High-frequency climatic fluctuations over the past 30 ka in northwestern margin of the East Asian monsoon region, China

Whether millennial- to centennial-scale climate variations throughout the Holocene convey universal climate change is still widely debated. In this study, we aimed to obtain a set of high-resolution multi-proxy data (1343 particle size samples, 893 total organic carbon samples, and 711 pollen samples) from an alluvial-lacustrine-aeolian sequence based on an improved age-depth model in the northwestern margin of the East Asian monsoon region to explore the dynamics of climate changes over the past 30 ka. Results revealed that the sequence not only documented the major climate events that corresponded well with those reported from the North Atlantic regions but also revealed many marked and high-frequency oscillations at the millennial- and centennial-scale. Specifically, the late stage of the last glacial lasting from 30.1 to 18.1 cal. ka BP was a dry and cold period. The deglacial (18.1−11.5 cal. ka BP) was a wetting (probably also warming) period, and three cold and dry excursions were found in the wetting trend, i.e., the Oldest Dryas (18.1−15.8 cal. ka BP), the Older Dryas (14.6−13.7 cal. ka BP), and the Younger Dryas (12.5−11.5 cal. ka BP). The Holocene can be divided into three portions: the warmest and wettest early portion from 11.5 to 6.7 cal. ka BP, the dramatically cold and dry middle portion from 6.7 to 3.0 cal. ka BP, and the coldest and driest late portion since 3.0 cal. ka BP. Wavelet analysis results on the total pollen concentration revealed five substantially periodicities: c. 5500, 2200, 900, 380, and 210 a. With the exception of the c. 5500 a quasi-cycle that was causally associated with the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, the other four quasi-cycles (i.e., c. 2200, 900, 380, and 210 a) were found to be indirectly causally associated with solar activities. This study provides considerable insight into the dynamic mechanism of the Asian climate on a long-time scale and future climatic change.