| 1. |
- Zhong, Yi, et al.
(författare)
-
Role of land-ocean interactions in stepwise Northern Hemisphere Glaciation
- 2024
-
Ingår i: Nature Communications. - 2041-1723. ; 15:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The investigation of triggers causing the onset and intensification of Northern Hemisphere Glaciation (NHG) during the late Pliocene is essential for understanding the global climate system, with important implications for projecting future climate changes. Despite their critical roles in the global climate system, influences of land-ocean interactions on high-latitude ice sheets remain largely unexplored. Here, we present a high-resolution Asian dust record from Ocean Drilling Program Site 1208 in the North Pacific, which lies along the main route of the westerlies. Our data indicate that atmosphere-land-ocean interactions affected aeolian dust emissions through modulating moisture and vegetation in dust source regions, highlighting a critical role of terrestrial systems in initiating the NHG as early as 3.6 Myr ago. Combined with additional multi-proxy and model results, we further show that westerly wind strength was enhanced, mainly at low-to-middle tropospheric levels, during major glacial events at about 3.3 and 2.7 Myr ago. We suggest that coupled responses of Earth’s surface dynamics and atmospheric circulation in the Plio-Pleistocene likely involved feedbacks related to changes in paleogeography, ocean circulation, and global climate.
|
|
| 2. |
|
|
| 3. |
- Giosan, Liviu, et al.
(författare)
-
Fluvial landscapes of the Harappan civilization
- 2012
-
Ingår i: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. - : Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. - 0027-8424 .- 1091-6490. ; 109:26, s. E1688-E1694
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The collapse of the Bronze Age Harappan, one of the earliest urban civilizations, remains an enigma. Urbanism flourished in the western region of the Indo-Gangetic Plain for approximately 600 y, but since approximately 3,900 y ago, the total settled area and settlement sizes declined, many sites were abandoned, and a significant shift in site numbers and density towards the east is recorded. We report morphologic and chronologic evidence indicating that fluvial landscapes in Harappan territory became remarkably stable during the late Holocene as aridification intensified in the region after approximately 5,000 BP. Upstream on the alluvial plain, the large Himalayan rivers in Punjab stopped incising, while downstream, sedimentation slowed on the distinctive mega-fluvial ridge, which the Indus built in Sindh. This fluvial quiescence suggests a gradual decrease in flood intensity that probably stimulated intensive agriculture initially and encouraged urbanization around 4,500 BP. However, further decline in monsoon precipitation led to conditions adverse to both inundation- and rain-based farming. Contrary to earlier assumptions that a large glacier-fed Himalayan river, identified by some with the mythical Sarasvati, watered the Harappan heartland on the interfluve between the Indus and Ganges basins, we show that only monsoonal-fed rivers were active there during the Holocene. As the monsoon weakened, monsoonal rivers gradually dried or became seasonal, affecting habitability along their courses. Hydroclimatic stress increased the vulnerability of agricultural production supporting Harappan urbanism, leading to settlement downsizing, diversification of crops, and a drastic increase in settlements in the moister monsoon regions of the upper Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.
|
|
| 4. |
- Giosan, Liviu, et al.
(författare)
-
On the Holocene evolution of the Ayeyawady megadelta
- 2018
-
Ingår i: Earth Surface Dynamics. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 2196-6311 .- 2196-632X. ; 6:2, s. 451-466
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Ayeyawady delta is the last Asian megadelta whose evolution has remained essentially unexplored so far. Unlike most other deltas across the world, the Ayeyawady has not yet been affected by dam construction, providing a unique view on largely natural deltaic processes benefiting from abundant sediment loads affected by tectonics and monsoon hydroclimate. To alleviate the information gap and provide a baseline for future work, here we provide a first model for the Holocene development of this megadelta based on drill core sediments collected in 2016 and 2017, dated with radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence, together with a reevaluation of published maps, charts and scientific literature. Altogether, these data indicate that Ayeyawady is a mud-dominated delta with tidal and wave influences. The sediment-rich Ayeyawady River built meander belt alluvial ridges with avulsive characters. A more advanced coast in the western half of the delta (i.e., the Pathein lobe) was probably favored by the more western location of the early course of the river. Radiogenic isotopic fingerprinting of the sediment suggests that the Pathein lobe coast does not receive significant sediment from neighboring rivers. However, the eastern region of the delta (i.e., Yangon lobe) is offset inland and extends east into the mudflats of the Sittaung estuary. Wave-built beach ridge construction during the late Holocene, similar to several other deltas across the Indian monsoon domain, suggests a common climatic control on monsoonal delta morphodynamics through variability in discharge, changes in wave climate or both. Correlation of the delta morphological and stratigraphic architecture information on land with the shelf bathymetry, as well as its tectonic, sedimentary and hydrodynamic characteristics, provides insight on the peculiar growth style of the Ayeyawady delta. The offset between the western Pathein lobe and the eastern deltaic coast appears to be driven by tectonic-hydrodynamic feedbacks as the extensionally lowered shelf block of the Gulf of Mottama amplifies tidal currents relative to the western part of the shelf. This situation probably activates a perennial shear front between the two regions that acts as a leaky energy fence. Just as importantly, the strong currents in the Gulf of Mottama act as an offshore-directed tidal pump that helps build the deep mid-shelf Mottama clinoform with mixed sediments from the Ayeyawady, Sittaung and Thanlwin rivers. The highly energetic tidal, wind and wave regime of the northern Andaman Sea thus exports most sediment offshore despite the large load of the Ayeyawady River.
|
|
| 5. |
|
|
| 6. |
- Zhong, Yi, et al.
(författare)
-
Humidification of Central Asia and equatorward shifts of westerly winds since the late Pliocene
- 2022
-
Ingår i: Communications Earth and Environment. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2662-4435. ; 3:1
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The production, transport, and deposition of mineral dust exert major influences on climate change and Earth’s biogeochemical cycles. Furthermore, their imprint, as recorded in pelagic sediments, provides an avenue for determining past changes in terrestrial aridity and atmospheric circulation patterns in response to global climate change. Here, by examining geochemical and magnetic data obtained from a ferromanganese crust in the western Pacific Ocean, we investigate the eolian dust source-region conditions and dust transport mechanisms from the Asian interior to the Pacific Ocean since the Pliocene. We identify a gradual provenance change in the dust source regions, from a dominant Gobi Desert source during the early Pliocene to a mixed Gobi-Taklimakan Desert source during the late Pliocene and Pleistocene, alongside increasing chemical weathering in those source areas. Climate model simulations suggest that these changes were related to an equatorward shift of the westerly jet and humidification of Central Asia during the gradual transition from a warm Pliocene climate to the cool Pleistocene.
|
|
| 7. |
- Zhong, Yi, et al.
(författare)
-
Orbital Controls on North Pacific Dust Flux During the Late Quaternary
- 2024
-
Ingår i: Geophysical Research Letters. - 0094-8276. ; 51:4
-
Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Airborne mineral dust is sensitive to climatic changes, but its response to orbital forcing is still not fully understood. Here, we present a reconstruction of dust input to the Subarctic Pacific Ocean covering the past 190 kyr. The dust composition record is indicative of source moisture conditions, which were dominated by precessional variations. In contrast, the dust flux record is dominated by obliquity variations and displays an out-of-phase relationship with a dust record from the mid-latitude North Pacific Ocean. Climate model simulations suggest precession likely drove changes in the aridity and extent of dust source regions. Additionally, the obliquity variations in dust flux can be explained by meridional shifts in the North Pacific westerly jet, driven by changes in the meridional atmospheric temperature gradient. Overall, our findings suggest that North Pacific dust input was primarily modulated by orbital-controlled source aridity and the strength and position of the westerly winds.
|
|
