TY - JOUR A1 - Licht, A. A1 - van Cappelle, M. A1 - Abels, Hemmo A. A1 - Ladant, J. -B. A1 - Trabucho-Alexandre, J. A1 - France-Lanord, C. A1 - Donnadieu, Y. A1 - Vandenberghe, J. A1 - Rigaudier, T. A1 - Lecuyer, C. A1 - Terry, D. A1 - Adriaens, R. A1 - Boura, A. A1 - Guo, Z. A1 - Soe, Aung Naing A1 - Quade, J. A1 - Dupont-Nivet, Guillaume A1 - Jaeger, J. -J. T1 - Asian monsoons in a late Eocene greenhouse world JF - Nature : the international weekly journal of science N2 - The strong present-day Asian monsoons are thought to have originated between 25 and 22 million years (Myr) ago, driven by Tibetan-Himalayan uplift. However, the existence of older Asian monsoons and their response to enhanced greenhouse conditions such as those in the Eocene period (55-34Myrago) are unknown because of the paucity of well-dated records. Here we show late Eocene climate records revealing marked monsoon-like patterns in rainfall and wind south and north of the Tibetan-Himalayan orogen. This is indicated by low oxygen isotope values with strong seasonality in gastropod shells and mammal teeth from Myanmar, and by aeolian dust deposition in northwest China. Our climate simulations support modern-like Eocene monsoonal rainfall and show that a reinforced hydrological cycle responding to enhanced greenhouse conditions counterbalanced the negative effect of lower Tibetan relief on precipitation. These strong monsoons later weakened with the global shift to icehouse conditions 34 Myr ago. Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13704 SN - 0028-0836 SN - 1476-4687 VL - 513 IS - 7519 SP - 501 EP - + PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER - TY - GEN A1 - Licht, Alexis A1 - Dupont-Nivet, Guillaume A1 - Pullen, Alex A1 - Kapp, Paul A1 - Abels, Hemmo A. A1 - Lai, Zulong A1 - Guo, ZhaoJie A1 - Abell, Jordan A1 - Giesler, Dominique T1 - Resilience of the Asian atmospheric circulation shown by paleogene dust provenance T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - The onset of modern central Asian atmospheric circulation is traditionally linked to the interplay of surface uplift of the Mongolian and Tibetan-Himalayan orogens, retreat of the Paratethys sea from central Asia and Cenozoic global cooling. Although the role of these players has not yet been unravelled, the vast dust deposits of central China support the presence of arid conditions and modern atmospheric pathways for the last 25 million years (Myr). Here, we present provenance data from older (42-33 Myr) dust deposits, at a time when the Tibetan Plateau was less developed, the Paratethys sea still present in central Asia and atmospheric pCO(2) much higher. Our results show that dust sources and near-surface atmospheric circulation have changed little since at least 42 Myr. Our findings indicate that the locus of central Asian high pressures and concurrent aridity is a resilient feature only modulated by mountain building, global cooling and sea retreat. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 1114 KW - Chinese Loess Plateau KW - last glacial maximum KW - Tibetan Plateau KW - Yellow-River KW - climate KW - basin KW - evolution KW - ardification KW - monsoons KW - desert Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-436381 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 1114 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Licht, Alexis A1 - Dupont-Nivet, Guillaume A1 - Pullen, A. A1 - Kapp, P. A1 - Abels, Hemmo A. A1 - Lai, Z. A1 - Guo, Z. A1 - Abell, Jordan A1 - Giesler, D. T1 - Resilience of the Asian atmospheric circulation shown by Paleogene dust provenance JF - Nature Communications N2 - The onset of modern central Asian atmospheric circulation is traditionally linked to the interplay of surface uplift of the Mongolian and Tibetan-Himalayan orogens, retreat of the Paratethys sea from central Asia and Cenozoic global cooling. Although the role of these players has not yet been unravelled, the vast dust deposits of central China support the presence of arid conditions and modern atmospheric pathways for the last 25 million years (Myr). Here, we present provenance data from older (42-33 Myr) dust deposits, at a time when the Tibetan Plateau was less developed, the Paratethys sea still present in central Asia and atmospheric pCO(2) much higher. Our results show that dust sources and near-surface atmospheric circulation have changed little since at least 42 Myr. Our findings indicate that the locus of central Asian high pressures and concurrent aridity is a resilient feature only modulated by mountain building, global cooling and sea retreat. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12390 SN - 2041-1723 VL - 7 SP - 885 EP - 894 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Han, Fang A1 - Rydin, Catarina A1 - Bolinder, Kristina A1 - Dupont-Nivet, Guillaume A1 - Abels, Hemmo A. A1 - Koutsodendris, Andreas A1 - Zhang, Kexin A1 - Hoorn, Carina T1 - Steppe development on the Northern Tibetan Plateau inferred from Paleogene ephedroid pollen JF - Grana N2 - Steppe vegetation represents a key marker of past Asian aridification and is associated with monsoonal intensification. Little is, however, known about the origin of this pre-Oligocene vegetation, its specific composition and how it changed over time and responded to climatic variations. Here, we describe the morphological characters of Ephedraceae pollen in Eocene strata of the Xining Basin and compare the pollen composition with the palynological composition of Late Cretaceous and Paleocene deposits of the Xining Basin and the Quaternary deposits of the Qaidam Basin. We find that the Late Cretaceous steppe was dominated by Gnetaceaepollenites; in the transition from the Cretaceous to the Paleocene, Gnetaceaepollenites became extinct and Ephedripites subgenus Ephedripites dominated the flora with rare occurrences of Ephedripites subgen. Distachyapites; the middle to late Eocene presents a strong increase of Ephedripites subgen. Distachyapites; and the Quaternary/Recent is marked by a significantly lower diversity of Ephedraceae (and Nitrariaceae) compared to the Eocene. In the modern landscape of China, only a fraction of the Paleogene species diversity of Ephedraceae remains and we propose that these alterations in Ephedreaceae composition occurred in response to the climatic changes at least since the Eocene. In particular, the strong Eocene monsoons that enhanced the continental aridification may have played an important role in the evolution of Ephedripites subgen. Distachyapites triggering an evolutionary shift to wind-pollination in this group. Conceivably, the Ephedraceae/Nitrariaceae dominated steppe ended during the Eocene/Oligocene climatic cooling and aridification, which favoured other plant taxa. KW - pollen morphology KW - Eocene KW - climate KW - Ephedripites KW - Distachyapites KW - Gnetaceaepollenites KW - monsoon Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/00173134.2015.1120343 SN - 0017-3134 SN - 1651-2049 VL - 55 SP - 71 EP - 100 PB - Springer CY - Oslo ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Meijer, Niels A1 - Dupont-Nivet, Guillaume A1 - Abels, Hemmo A. A1 - Kaya, Mustafa Y. A1 - Licht, Alexis A1 - Xiao, Meimei A1 - Zhang, Yang A1 - Roperch, Pierrick A1 - Poujol, Marc A1 - Lai, Zhongping A1 - Guo, Zhaojie T1 - Central Asian moisture modulated by proto-Paratethys Sea incursions since the early Eocene JF - Earth and planetary science letters N2 - The establishment and evolution of the Asian monsoons and arid interior have been linked to uplift of the Tibetan Plateau, retreat of the inland proto-Paratethys Sea and global cooling during the Cenozoic. However, the respective role of these driving mechanisms remains poorly constrained. This is partly due to a lack of continental records covering the key Eocene epoch marked by the onset of Tibetan Plateau uplift, proto-Paratethys Sea incursions and long-term global cooling. In this study, we reconstruct paleoenvironments in the Xining Basin, NE Tibet, to show a long-term drying of the Asian continental interior from the early Eocene to the Oligocene. Superimposed on this trend are three alternations between arid mudflat and wetter saline lake intervals, which are interpreted to reflect atmospheric moisture fluctuations in the basin. We date these fluctuations using magnetostratigraphy and the radiometric age of an intercalated tuff layer. The first saline lake interval is tentatively constrained to the late Paleocene-early Eocene. The other two are firmly dated between similar to 46 Ma (top magnetochron C21n) and similar to 41 Ma (base C18r) and between similar to 40 Ma (base C18n) and similar to 37 Ma (top C17n). Remarkably, these phases correlate in time with highstands of the proto-Paratethys Sea. This strongly suggests that these sea incursions enhanced westerly moisture supply as far inland as the Xining Basin. We conclude that the proto-Paratethys Sea constituted a key driver of Asian climate and should be considered in model and proxy interpretations. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. KW - Paleogene KW - magnetostratigraphy KW - Central Asia KW - Xining Basin KW - westerlies KW - Asian monsoon Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2018.12.031 SN - 0012-821X SN - 1385-013X VL - 510 SP - 73 EP - 84 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER -