干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

The history of climate change and related driving mechanisms of the Gonghe Basin, northeastern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, China, was reconstructed in the Holocene epoch, based on the comprehensive analysis of multi-proxies consisting of magnetic susceptibility, grain size, and geochemical elements from eolian and peat deposits at different altitudes. The results indicate that Holocene climate change at different altitudes is both consistent and different: a synchronous record of an increased warm-humid phase (10.0-8.5 ka) and a cold phase around 8.2 ka in the Early Holocene; an optimal warm-humid condition in marginal mountains of the Gonghe Basin in the Mid-Holocene; and a gradual decline in temperature and humidity in the Late Holocene. The Gonghe Basin interior in the Mid-Holocene was relatively arid, with increased moisture in the Late Holocene. On this basis, we compared our results to the paleoclimatic record in the low-latitude Asian monsoonal region, which indicates that, in addition to the Asian summer monsoonal strength having influenced regional climate change, the upward and subsidence motion of airflow over the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau induced by topographic conditions, evaporation, and the feedback effect by the substrate was also influential. The latter was especially important for spatial-temporal differences in Middle and Late Holocene climatic changes at different altitudes.