Climatic and limnological changes 12,750 to 3600 years ago in the Issyk-Kul catchment, Tien Shan, based on palynology and stable isotopes

Precipitation reconstruction since the last deglacial based on the stable carbon isotopic composition of a loess section in western Central Asia

“…The stacked stalagmite δ 18 O-recorded precipitation sequence is relatively well corroborated by δ 13 C- and Sr/Ca-recorded moisture data in Talisman cave (Tan et al, 2021). The fine-grained carbonate oxygen isotopes in Issyk Kol Lake show a drying trend in the last 12,750 years (Figure 7c and site 5 in Figure 1a; Leroy et al, 2021). The coeval decline in summer humidity was highlighted by a period of low oxygen phototrophs abundances, high Mn content and low lake levels in Son Kul Lake (site 6 in Figure 1a; Huang et al, 2014; Lauterbach et al, 2014; Sorrel et al, 2021).…”

“…Large-scale comparison of moisture-related sequences: (a) δ 13 C-based MAP in Shayan loess section (this study), (b) δ 18 O values of stalagmite caves (Bir-Uja, Ulu-Too, and Talisman cave) in Fergana Basin (Fohlmeister et al, 2017; Wolff et al, 2017; Tan et al, 2021), (c) fine-grained carbonate δ 18 O record in Issyk Kul (Leroy et al, 2021), (d) pollen A/C ratios in Aibi Lake (Wang et al, 2013), (e) pollen A/C ratios in Kanas Lake (Huang et al, 2018), (f) pollen A/C ratios in Tuolekule (TLKL) Lake (Tao, 2011), (g) moisture index in northern Central Asia (Lan et al, 2021), (h) lake levels at Accesa Lake (Magny et al, 2007) and Cerin Lake (Magny et al, 2011) in southern Europe, (i) flood activity in the Northern Alps (Wirth et al, 2013), as an indicator of the NAO, (j) position of Azores Front (AF) and the extent of the subtropical gyre (Repschläger et al, 2017), as revealed by the abundance of Glob i gerino i des ruber , (k) Ti contents in Altai Mountains (Zhang, 2014) and in Kalakuli Lake (Aichner et al, 2019), (l) temperature reconstruction in Balikun Lake (Zhao et al, 2017), and (m), summer solar insolation at 45°N (Berger and Loutre, 1991). …”

“…First, the speleothem sites are presently under the winter/spring precipitation (Su et al, 2023). The white circles in (a) indicate locations of other records referred in this paper: site 2, Bir-Uja Cave (Fohlmeister et al, 2017); site 3, Ulu-Too Cave (Wolff et al, 2017); site 4, Talisman Cave (Tan et al, 2021); site 5, Issyk Kol Lake (Leroy et al, 2021); site 6, Son Kul (Sorrel et al, 2021); site 7, Aibi Lake (Wang et al, 2013); site 8, Kanas Lake (Huang et al, 2018); and site 9, Tuolekule Lake (Tao, 2011). (Hu et al, 2019); speleothem δ 18 O-recorded winter precipitation in Fergana Basin during the past 1000 years (e) (Fohlmeister et al, 2017) and synthesized wetness index in eastern CA in the past 1000 years (f ) (Chen et al, 2010).…”

“…General information related to the study site: (a) locations of study area and Shayan loess section (site 1) in the context of Central Asia (CA), (b) satellite photograph showing the location of Shayan loess section in southern Kazakhstan and the monthly temperature and precipitation from a nearby station (the data were downloaded from the website: http://www.worldclim.org), (c) percentage of summer (June-August) precipitation to annual precipitation in CA from 1981 to 2010 (note: bluish shade represents winter/spring precipitation domination and orange shade represents summer precipitation domination) and the sites of surface soil samples, (d) photo of Shayan loess section (Su et al, 2023). The white circles in (a) indicate locations of other records referred in this paper: site 2, Bir-Uja Cave (Fohlmeister et al, 2017); site 3, Ulu-Too Cave (Wolff et al, 2017); site 4, Talisman Cave (Tan et al, 2021); site 5, Issyk Kol Lake (Leroy et al, 2021); site 6, Son Kul (Sorrel et al, 2021); site 7, Aibi Lake (Wang et al, 2013); site 8, Kanas Lake (Huang et al, 2018); and site 9, Tuolekule Lake (Tao, 2011). …”

Emergence and spread of ancestral Yersinia pestis in Late-Neolithic and Bronze-Age Eurasia, ca . 5,000 to 2,500 y B.P.

“…( Fig. 1 ) occurred in the context of excessively wet episodes in Central Asia ( 31 – 34 ). Could it be that excessive rainfall, creating abundant grass biomass and facilitating population growth of rodent hosts, provided the optimal conditions for intense bacterial activity leading to divergence events?…”