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Echo of the Younger Dryas in Holocene Lake Sediments on the Tibetan Plateau
Author(s) -
Ramisch Arne,
Tjallingii Rik,
Hartmann Kai,
Diekmann Bernhard,
Brauer Achim
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2018gl080225
Subject(s) - geology , younger dryas , holocene , sedimentary rock , climate change , sediment , plateau (mathematics) , geologic record , paleoclimatology , interglacial , physical geography , glacial period , climatology , paleontology , oceanography , geography , mathematical analysis , mathematics
Reading the sediment record in terms of past climates is challenging since linking climate change to the associated responses of sedimentary systems is not always straightforward. Here we analyze the erosional response of landscapes on the Tibetan Plateau to interglacial climate forcing. Using the theory of dynamical systems on Holocene time series of geochemical proxies, we derive a sedimentary response model that accurately simulates observed proxy variation in three lake records. The model suggests that millennial variations in sediment composition reflect a self‐organization of landscapes in response to abrupt climate change between 11.6 and 11.9 ka BP. The self‐organization is characterized by oscillations in sediment supply emerging from a feedback between physical and chemical erosion processes, with estimated response times between 3,000 to 18,000 years depending on catchment topography. The implications of our findings emphasize the need for landscape response models to decipher the paleoclimatic code in continental sediment records.