Please wait a minute...
Journal of Arid Land  2016, Vol. 8 Issue (3): 315-330    DOI: 10.1007/s40333-016-0123-7
Research Articles     
A warmer but drier Marine Isotope Stage 11 during the past 650 ka as revealed by the thickest loess on the western Chinese Loess Plateau
SHI Peihong1,2*, YANG Taibao3, TIAN Qingchun4, LI Chengxiu5
1 College of Tourism and Environment, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi’an 710119, China;
2 State Key Laboratory of Cryospheric Sciences, Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 730000, China;
3 Institute of Glaciology and Ecogeography, College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China;
4 College of Geographical Science, Shanxi Normal University, Linfen 041000, China;
5 Remote Sensing Laboratories, Department of Geography, University of Zurich-Irchel, Winterthurerstrasse 190 CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland
Download:   PDF(925KB)
Export: BibTeX | EndNote (RIS)      

Abstract  Marine Isotope Stage 11 (MIS 11; ca. 423–362 ka) is generally considered to be the best analogue for the present interglacial (Holocene), and investigation of it will improve our understanding of current climate variability and assist in predictions of future climate change. However, many recent studies primarily focus on the structure and duration of MIS 11. Little research has focused on climate warmth and stability recorded in the Chinese loess-paleosol sequences (LPS) during the S4 paleosol formation (equivalent to MIS 11). On the basis of previous work, this study presents a high-resolution record (ca. 75 a/cm) that spans from MIS 1 to MIS 15, as preserved in the thickest known Jingyuan loess section on the western Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP). This LPS is almost 165 m thick and was sampled from the upper part of L6 to the modern soil at 2-cm depth intervals. Measurements of magnetic susceptibility, mean grain size and >63 μm particle content, carbonate content, total organic carbon, and soil color of samples were made to reconstruct the paleoclimate variation, and a grain-size age model was used to constrain the chronological framework. The primary results show that a generally warm-humid climate dominated the S4 paleosol development, but the climate condition was extremely unstable during the whole of MIS 11. Two obviously different climate regimes controlled the MIS 11 climate variation: the early part of MIS 11 was extremely warm and stable, but the latter part was relatively cool (non-glacial) and unstable. This climate pattern was consistent with records on the central CLP and wavelet analysis suggested that it was forced by the 65°N insolation variability modulated by a quasi-100-ka cycle. In addition, a multi-proxy comparative study on the climate conditions during S0 to S5 paleosol development indicates that the period of S4 development might be the warmest interglacial of the past 650 ka. However, the climate condition during S4 development was not the most humid episode as recorded in Xifeng and Luochuan loess sections on the central CLP. On the contrary, it was drier than both the MIS 15 and the present interglacial on the western CLP, which is somewhat similar to the present climate pattern on the central CLP.

Key wordsurban green space      biomass      aboveground carbon stock      vegetation indices     
Received: 30 June 2015      Published: 01 June 2016
Fund:  

The National Natural Science Foundation of China (41401226, 41271024)
The China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2015M570865)

Corresponding Authors:
Cite this article:

SHI Peihong, YANG Taibao, TIAN Qingchun, LI Chengxiu. A warmer but drier Marine Isotope Stage 11 during the past 650 ka as revealed by the thickest loess on the western Chinese Loess Plateau. Journal of Arid Land, 2016, 8(3): 315-330.

URL:

http://jal.xjegi.com/10.1007/s40333-016-0123-7     OR     http://jal.xjegi.com/Y2016/V8/I3/315

Ashton N, Lewis S G, Parfitt S A, et al. 2008. New evidence for complex climate change in MIS 11 from Hoxne, Suffolk, UK. Quaternary Science Reviews, 27(7–8): 652–668.

Bascomb C L. 1961. A calcimeter for routine use on soil samples. Chemistry and Industry, 45: 1826–1827.

Bassinot F C, Beaufort L, Vincent E, et al. 1994. Coarse fraction fluctuations in pelagic carbonate sediments from the tropical Indian Ocean: A 1500-kyr record of carbonate dissolution. Paleoceanography, 9(4): 579–600.

Bauch H A, Erlenkeuser H, Helmke J P, et al. 2000. A paleoclimatic evaluation of marine oxygen isotope stage 11 in the high-northern Atlantic (Nordic Seas). Global and Planetary Change, 24(1): 27–39.

