Editorial preface to special issue: Paleoenvironmental changes along the Asian Continental margin over Neogene to recent timescales

The Asian Continental Margin, comprising the northeastern Arctic margin, the western Pacific margin, and the northeastern Indian Ocean margin, forms the most extensive continental margin system on Earth. To advance the understanding of paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic changes of this important region, this Virtual Special Issue (VSI) entitled Paleoenvironmental changes along the Asian Continental Margin over Neogene to recent timescales, brings together fifty-two contributions that span a broad temporal range. The papers are grouped into four major themes that address the evolution of the Asian Continent Margin: (1) Sediment source-to-sink processes and multi-scale paleoenvironmental evolution; (2) Sedimentary environments and their linkages to tectonic, climatic, and sea-level changes; (3) Sedimentary processes in Arctic and subarctic marginal seas and their implications for oceanic, cryospheric, and atmospheric systems; and (4) Organic carbon burial and the global carbon cycle. Employing a wide array of methodologies, including sedimentology, geochemistry, paleontology, mineralogy, and climate modeling, this VSI addresses environmental changes from tectonic to millennial and centennial timescales. The findings, not only, offer critical insights into past climatic system evolution, but also provide a valuable basis for predicting the future response of marginal marine systems to ongoing global climate change.