The evolution of Miocene climates in North China: Preliminary results of quantitative reconstructions from plant fossil records

The Miocene climate evolution in North China is preliminarily discussed by means of comparisons in seven climate parameters quantitatively reconstructed by the Coexistence Approach on 34 selected macro- and microfloras over North China. The Miocene temperatures show no great difference in the wester...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology, 2011-05, Vol.304 (3), p.308-317
Main Authors: Liu, Yu-Sheng (Christopher), Utescher, Torsten, Zhou, Zhekun, Sun, Bainian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Climate
Coexistence
East Asian monsoon
Evolution
flora
fossil mammals
Fossil plants
Fossils
Mean annual temperatures
Microflora
Miocene
Miocene climates
Miocene temperatures
Monsoons
North China
Paleoclimates
Paleoprecipitation
Precipitation
Quantitative paleoclimate reconstructions
Rainfall
summer
Summer monsoon
Temperature
Temperature effects
Temperature fluctuations
Temperature trends
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The Miocene climate evolution in North China is preliminarily discussed by means of comparisons in seven climate parameters quantitatively reconstructed by the Coexistence Approach on 34 selected macro- and microfloras over North China. The Miocene temperatures show no great difference in the western and eastern part of North China. Temperature fluctuations, particularly in mean annual temperature, are found within floras from several sites. The fluctuation pattern, from a climate optimum in the Mid Miocene to cooling decline in the Late Miocene, is generally consistent with the global trend of Miocene temperature change. The reconstructed precipitation from all the sites studied shows much wetter conditions in North China during the Miocene than at present, which corroborates the results from paleoprecipitation proxy of fossil mammals. Like the situation in paleo-temperature, the Miocene precipitation from North China shows no distinct difference between the western and eastern regions. It is suggested that North China, particularly in the western part, was by no means under an arid or semi-arid environment during the Miocene. North China is an ideal region for study of the impact of the East Asian monsoon system, however, the pattern of precipitation change derived from the monsoon index (MSH) and mean annual precipitation (MAP) shows contradictory results. Therefore, there appears no definite conclusion on when the East Asian summer monsoon intensified. Possible reasons for inconsistency in temperature and precipitation changes are discussed. Directions of future work to improve the resolution of climate evolution are also pointed out.
ISSN:0031-0182
1872-616X
DOI:10.1016/j.palaeo.2010.07.004