Candy I, Schreve D C, Sherriff J, et al. 2014. Marine Isotope Stage 11: palaeoclimates, palaeoenvironments and its role as an analogue for the current interglacial. Earth-Science Reviews, 128: 18–51.

Chen F H, Zhang W X. 1993. The Loess Stratigraphy and Quaternary Glacial Problems in the Areas of Gansu Province and Qinghai Province. Beijing: Science Press. (in Chinese)

Chen F H, Bloemendal J, Feng Z D, et al. 1999. East Asian monsoon variations during oxygen isotope stage 5: evidence from the northwestern margin of the Chinese Loess Plateau. Quaternary Science Reviews, 18(8–9): 1127–1135.

Chen F H, Qiang M R, Feng Z D, et al. 2003. Stable East Asian monsoon climate during the Last Interglacial (Eemian) indicated by paleosol S1 in the western part of the Chinese Loess Plateau. Global and Planetary Change, 36(3): 171–179.

Chen J S, Liu X M, Kravchinsky V A. 2014. Response of the high-resolution Chinese loess grain size record to the 50°N integrated winter insolation during the last 500,000 years. Geophysical Research Letters, 41(17): 6244–6251.

Derbyshire E, Meng X M, Kemp R A. 1998. Provenance, transport and characteristics of modern Aeolian dust in western Gansu province, China, and interpretation of the Quaternary loess record. Journal of Arid Environments, 39(3): 497–516.

Desprat S, Sánchez Goñi M F, Turon J L, et al. 2005. Is vegetation responsible for glacial inception during periods of muted insolation changes? Quaternary Science Reviews, 24(12–13): 1361–1374.

Ding Z L, Liu T S, Rutter N W, et al. 1995. Ice-volume forcing of East Asian winter monsoon variations in the past 800,000 years. Quaternary Research, 44(2): 149–159.

Ding Z L, Sun J M, Rutter N W, et al. 1999. Changes in sand content of loess deposits along a north–south transect of the Chinese Loess Plateau and the implications for desert variations. Quaternary Research, 52(1): 56–62.

Ding Z L, Yu Z W, Yang S L, et al. 2001. Coeval changes in grain size and sedimentation rate of eolian loess, the Chinese Loess Plateau. Geophysical Research Letters, 28(10): 2097–2100.

Ding Z L, Derbyshire E, Yang S L, et al. 2002. Stacked 2.6-Ma grain size record from the Chinese loess based on five sections and correlation with the deep-sea δ18O record. Paleoceanography, 17(3): 5-1–5-21.

Droxler A W, Alley R B, Howard W R, et al. 2003a. Unique and exceptionally long interglacial Marine Isotope Stage 11: window into Earth warm future climate. In: Droxler A W, Poore R Z, Burckle L H. Earth’s Climate and Orbital Eccentricity: The Marine Isotope Stage 11 Question. Washington D C: American Geophysical Union, 1–14.

Droxler A W, Poore R Z, Burckle L H. 2003b. The Chinese loess perspective on Marine Isotope Stage 11 as an extreme interglacial. In: Vidic N J, Verosub K L, Singer M J. Earth’s Climate and Orbital Eccentricity: The Marine Isotope Stage 11 Question. Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union, 231–240.

EPICA Community Members. 2004. Eight glacial cycles from an Antarctic ice core. Nature, 429(6992): 623–628.

Fang X M, Ono Y, Fukusawa H, et al. 1999. Asian summer monsoon instability during the past 60,000 years: magnetic susceptibility and pedogenic evidence from the western Chinese Loess Plateau. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 168(3–4): 219–232.

Guo Z T, Liu T, Fedoroff N, et al. 1998. Climate extremes in Loess of China coupled with the strength of deep-water formation in the North Atlantic. Global and Planetary Change, 18(3–4): 113–128.

Guo Z T, Biscaye P, Wei L Y, et al. 2000. Summer monsoon variations over the last 1.2 Ma from the weathering of loess-soil sequences in China. Geophysical Research Letters, 27(12): 1751–1754.

Guo Z T, Berger A, Yin Q Z, et al. 2009. Strong asymmetry of hemispheric climates during MIS-13 inferred from correlating China Loess and Antarctica ice records. Climate of the Past, 5(1): 21–31.

Han J M, Keppens E, Liu T, et al. 1997. Stable isotope composition of the carbonate concretion in loess and climate change. Quaternary International, 37: 37–43.

Hao Q Z, Guo Z T. 2005. Spatial variations of magnetic susceptibility of Chinese loess for the last 600 kyr: implications for monsoon evolution. Journal of Geophysical Research, 110(B12), doi: 10.1029/2005JB003765.

Hao Q Z, Wang L, Oldfield F, et al. 2012. Delayed build-up of arctic ice sheets during 400,000-year minima in insolation variability. Nature, 490(7420): 393–396.

Heslop D, Shaw J, Bloemendal J, et al. 1999. Sub-millennial scale variations in East Asian monsoon systems recorded by dust deposits from the North-western Chinese Loess Plateau. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, Part A: Solid Earth and Geodesy, 24(9): 785–792.

Heslop D, Langereis C G, Dekkers M J. 2000. A new astronomical timescale for the loess deposits of Northern China. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 184(1): 125–139.

Hodell D A, Charles C D, Ninnemann U S. 2000. Comparison of interglacial stages in the South Atlantic sector of the southern Ocean for the past 450 kyr: implifications for Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 11. Global and Planetary Change, 24(1): 7–26.

Howard W R. 1997. Palaeoclimatology: a warm future in the past. Nature, 388(6641): 418–419.

Imbrie J, Hays J D, Martinson D G, et al. 1984. The orbital theory of Pleistocene climate: support from a revised chronology of the marine δ18O record. In: Berger A. Milankovitch and Climate, Part 1. Netherlands: Springer, 269–305.

Karabanov E, Prokopenko A, Williams D, et al. 2003. High-Resolution MIS 11 record from the continental sedimentary archive of lake baikal, Siberia. In: Droxler A W, Poore R Z, Burckle L H. Earth's Climate and Orbital Eccentricity: The Marine Isotope Stage 11 Question. Geophysical Monograph, Vol. 137. Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union, 223–230.

King A L, Howard W R. 2000. Middle Pleistocene sea-surface temperature change in the southwest Pacific Ocean on orbital and suborbital time scales. Geology, 28(7): 659.

Kleinen T, Hildebrandt S, Prange M, et al. 2014. The climate and vegetation of Marine Isotope Stage 11-Model results and proxy-based reconstructions at global and regional scale. Quaternary International, 348: 247–265.

Konert M, Vandenberghe J E F. 1997. Comparison of laser grain size analysis with pipette and sieve analysis: a solution for the underestimation of the clay fraction. Sedimentology, 44(3): 523–535.

Laskar J, Fienga A, Gastineau M, et al. 2011. La2010: a new orbital solution for the long-term motion of the Earth. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 532(A89), doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/201116836.

Lisiecki L E, Raymo M E. 2005. A pliocene-pleistocene stack of 57 globally distributed benthic δ18O records. Paleoceanography, 20(1): PA1003.

Liu G, Liu P L, Yang M Y, et al. 2013. The significance and relationships among substitutive climatic proxies in the Holocene at the middle Loess Plateau in China. Environmental Earth Sciences, 70(7): 2997–3004.

Liu T S. 1985. Loess and the Environment. Beijing: China Ocean Press. (in Chinese)

Liu T, Ding Z L. 1998. Chinese loess and the paleomonsoon. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 26: 111–145.

Liu T, Ding Z L, Rutter N. 1999. Comparison of Milankovitch periods between continental loess and deep sea records over the last 2.5 Ma. Quaternary Science Reviews, 18(10–11): 1205–1212.

Loutre M F. 2003. Clues from MIS 11 to predict the future climate-a modelling point of view. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 212(1–2): 213–224.

Loutre M F, Berger A. 2003. Marine Isotope Stage 11 as an analogue for the present interglacial. Global and Planetary Change, 36(3): 209–217.

Mix A C, Pisias N G, Rugh W, et al. 1995. Benthic foraminifer stable isotope record from Site 849 (0–5 Ma): local and global climate changes. In: Pisias N G, et al. Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results, Volume 138. Ocean Drilling Program, 371–412.

Nelson D W, Sommers L E. 1982. Total carbon, organic carbon and organic matter. In: Page A L, Miller R H, Keeney D R. Methods of Soil Analysis (2nd ed). Madison: American Society of Agronomy, 535–567.

Pol K, Debret M, Masson-Delmotte V, et al. 2011. Links between MIS 11 millennial to sub-millennial climate variability and long term trends as revealed by new high resolution EPICA Dome C deuterium data–a Comparison with the Holocene. Climate of the Past, 7(2): 437–450.

