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Sciences in Cold and Arid Regions ›› 2020, Vol. 12 ›› Issue (6): 371-379.doi: 10.3724/SP.J.1226.2020.00371

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Holocene precipitation δ18O as an indicator of temperature history in arid central Asia: an overview of recent advances

ZhiGuo Rao(),YiPing Tian,YunXia Li,HaiChun Guo,XinZhu Zhang,Guang Han,XinPing Zhang   

  1. College of Resources and Environmental Sciences, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan 410081, China
  • Received:2020-07-02 Accepted:2020-10-29 Online:2020-12-31 Published:2021-01-14
  • Contact: ZhiGuo Rao E-mail:raozhg@hunnu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    the National Science Foundation of China(41772373);the Hunan Provincial Natural Science foundation of China(2018JJ1017);the National Key R&D Program of China(2018YFA0606404);the Construction Program for First-Class Disciplines (Geography) of Hunan Province, China(5010002)

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Abstract:

Holocene δ18O records from various archives (ice cores, cave stalagmites, and peat sediments) from the Xinjiang region of northwestern China, in arid central Asia (ACA), are all derived ultimately from local precipitation δ18O (δ18Op). Nevertheless, they have been proposed as indicators of different climatic parameters, such as wetness and temperature changes. This article summarizes previously reported records of moisture sources for the Xinjiang region and the results of modern observations conducted at an ice core site and a peat site in the Altai Mountains. The findings are used to propose that the overall positive trends in Holocene δ18O records from the various archives from the Xinjiang region primarily reflect the Holocene's long-term warming trend. It is concluded that more site-specific modern observations are needed to further elucidate the environmental significance of Holocene δ18O records from this region, especially for the separation of different seasonal temperature signals present within δ18O records.

Key words: arid central Asia, precipitation δ18O, Holocene temperature history, ice core, stalagmite, peat

Figure 1

Locations of the study sites. (1) Western Belukha Plateau (WBP; Aizen et al., 2016). (2) Big Black peatland (BBP; Xu et al., 2019). (3) Sahara sand peatland (SSP; Rao et al., 2020). (4) Kesang Cave (Cheng et al., 2012). (5) Baluk Cave (Liu et al.,2019). (6) Tonnel?naya Cave (Cheng et al., 2016b). (7) Fedchenko glacier (Aizen et al., 2009). (8) Kinderlinskaya Cave (Baker et al., 2017). (9) Lena River Delta (Meyer et al., 2015). (10-12) Shar-khana, Gurvan Ze'zerd, and Lovon Chombo Caves (Vaks et al., 2013; stalagmite growth in these three caves only occurred at about 400 ka B.P. during the past 500 ka). The red dashed line represents the modern northern limit of the Asian summer monsoon (Chen et al., 2008); the area enclosed by the purple dashed line is arid central Asia (Chen et al., 2019); the blue and green dashed lines represent the northern limits of the Asian summer monsoon during the last interglacial period and the Holocene Optimum period, respectively (Dong et al., 1998)"

Table 1

Location information of the study sites"

Site codeLocationLongitudeLatitudeAltitude
1Western Belukha Plateau (WBP)86°33′E49°48′N4,115 m
2Big Black peatland (BBP)87°11′E48°40′N2,168 m
3Sahara sand peatland (SSP)88°21′46.78″E48°6′46.70″N2,446 m
4Kesang Cave81°45′E42°52′N2,070 m
5Baluk Cave84°44′E42°26′N2,752 m
6Tonnel?naya Cave67°14′E38°24′N3,226 m
7Fedchenko glacier72°15′E38°15′E5,206/5,365 m
8Kinderlinskaya Cave56°54′E52°12′N240 m
9Lena River Delta125°00′-127°15′E72°00′-72°45′N25 m
10Shar-khana Cave45°35′23.1″E108°19′18.8″E1,200 m
11Gurvan Ze'zerd Cave42°30′15.7″E107°27′00.1″E1,075 m
12Lovon Chombo Cave42°35′18.4″E107°49′32.0″E1,195 m

Figure 2

Comparison of relevant Holocene δ18O records. (a) Kesang stalagmite δ18O record (Cheng et al., 2012); (b) Tonnel'naya stalagmite δ18O record (Cheng et al., 2016b); (c) Kesang stalagmite δ18O record (Cai et al., 2017); (d) Baluk stalagmite δ18O record (Liu et al., 2019, 2020); (e) WBP ice core δ18O record (Aizen et al., 2016); (f) BBP peat α-cellulose δ18O record (Xu et al., 2019); (g) SSP peat α-cellulose δ18O record (Rao et al., 2020); (h) Kinderlinskaya stalagmite δ18O record (Baker et al., 2017); (i) Lena River Delta ice wedge δ18O record (Meyer et al., 2015). The different colored lines in a-d represent δ18O data from different stalagmite samples"

Figure 3

Results of hydrological observations during the summer of 2017 in the SSP in the Altai Mountains (Plot 1 and Plot 2 are two representative sites in the wetland). The trends of water table change in Plot 1 and Plot 2 are consistent with those of the inlet water and outlet water of the wetland. Summer rainfall events are indicated by the vertical blue bars. The timing and corresponding water table fluctuations of the rainfall events (precipitation amount >10 mm) are indicated by vertical gray dashed lines. The rapid increase and decrease of the water table during these rainfall events indicate the fast drainage of summer rainfall in the wetland (Shi et al., 2019)"

Figure 4

Comparison of the SSP peat α-cellulose δ13C summer temperature record (a; Rao et al., 2019a) and the WBP ice core δ18O warm-season mean temperature record (b; Aizen et al., 2016). The squares with error bars represent the absolute dating results of the two records"

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