Dominique Genty , François Bourges , Simon L.L. Michel , Bénédicte Minster , Edouard Régnier , Ludovic Devaux , Stéphane Bujan , Zhen Su , Terhi K. Laurila
{"title":"Source of rainfall above Mediterranean caves (Chauvet and Orgnac) and long-term trend of cave dripping oxygen isotopes based on 20 years monitoring records: Importance for speleothem-based climate reconstructions","authors":"Jian Zhang , Dominique Genty , François Bourges , Simon L.L. Michel , Bénédicte Minster , Edouard Régnier , Ludovic Devaux , Stéphane Bujan , Zhen Su , Terhi K. Laurila","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109145","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109145","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Understanding the factors that shape climate and influence the isotopic composition of precipitation is crucial for paleoclimate reconstructions, especially in regions with Mediterranean climates where rainfall is influenced by both Atlantic and Mediterranean moisture sources. This study examines the relationship between moisture origins, climatic variables, and the stable isotopic composition of precipitation and cave drip water in the Orgnac and Chauvet caves, located in southern France, over a 20-year period. The research reveals notable seasonal variations in rainfall δ<sup>18</sup>O values, driven by temperature and Rayleigh distillation processes. As shown in our previous work in Villars Cave (SW-France), temperature changes alone cannot fully explain the observed isotopic variability. We observed that winter precipitation tends to have lower δ<sup>18</sup>O values due to longer transport distances from distant oceanic sources, while summer precipitation displays higher δ<sup>18</sup>O values due to shorter transport paths. Additionally, the study highlights the influence of sea surface wind speeds and evaporation rates on water vapor isotopes, further shaping the seasonal δ<sup>18</sup>O patterns. As rainwater infiltrates the soil and percolates into the karst system, the seasonal δ<sup>18</sup>O signal in drip water is often dampened due to mixing in the reservoirs above the caves, which typically reduces seasonality. The key findings include: (1) a multi-year increasing trend in drip water δ<sup>18</sup>O, likely associated with reduced local water excess and the effects of global warming, with significant implications for speleothem isotope records, and (2) moisture from the Mediterranean Sea contributes to 10% of the total precipitation source, despite the region's proximity to the sea, especially during intense storm events. This study provides new insights into the complex interactions between moisture sources, temperature, and isotopic signatures in Mediterranean climate regions, with implications for improving speleothem-based paleoclimate reconstructions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"349 ","pages":"Article 109145"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143138582","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}