Low latitude hydro-climatic changes during the plio-pleistocene: Evidence from high resolution alkane records in the southern South China Sea
Date
2013
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Li, L.
Li, Q.
Tian, J.
Wang, H.
Wang, P.
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Quaternary Science Reviews: the international multidisciplinary research and review journal, 2013; 78:209-224
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Li Li, Qianyu Li, Jun Tian, Hui Wang, Pinxian Wang
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Abstract
High resolution records of long chain n-alkane biomarkers from the southern South China Sea reveal tightly response of n-alkane distribution to hydro-climate changes over the past 5Ma, with increasing longer chain n-C<inf>31</inf> alkanes indicating a correlation with drier conditions and increasing shorter chain n-C<inf>27</inf> alkanes with wetter conditions. The variations of the C<inf>31</inf>/C<inf>27</inf> ratio, or the alkane chain length index, imply humid conditions before 2.9Ma, progressively reduced moisture since then and to bigger fluctuations between wet and dry conditions since 1.2Ma. This long term hydro-climate trend is superimposed by glacial dry and interglacial wet patterns over the Plio-Pleistocene glacial cycles. Combined with other proxy records, our results indicate that precipitation over the tropical Asia-Pacific strengthened before the onset of the northern hemisphere glaciation and the mid-Pleistocene climate transition at about 1.2Ma. These dramatic humidity changes over major climate transitions imply a crucial role of tropical hydrology dynamics on global climate change in the late Cenozoic. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.
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Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.