A multi-proxy record of climate variations over the last millennium from Kulun-nuur Lake sediments, Inner Mongolia, north-central China

• Published in: Journal of paleolimnology Vol. 66; no. 2; pp. 103 - 116
• Main Authors: Mao, Xin, Wan, Dejun, Song, Lei, Yang, Jingsong, Liu, Linjing, Jiang, Gaolei, Li, Junfeng, Liu, Xingqi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-08-2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Archives & records; Climate Change; Climate models; Climate prediction; Climate variability; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Geology; Global climate; Grain size; Hydrology; Ice ages; Lake deposits; Lake sediments; Lakes; Original Paper; Paleontology; Physical Geography; Pollen; Records; Sedimentology; Sediments; Solar activity; Solar oscillations; Total organic carbon; Variation; Wet climates; China; Inner Mongolia China; North-central China; The last millennium; Moisture variation; Kulun-nuur Lake
• ISSN: 0921-2728; 1573-0417
• DOI: 10.1007/s10933-021-00189-7

Reconstructing climate change over the last millennium is important for understanding natural climate variability and improving global climatic prediction. Precipitation variations from different records in north-central China, especially in the EASM margin area, are controversial. Here, we present a multi-proxy (grain size, pollen, TOC and TOC/TN ratio) record from Kulun-nuur Lake in east-central Inner Mongolia as an archive of moisture variations over the last millennium. Our record reveals that the Kulun-nuur Lake area is characterized by a wet Medieval Warm Period (MWP; 900–1300 AD), a dry Little Ice Age (LIA; 1300–1820 AD) and a relatively wet Current Warm Period (CWP; 1820 AD to present). In addition, within the context of an overall wet climate during the MWP, a short-term relatively dry episode occurred from 1000 to 1070 AD. The climate patterns reconstructed from Kulun-nuur Lake display good consistency with other records and models, suggesting that warm-wet/cold-dry are the main climate patterns in north-central China during the last millennium. These patterns of regional hydrological changes on multi-decadal to centennial scales may be related to solar activity and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation.