Abstract
Here we present a multi-proxy paleolimnological record from a closed-basin lake (Ebinur Lake) in northwestern China to investigate climate change in this arid region during the last 1,500 years. The 120-cm long sediment core was dated by AMS radiocarbon and 210Pb methods. The fine-grained clay sediments contain 3–17% organic matter (OM) and 9–31% carbonate, and are interrupted by multiple sand and silt layers. These sand/silt layers, having consistently low OM, were found at 700–800, 1000–1100, 1300–1400, and 1700–1750 a.d., with a time spacing of 300–400 years. We interpret that the low OM sand/silt layers were deposited during higher lake levels caused by increased river inflow from the surrounding mountains during wet climate intervals. This interpretation is supported by concurrent decreases in δ 18O and δ 13C of bulk carbonate and in carbonate content. Wet climate intervals at 700–800 a.d. and at 1700–1750 a.d. also correlate with elevated snow accumulation and low δ 18O from Guliya ice core on the NW Tibetan Plateau, both regions strongly influenced by the westerlies. This approximate 400-year periodicity of wet–dry climate oscillations appear to correlate with solar activity as shown by atmosphere 14C concentration and with paleo-moisture records in interior North America. Our results suggest that solar activities might have played a significant role in driving wet–dry climate oscillations at centennial scales in the interior of Eurasian continent.
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Wu, J., Yu, Z., Zeng, H. et al. Possible solar forcing of 400-year wet–dry climate cycles in northwestern China. Climatic Change 96, 473–482 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-009-9604-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-009-9604-4