Last 1100 yr of precipitation variability in western central Asia as revealed by tree-ring data from the Pamir-Alay

Abstract

We developed a 1108 yr chronology of tree-ring widths, based on 64 Himalayan pencil juniper (Juniperus semiglobosa Regel) trees, for the Pamir-Alay Mountains, central Asia. Dendroclimatological analysis demonstrates that precipitation has significant effects on tree growth in the semiarid mountainous area of northwestern Tajikistan located on the edge of the great midlatitude Karakum and Kyzylkum deserts. The highest level of linear correlation (r=0.67) is observed between tree growth and seasonalised winter (previous December–February) precipitation. Our studies also show that moisture (precipitation/Palmer Drought Severity Index) from the previous June to the current September was the dominant climatic factor accounting for interannual variations in tree-ring width, suggesting that this should be considered in climate reconstruction. Using the transfer function method, we reconstructed the region’s drought history over the period AD 908–2015. The results of this moisture reconstruction showed that the most recent millennium was characterised by series of dry and wet stages. The driest periods occurred before 1000, 1200–1250, and at the end of the eighteenth century and beginning of the nineteenth century. The wettest conditions existed in 1650–1700 and after 1990.

Relationships between loess and the Silk Road reflected by environmental change and its implications for human societies in the area of ancient Panjikent, central Asia

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Figure 5(colour online) (A) Time scale of the of the rise, development, and collapse of ancient Panjikent on the basis of written sources and archaeological research (modified and supplemented after: Belenitskii et al, 1981; Marshak, 2003, 2016). (B) Environmental and landscape changes in the vicinity of ancient Panjikent (the schematic curve of climate change was compiled and modified after: Yang et al, 2009, 2014; Chen et al, 2010; Opała-Owczarek et al, 2017).

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Understanding the Representativeness of Tree Rings and Their Carbon Isotopes in Characterizing the Climate Signal of Tajikistan

“…Central Asia is characterized by an extreme continental climate associated with its highaltitude zone, geography, orography, and distance from large water bodies [1]. Climate change and related drought events have significant influences on socioeconomic and human well-being, particularly in Tajikistan, one of the most seismically active areas in Central Asia [2].…”

Variations in Sediment Grain Size from a Lake in the Tianshan Mountain of Central Asia: Implications for Paleoprecipitation Reconstruction

“…On the other hand, since most of the weather stations in arid regions of China began to observe in the 1950s, the applicability of the CRU data covering Chia is also worthy of exploring. In recent years, many scholars in Central Asia have integrated tree rings into their studies [23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] to recover and reconstruct long-term changes in temperature, precipitation, or humidity. Compared with tree rings, lake sediments effectively record information on lake hydrology, regional temperature, precipitation, and vegetation, and extracting climate information from lake records is one of the basic means for studying paleoclimate and paleoenvironment [31][32][33][34].…”