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Response of chironomid assemblages to East Asian summer monsoon precipitation variability in northern China since the last deglaciation
Author(s) -
Wang Haipeng,
Brooks Stephen J.,
Chen Jianhui,
Hu Yu,
Wang Zongli,
Liu Jianbao,
Xu Qinghai,
Chen Fahu
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of quaternary science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.142
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1099-1417
pISSN - 0267-8179
DOI - 10.1002/jqs.2921
Subject(s) - deglaciation , east asian monsoon , china , monsoon , oceanography , geology , precipitation , climatology , physical geography , east asia , holocene , geography , archaeology , meteorology
We investigate chironomid assemblages in a sediment core from Gonghai Lake, which is located on the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) boundary in northern China, to quantify EASM variability during the past 13.5 ka BP. Six significantly different chironomid assemblage zones indicate that maximum precipitation and water depth occurred in the mid‐Holocene (8270–2700 cal a BP) and the minimum period was the past 1250 years. A modern dataset of 44 lakes near Gonghai Lake was sampled to calibrate the response of chironomid assemblages to precipitation. Our results demonstrate that mean annual precipitation is the most significant environmental variable influencing modern chironomid assemblages in this monsoonal region. Maximum EASM precipitation in the mid‐Holocene, indicated by chironomid assemblages in the monsoon fringe, contrasts with the early Holocene EASM maximum suggested by stalagmite δ 18 O data from southern China, but is consistent with other evidence. Our findings are compatible with the proposal that the stalagmite δ 18 O variations in southern China may not reliably reflect the evolution of EASM since the last deglaciation.