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Humidification of Central Asia and equatorward shifts of westerly winds since the late Pliocene

Zhong, Yi ; Shi, Xuefa ; Yang, Hu ; Wilson, David J. ; Hein, James R. ; Kaboth-Bahr, Stefanie ; Lu, Zhengyao LU ; Clift, Peter D. ; Yan, Qing and Lohmann, Gerrit , et al. (2022) In Communications Earth and Environment 3(1).
Abstract

The production, transport, and deposition of mineral dust exert major influences on climate change and Earth’s biogeochemical cycles. Furthermore, their imprint, as recorded in pelagic sediments, provides an avenue for determining past changes in terrestrial aridity and atmospheric circulation patterns in response to global climate change. Here, by examining geochemical and magnetic data obtained from a ferromanganese crust in the western Pacific Ocean, we investigate the eolian dust source-region conditions and dust transport mechanisms from the Asian interior to the Pacific Ocean since the Pliocene. We identify a gradual provenance change in the dust source regions, from a dominant Gobi Desert source during the early Pliocene to a... (More)

The production, transport, and deposition of mineral dust exert major influences on climate change and Earth’s biogeochemical cycles. Furthermore, their imprint, as recorded in pelagic sediments, provides an avenue for determining past changes in terrestrial aridity and atmospheric circulation patterns in response to global climate change. Here, by examining geochemical and magnetic data obtained from a ferromanganese crust in the western Pacific Ocean, we investigate the eolian dust source-region conditions and dust transport mechanisms from the Asian interior to the Pacific Ocean since the Pliocene. We identify a gradual provenance change in the dust source regions, from a dominant Gobi Desert source during the early Pliocene to a mixed Gobi-Taklimakan Desert source during the late Pliocene and Pleistocene, alongside increasing chemical weathering in those source areas. Climate model simulations suggest that these changes were related to an equatorward shift of the westerly jet and humidification of Central Asia during the gradual transition from a warm Pliocene climate to the cool Pleistocene.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Communications Earth and Environment
volume
3
issue
1
article number
274
publisher
Springer Nature
external identifiers
  • scopus:85141801713
ISSN
2662-4435
DOI
10.1038/s43247-022-00604-5
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
40fbd355-af65-44b2-baa4-756886a814b7
date added to LUP
2022-11-30 12:23:43
date last changed
2023-05-10 11:09:41
@article{40fbd355-af65-44b2-baa4-756886a814b7,
  abstract     = {{<p>The production, transport, and deposition of mineral dust exert major influences on climate change and Earth’s biogeochemical cycles. Furthermore, their imprint, as recorded in pelagic sediments, provides an avenue for determining past changes in terrestrial aridity and atmospheric circulation patterns in response to global climate change. Here, by examining geochemical and magnetic data obtained from a ferromanganese crust in the western Pacific Ocean, we investigate the eolian dust source-region conditions and dust transport mechanisms from the Asian interior to the Pacific Ocean since the Pliocene. We identify a gradual provenance change in the dust source regions, from a dominant Gobi Desert source during the early Pliocene to a mixed Gobi-Taklimakan Desert source during the late Pliocene and Pleistocene, alongside increasing chemical weathering in those source areas. Climate model simulations suggest that these changes were related to an equatorward shift of the westerly jet and humidification of Central Asia during the gradual transition from a warm Pliocene climate to the cool Pleistocene.</p>}},
  author       = {{Zhong, Yi and Shi, Xuefa and Yang, Hu and Wilson, David J. and Hein, James R. and Kaboth-Bahr, Stefanie and Lu, Zhengyao and Clift, Peter D. and Yan, Qing and Lohmann, Gerrit and Liu, Jiabo and González, Francisco Javier and Jiang, Xiaodong and Jiang, Zhaoxia and Liu, Qingsong}},
  issn         = {{2662-4435}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{Springer Nature}},
  series       = {{Communications Earth and Environment}},
  title        = {{Humidification of Central Asia and equatorward shifts of westerly winds since the late Pliocene}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-022-00604-5}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s43247-022-00604-5}},
  volume       = {{3}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}