Aridity synthesis for eight selected key regions of the global climate system during the last 60 000 years

Abstract

Abstract. A compilation of the published literature on dust content in terrestrial and marine sediment cores was synchronized with pollen data and speleothem growth phases on the Greenland Ice Core Chronology 2005 (GICC05) time axis. Aridity patterns for eight key areas of the global climate system have been reconstructed for the last 60 000 years. These records have different time resolutions and different dating methods, i.e. different types of stratigraphy. Nevertheless, all regions analysed in this study show humid conditions during early Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS3) and the early Holocene or deglaciation, but not always at the same time. Such discrepancies have been interpreted as regional effects, although stratigraphic uncertainties may affect some of the proposed interpretations. In comparison, most of the MIS2 interval becomes arid in all of the Northern Hemisphere records, but the peak arid conditions of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and Heinrich event 1 differ in duration and intensity among regions. In addition, we also compare the aridity synthesis with modelling results using a global climate model (GCM). Indeed, geological archives and GCMs show agreement on the aridity pattern for the Holocene or deglaciation, for the LGM and for late MIS3.

Assessing Pleistocene–Holocene climatic and environmental change in insular Near Oceania using stable isotope analysis of archaeological fauna

“…In temperate regions, fluctuations in temperature at the LGM (with estimated temperatures as low as 6°C cooler than today (Tierney et al , 2020)) and the subsequent Terminal Pleistocene–Holocene (~11.7 ka) transition, have been associated with significant changes in human behaviour, including demographic contraction and expansion (Posth et al , 2016; Wren and Burke, 2019), site abandonment, technological change and dietary shifts (Straus, 2016; Burke et al , 2018; Stiner et al , 2022). Meanwhile, in high‐latitude regions prone to aridity, late‐glacial fluctuations in precipitation (Fuhrmann et al , 2020) have been argued to have led to similar adaptive challenges and human responses (Beuning et al , 2011; Munt et al , 2018).…”

Parabolic dune distribution, morphology and activity during the last 20 000 years: A global overview

“…Palaeoclimate proxies (f–h) and sea level curves (j–l) are represented for regions where parabolic dune activity has been linked with these factors. References: 1—Fuhrmann et al (2019); 2—Deplazes et al (2014); 3—Gupta et al (2003); 4—Berger & Loutre (1991); 5—Guo et al (2000); 6—Khan et al (2015); 7—Cooper et al (2018); 8—Reeves et al (2013); 9—Lewis et al (2013). [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]…”

“…These interpretations agree well with a sustained parabolic dune activity between 14 and 4.5 ka BP followed by a quiescent period (4.5–1.5 ka BP) before a reaction of the dunes during the last millennium (Figures 14f and 16f). Nonetheless, it is noteworthy to mention the complex, non‐linear relationship between climate forcing factors and dune activity in the Thar desert during the second half of the humid middle Holocene when parabolic dune activity resumed despite intensified monsoon precipitation regime associated with perennial lakes (Figure 14f; Fuhrmann et al, 2019; Roy & Singhvi, 2016).…”

Decoupled Chinese Loess Plateau Dust Deposition and Asian Aridification at Millennial and Tens of Millennial Timescales

“…These findings have a number of wider implications. First, they call into question wider assumptions about variations in short‐term atmospheric dust activity being solely a function of aridity (Fuhrmann et al., 2020). Furthermore, they suggest that the use of dust accumulation rates on the CLP, and by extension also dust accumulation in the downwind North Pacific and Greenland ice sheets, to infer the degree of central Asian aridification requires testing on sub‐orbital scales.…”