Constraints on paleoclimate from 11.5 to 5.0ka from shoreline dating and hydrologic budget modeling of Baqan Tso, southwestern Tibetan Plateau

• Published in: Quaternary research 2015-01, Vol.83 (1), p.80-93
• Main Authors: Huth, Tyler, Hudson, Adam M., Quade, Jay, Guoliang, Lei, Hucai, Zhang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Basins; Carbon-14 dating; Estimates; Freshwater; Holocene; Hydrology; Insolation; Lakes; Monsoon; Paleohydrologic model; Paleolake; Precipitation; Relative humidity; Shoreline dating; Shorelines; Tibetan Plateau
• ISSN: 0033-5894; 1096-0287
• DOI: 10.1016/j.yqres.2014.07.011

14C dating of shoreline deposits of closed-basin lake Baqan Tso in the western Tibetan Plateau shows that lake level regressed from the undated highstand (46m above modern, 4.3× modern surface area) of likely earliest Holocene age by 11.5ka, and remained larger than modern until at least ≈5.0ka. The shoreline record broadly matches other regional climate records, with lake level closely following Northern Hemisphere summer insolation overprinted by sub-millennial lake-level oscillations. A model coupling modern land runoff and lake surface heat closely reproduces estimated modern precipitation of ≈240mm/yr. We estimate that the Baqan Tso basin required ≈380mm/yr precipitation to sustain the maximum early Holocene lake area, a 55% increase over modern. Precipitation increases, not glacial meltwater, drove lake-level changes, as Baqan Tso basin was not glaciated during the Holocene. Our estimate assumes early Holocene insolation (≈1.3% overall increase), and mean annual increases of 2°C in temperature, and 37% in relative humidity. We additionally developed a Holocene precipitation history for Baqan Tso using dated paleolake areas. Using the modern and early Holocene model results as end-members, we estimate precipitation in the western Tibetan Plateau which was 300–380mm/yr between 5.0 and 11.5ka, with error of ±29–57mm/yr (±12–15%).