Poli M S, Meyers P A, Thunell R C, et al. 2012. Glacial-interglacial variations in sediment organic carbon accumulation and benthic foraminiferal assemblages on the Bermuda Rise (ODP Site 1063) during MIS 13 to 10. Paleoceanography, 27(3): PA3216.

Porter S C, An Z S. 1995. Correlation between climate events in the North Atlantic and China during the last glaciation. Nature, 375(6529): 305–308.

Porter S C. 2001. Chinese loess record of monsoon climate during the last glacial-interglacial cycle. Earth-Science Reviews, 54(1–3): 115–128.

Prokopenko A A, Bezrukova E V, Khursevich G K, et al. 2010. Climate in continental interior Asia during the longest interglacial of the past 500 000 years: the new MIS 11 records from Lake Baikal, SE Siberia. Climate of the Past, 6(1): 31–48.

Reyes A V, Carlson A E, Beard B L, et al. 2014. South Greenland ice-sheet collapse during Marine Isotope Stage 11. Nature, 510(7506): 525–528.

Shackleton N J, Hall M A, Pate D. 1995. Pliocene Stable Isotope Stratigraphy of ODP Site 846. In: Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, Scientific Results, Volume 138. Ocean Drilling Program, 337–355.

Shi P H, Yang T B, Tian Q C, et al. 2012. Chroma chracteristics in the loess-paleosol at Jingyuan section and its signification to paleocliamete. Journal of Lanzhou University (Natural Sciences), 48(2): 15–23. (in Chinese)

Shi P H, Yang T B, Tian, Q C, et al. 2013. Loess record of climatic changes during MIS 12–10 in the Jingyuan section, northwestern Chinese Loess Plateau. Quaternary International, 296: 149–159.

Stocker T F, Qin D H, Plattner G K, et al. 2013. Climate change 2013: the physical science basis. In: Working Group I Contribution to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York: Cambridge University Press.

Sun Y B, Chen J, Clemens S C, et al. 2006. East Asian monsoon variability over the last seven glacial cycles recorded by a loess sequence from the northwestern Chinese Loess Plateau. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 7: Q12Q02.

Sun Y B, Wang X L, Liu Q S, et al. 2010. Impacts of post-depositional processes on rapid monsoon signals recorded by the last glacial loess deposits of Northern China. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 289(1–2): 171–179.

Sun Y B, He L, Liang L J, et al. 2011. Changing color of Chinese loess: geochemical constraint and paleoclimatic significance. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences, 40(6): 1131–1138.

Torrence C, Compo G P. 1998. A practical guide to wavelet analysis. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 79(1): 61–78.

Tzedakis P C. 2010. The MIS 11-MIS 1 Analogy, Southern European Vegetation, Atmospheric Methane and the "Early Anthropogenic Hypothesis". Climate of the Past, 6(2): 131–144.

Vidic N J, Verosub K L, Singer M J. 2003. The Chinese loess perspective on Marine Isotope Stage 11 as an extreme interglacial. In: Droxler A W, Poore R Z, Burckle L H. Earth’s Climate and Orbital Eccentricity: The Marine Isotope Stage 11 Question. Washington, DC: American Geophysical Union, 231–240.

Vogel H, Meyer-Jacob C, Melles M, et al. 2013. Detailed insight into arctic climatic variability during MIS 11c at Lake El'gygytgyn, NE Russia. Climate of the Past, 9(4): 1467–1479.

Walden F, Oldfield F, Smith J. 1999. Environmental magnetism: a practical guide. Technical Guide No. 6. London: Quaternary Research Association, 35–62.

Wu G J, Pan B T, Guan Q Y, et al. 2002. Loess record of climatic changes during MIS5 in the Hexi Corridor, Northwest China. Quaternary International, 97–98: 167–172.

Wu N Q, Chen X Y, Rousseau D D, et al. 2007. Climatic conditions recorded by terrestrial mollusc assemblages in the Chinese Loess Plateau during marine Oxygen Isotope Stages 12–10. Quaternary Science Reviews, 26(13–14): 1884–1896.

Wu T N, Lu G Y. 2012. Climatic sub-cycles recorded by the fourth paleosol layer at Luochuan on the Loess Plateau. Environmental Earth Sciences, 66(5): 1329–1335.

Yin Q Z, Guo Z T. 2008. Strong summer monsoon during the cool MIS-13. Climate of the Past, 4(1): 29–34.

