What controlled Mid–Late Miocene long-term aridification in Central Asia? — Global cooling or Tibetan Plateau uplift: A review

Miao, Yunfa; Herrmann, Mark; Wu, Fuli; Yan, Xiaoli; Yang, Shengli

doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2012.02.003

Cited by 345 publications

(253 citation statements)

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“…Integrated analysis of Chinese paleoplant and deposition data [8] indicated that the arid climate in Northwest China had been in place since early Tertiary. The aridification in Central Asian inland was further exacerbated [97] since the late Cenozoic, which might be the result of the TP uplift.…”

Section: Comparison Of the Influence Of The Tibetan Plateau Uplift Wimentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of the Tibetan Plateau uplift on the Asian monsoon-arid environment evolution

2013

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As one of the most important geological events in Cenozoic era, the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) has had profound influences on the Asian and global climate and environment evolution. During the past four decades, many scholars from China and abroad have studied climatic and environmental effects of the TP uplift by using a variety of geological records and paleoclimate numerical simulations. The existing research results enrich our understanding of the mechanisms of Asian monsoon changes and interior aridification, but so far there are still a lot of issues that need to be thought deeply and investigated further. This paper attempts to review the research on the influence of the TP uplift on the Asian monsoon-arid environment, summarize three types of numerical simulations including bulk-plateau uplift, phased uplift and sub-regional uplift, and especially to analyze regional differences in responses of climate and environment to different forms of tectonic uplifts. From previous modeling results, the land-sea distribution and the Himalayan uplift may have a large effect in the establishment and development of the South Asian monsoon. However, the formation and evolution of the monsoon in northern East Asia, the intensified dryness north of the TP and enhanced Asian dust cycle may be more closely related to the uplift of the main body, especially the northern part of the TP. In this review, we also discuss relative roles of the TP uplift and other impact factors, origins of the South Asian monsoon and East Asian monsoon, feedback effects and nonlinear responses of climatic and environmental changes to the plateau uplift. Finally, we make comparisons between numerical simulations and geological records, discuss their uncertainties, and highlight some problems worthy of further studying.Tibetan Plateau, tectonic uplift, Asian monsoon, inland aridity, environmental evolution, geological record, numerical simulation Citation:Liu X D, Dong B W.

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Section: Comparison Of the Influence Of The Tibetan Plateau Uplift Wimentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of the Tibetan Plateau uplift on the Asian monsoon-arid environment evolution

2013

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“…been proposed with regard to climatic influences: (i) that climate responded primarily to a stepwise uplift of the Tibetan Plateau following the India-Asia collision and associated tectonic events, which altered the atmospheric circulation (e.g., Manabe and Terpstra, 1974;Kutzbach et al, 1989;Ruddiman and Kutzbach, 1989;Manabe and Broccoli, 1990;Raymo and Ruddiman, 1992;An et al, 2001;Liu et al, 2003) and initiated rapid silicate weathering (e.g., Edmond and Huh, 1997;Wan et al, 2012), while the global cooling only played a secondary role; and (ii) global cooling reduced the amount of the precipitation and the effective moisture, and the Tibetan Plateau uplift was less important (e.g., Lu et al, 2010;Miao et al, 2011Miao et al, , 2012Tang et al, 2011). Although the retreat of the shallow Paratethys Sea has also been identified as an important factor in the decreasing precipitation in Central Asia (Ramstein et al, 1997;Zhang et al, 2007), this seems to have occurred before the late Cenozoic (Bosboom, et al, 2011).…”

Section: Y F Miao Et Al: Late Cenozoic Continuous Aridificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Qaidam Basin in central Inner Asia (north of the Tibetan Plateau) provides a key location to explore climate changes, where the effects of the global temperature, Tibetan Plateau uplift and development of the Asian monsoon are preserved due to the basin's ideal location and super-thick Cenozoic sediments (e.g., Rieser et al, 2005;Fang et al, 2007;Wang et al, 2007;Lu and Xiong, 2009;Miao et al, 2011Miao et al, , 2012Wu et al, 2011;Cai et al, 2012;Chang et al, 2012) (Fig. 1a).…”

Section: Y F Miao Et Al: Late Cenozoic Continuous Aridificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Cenozoic continuous aridification in the western Qaidam Basin: evidence from sporopollen records

