@article{MishraAnoopSchettleretal.2015, author = {Mishra, Praveen Kumar and Anoop, Ambili and Schettler, Georg and Prasad, Sushma and Jehangir, Arshid and Menzel, Peter and Naumann, Rudolf and Yousuf, A. R. and Basavaiah, Nathani and Deenadayalan, Kannan and Wiesner, Martin G. and Gaye, Birgit}, title = {Reconstructed late Quaternary hydrological changes from Lake Tso Moriri, NW Himalaya}, series = {Quaternary international : the journal of the International Union for Quaternary Research}, volume = {371}, journal = {Quaternary international : the journal of the International Union for Quaternary Research}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {1040-6182}, doi = {10.1016/j.quaint.2014.11.040}, pages = {76 -- 86}, year = {2015}, abstract = {We present the results of our investigations on the radiocarbon dated core sediments from the Lake Tso Moriri, NW Himalaya aimed at reconstructing palaeohydrological changes in this climatically sensitive region. Based on the detailed geochemical, mineralogical and sedimentological analysis, we recognise several short-term fluctuations superimposed upon seven major palaeohydrological stages identified in this lake since similar to 26 cal ka. Stage I (>20.2 cal ka): shallow lake characterised by input of coarse-grained detrital sediments; Stage II (20.2-16.4 cal ka): lake deepening and intensification of this trend ca. 18 cal ka; Stage III (16.4-11.2 cal ka): rising lake levels with a short term wet phase (13.1-11.7 cal ka); Stage IV (11.2-8.5 cal ka): early Holocene hydrological maxima and highest lake levels inferred to have resulted from early Holocene Indian monsoon intensification, as records from central Asia indicate weaker westerlies during this interval; Stage V (8.5-5.5 cal ka): mid-Holocene climate deterioration; Stage VI (5.5-2.7 cal ka): progressive lowering of lake level; Stage VII (2.7-0 cal ka): onset of modern conditions. The reconstructed hydrological variability in Lake Tso Moriri is governed by temperature changes (meltwater inflow) and monsoon precipitation (increased runoff). A regional comparison shows considerable differences with other palaeorecords from peninsular India during late Holocene. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} } @article{WangLiuHerzschuhetal.2012, author = {Wang, Yongbo and Liu, Xingqi and Herzschuh, Ulrike and Yang, Xiangdong and Birks, H. John B. and Zhang, Enlou and Tong, Guobang}, title = {Temporally changing drivers for late-Holocene vegetation changes on the northern Tibetan Plateau}, series = {Palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology : an international journal for the geo-sciences}, volume = {353}, journal = {Palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology : an international journal for the geo-sciences}, number = {8}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0031-0182}, doi = {10.1016/j.palaeo.2012.06.022}, pages = {10 -- 20}, year = {2012}, abstract = {Fossil pollen records have been widely used as indicators of past changes in vegetation and variations in climate. The driving mechanisms behind these vegetation changes have, however, remained unclear. In order to evaluate vegetation changes that have occurred in the northern part of the Tibetan Plateau and the possible drivers behind these changes, we have applied a moving-window Redundancy Analysis (RDA) to high resolution (10-15 years) pollen and sedimentary data from Lake Kusai covering the last 3770 years. Our analyses reveal frequent fluctuations in the relative abundances of alpine steppe and alpine desert components. The sedimentary proxies (including total organic carbon content, total inorganic carbon content, and "end-member" indices from grain-size analyses) that explain statistically some of the changes in the pollen assemblage vary significantly with time, most probably reflecting multiple underlying driving processes. Climate appears to have had an important influence on vegetation changes when conditions were relatively wet and stable. However, a gradual decrease in vegetation cover was identified after 1500 cal a BP, after which the vegetation appears to have been affected more by extreme events such as dust-storms or fluvial erosion than by general climatic trends. Furthermore, pollen spectra over the last 600 years are shown by Procrustes analysis to be statistically different from those recovered from older samples, which we attribute to increased human impact that resulted in unprecedented changes to the vegetation composition. Overall, changes in vegetation and climate on the northern part of the Tibetan Plateau appear to have roughly followed the evolution of the Asian Summer Monsoon. After taking into account the highly significant millennial (1512 years) periodicity revealed by time-series analysis, the regional vegetation and climate changes also show variations that appear to match variations in the mid-latitude westerlies.}, language = {en} } @article{TianHerzschuhDallmeyeretal.2013, author = {Tian, Fang and Herzschuh, Ulrike and Dallmeyer, Anne and Xu, Qinghai and Mischke, Steffen and Biskaborn, Boris K.}, title = {Environmental variability in the monsoon-westerlies transition zone during the last 1200 years - lake sediment analyses from central Mongolia and supra-regional synthesis}, series = {Quaternary science reviews : the international multidisciplinary research and review journal}, volume = {73}, journal = {Quaternary science reviews : the international multidisciplinary research and review journal}, number = {2}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {0277-3791}, doi = {10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.05.005}, pages = {31 -- 47}, year = {2013}, abstract = {A high resolution multi proxy (pollen, grain size, total organic carbon) record from a small mountain lake (Lake Khuisiin; 46.6 degrees N, 101.8 degrees E; 2270 m a.s.l.) in the south eastern Khangai Mountains of central Mongolia has been used to explore changes in vegetation and climate over the last 1200 years. The pollen data indicates that the vegetation changed from dry steppe dominated by Poaceae and Artemisia (ca AD 760-950), to Larix forest steppe (ca AD 950-1170), Larix Betula forest steppe (ca AD 1170-1380), meadow dominated by Cyperaceae and Poaceae (ca AD 1380-1830), and Larix Betula forest steppe (after similar to AD 1830). The cold-wet period between AD 1380 and 1830 may relate to the Little Ice Age. Environmental changes were generally subtle and climate change seems to have been the major driver of variations in vegetation until at least the early part of the 20th century, suggesting that either the level of human activity was generally low, or the relationship between human activity and vegetation did not alter substantially between AD 760 and 1830. A review of centennial scale moisture records from China and Mongolia revealed that most areas experienced major changes at ca AD 1500 and AD 1900. However, the moisture availability since AD 1500 varied between sites, with no clear regional pattern or relationship to present day conditions. Both the reconstructions and the moisture levels simulation on a millennium scale performed in the MPI Earth System Model indicate that the monsoon-westerlies transition area shows a greater climate variability than those areas influenced by the westerlies, or by the summer monsoon only.}, language = {en} }