Yue L P, Lei X Y, Qu H J. 1991. A magnetostratigraphic study on the Jingyuan loess section, Gansu, China. Quaternary Sciences, 11(4), 349–353. (in Chinese)
[1] Teame G KEBEDE, Emiru BIRHANE, Kiros-Meles AYIMUT, Yemane G EGZIABHER. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi improve biomass, photosynthesis, and water use efficiency of Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Miller under different water levels[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2023, 15(8): 975-988.
[2] LIU Yulin, LI Jiwei, HAI Xuying, WU Jianzhao, DONG Lingbo, PAN Yingjie, SHANGGUAN Zhouping, WANG Kaibo, DENG Lei. Carbon inputs regulate the temperature sensitivity of soil respiration in temperate forests[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2022, 14(9): 1055-1068.
[3] HUI Rong, TAN Huijuan, LI Xinrong, WANG bingyao. Variation of soil physical-chemical characteristics in salt-affected soil in the Qarhan Salt Lake, Qaidam Basin[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2022, 14(3): 341-355.
[4] Laura B RODRIGUEZ, Silvia S TORRES ROBLES, Marcelo F ARTURI, Juan M ZEBERIO, Andrés C H GRAND, Néstor I GASPARRI. Plant cover as an estimator of above-ground biomass in semi-arid woody vegetation in Northeast Patagonia, Argentina[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2021, 13(9): 918-933.
[5] WANG Lei, FAN Lianlian, JIANG Li, TIAN Changyan. Elevated CO2 increases shoot growth but not root growth and C:N:P stoichiometry of Suaeda aralocaspica plants[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2021, 13(11): 1155-1162.
[6] HUANG Xiaotao, LUO Geping, CHEN Chunbo, PENG Jian, ZHANG Chujie, ZHOU Huakun, YAO Buqing, MA Zhen, XI Xiaoyan. How precipitation and grazing influence the ecological functions of drought-prone grasslands on the northern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains, China?[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2021, 13(1): 88-97.
[7] JIN Xiaoming, YANG Xiaogang, ZHOU Zhen, ZHANG Yingqi, YU Liangbin, ZHANG Jinghua, LIANG Runfang. Ecological stoichiometry and biomass response of Agropyron michnoi Roshev. under simulated N deposition in a sandy grassland, China[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2020, 12(5): 741-751.
[8] Ali MAHDAVI, Soghra SAIDI, Yaghob IRANMANESH, Mostafa NADERI. Biomass and carbon stocks in three types of Persian oak (Quercus brantii var. persica) of Zagros forests in a semi-arid area, Iran[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2020, 12(5): 766-774.
[9] PEI Yanwu, HUANG Laiming, SHAO Ming'an, ZHANG Yinglong. Responses of Amygdalus pedunculata Pall. in the sandy and loamy soils to water stress[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2020, 12(5): 791-805.
[10] ZHANG Zhenchao, LIU Miao, SUN Jian, WEI Tianxing. Degradation leads to dramatic decrease in topsoil but not subsoil root biomass in an alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau, China[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2020, 12(5): 806-818.
[11] DONG Yiqiang, SUN Zongjiu, AN Shazhou, JIANG Shasha, WEI Peng. Community structure and carbon and nitrogen storage of sagebrush desert under grazing exclusion in Northwest China[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2020, 12(2): 239-251.
[12] WEN Jing, QIN Ruimin, ZHANG Shixiong, YANG Xiaoyan, XU Manhou. Effects of long-term warming on the aboveground biomass and species diversity in an alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau of China[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2020, 12(2): 252-266.
[13] YANG Yuling, LI Minfei, MA Jingjing, CHENG Junhui, LIU Yunhua, JIA Hongtao, LI Ning, WU Hongqi, SUN Zongjiu, FAN Yanmin, SHENG Jiandong, JIANG Ping'an. Changes in the relationship between species richness and belowground biomass among grassland types and along environmental gradients in Xinjiang, Northwest China[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2019, 11(6): 855-865.
[14] Lianlian FAN, Junxiang DING, Xuexi MA, Yaoming LI. Ecological biomass allocation strategies in plant species with different life forms in a cold desert, China[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2019, 11(5): 729-739.
[15] Xiang ZHAO, Shuya HU, Jie DONG, Min REN, Xiaolin ZHANG, Kuanhu DONG, Changhui WANG. Effects of spring fire and slope on the aboveground biomass, and organic C and N dynamics in a semi-arid grassland of northern China[J]. Journal of Arid Land, 2019, 11(2): 267-279.