Miao

Fang

et al. 2013

Clim. Past

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Cenozoic climate changes in inner Asia provide a basis for understanding linkages between global cooling, the Tibetan Plateau uplift, and possibly the development of the East Asian monsoon. Based on a compilation of palynological results from the western Qaidam Basin, this study reconstructed a 15-million-year (Ma) record of changing vegetation and paleoclimates spanning the middle Miocene to present (comprising two series: ~ 18–5 Ma and ~ 3.1–0 Ma, respectively). The thermophilic percentages were highest between 18 and 14 Ma, and decreased after 14 Ma, closely corresponding to the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum (MMCO) between 18 and 14 Ma and the following global climatic cooling between 14 and 5 Ma. At the same time, decreases in the xerophytic and coniferous taxa percentages, and the increasing logarithmic ratio of non-arboreal pollen to arboreal pollen (ln (NAP/AP)), reveal the continuous aridification across both the basin and surrounding mountains. Between ~ 3.1 and 0 Ma, the percentages of the thermophilic, xerophytic and coniferous pollen as well as the ln (NAP/AP) imply further cooling and drying in this region since 3.1 Ma. We argue that these vegetation and climate patterns during the late Cenozoic western Qaidam Basin are primarily a result of the global cooling, with the Tibetan Plateau uplift and East Asian summer monsoon having contributions of lesser importance

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“…Geological and modelling evidence indicated the uplift of the Tibet Plateau and global cooling played the leading role in driving the Asian climatic changes during the late Cenozoic (e.g. Manabe and Terpstra, 1974;Ruddiman and Kutzbache, 1990;Manabe and Broccoli, 1990;Kutzbach et al, 1993;Ding et al, 1995;Li and Fang, 1999;An et al, 2001;Lu et al, 2010;Molnar et al, 2010;Chang et al, 2012;Miao et al, 2012). Multi-proxy indices reported here provide independent sedimentary and climatic evidence for the previous understandings: (1) the appearance of the oldest in-situ aeolian dune sand, at 3.4 Ma, is associated with an increase in sedimentation rate in the Tarim Basin (Sun D. et al, 2011a), and is correlated broadly with the accumulation of thick coarse-grained conglomerates in the north margin of the Kunlun Mountain arisen from the uplift of the northern Tibet Plateau (e.g.…”

Section: Wang Et Al: Late Cenozoic Environment Change From Centramentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ramstein et al, 1997;Zhang et al, 2007;Manabe and Broccoli, 1990;Kutzbach et al, 1993;Ding et al, 1995;An et al, 2001;Lu et al, 2010;Molnar et al, 2010;Miao et al, 2012). These events led to the formation of large deserts in northwestern China and the accumulation of aeolian deposits in the downwind areas of the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) and the North Pacific (NP) (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A high-resolution multi-proxy record of late Cenozoic environment change from central Taklimakan Desert, China

et al. 2013

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Abstract. The Taklimakan Desert in the Tarim Basin is the largest desert in Central Asia, and is regarded as one of the main dust sources to the Northern Hemisphere. Late Cenozoic sedimentary sequences with intercalated in-situ aeolian dune sands in this area preserve direct evidence for the Asian desertification. Herein, we report a high-resolution multiproxy climatic record from the precise magnetostratigraphic dated Hongbaishan section in the central Taklimakan Desert. Our results show that a fundamental climate change, characterised by significant cooling, enhanced aridity, and intensified atmospheric circulation, occurred at 2.8 Ma. Good correlations between paleo-environmental records in the dust sources and downwind areas suggest a broadly consistent climate evolution of northwestern China during the late Cenozoic, which is probably driven by the uplift of the Tibet Plateau and the Northern Hemisphere glaciation.

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What controlled Mid–Late Miocene long-term aridification in Central Asia? — Global cooling or Tibetan Plateau uplift: A review

Cited by 345 publications

References 135 publications

Influence of the Tibetan Plateau uplift on the Asian monsoon-arid environment evolution

Influence of the Tibetan Plateau uplift on the Asian monsoon-arid environment evolution

Late Cenozoic continuous aridification in the western Qaidam Basin: evidence from sporopollen records

A high-resolution multi-proxy record of late Cenozoic environment change from central Taklimakan Desert, China

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