Asian monsoon weather and climate and lake system changes on the Yunnan Plateau during the Late Holocene inferred from sclerochronological isotope patterns of gastropod shells and sediments from Xingyun and Fuxian lakes (Yunnan, China).

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Frank Riedel
• Subject Area: Palaeontology
• Term: from 2014 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 259258841

The Yunnan Plateau, in south-western China, is considered a key region for studying the interactions of the Asian monsoons with ENSO. It represents the south-eastern extension of the Tibetan Plateau and has been a cultural landscape exposed to climate extremes since the early Holocene. Severe droughts, such as during 2010-2011 which was followed by catastrophic floods, are unpredictable so far and thus demonstrate the importance of understanding characteristics and underlying mechanisms of climate extremes´ variability. We believe that establishing a new palaeo-weather archive of sub-monthly resolution may help to infer monsoon season onset, precipitation amount and length of the rainy season, or monsoon failure, in order to reconstruct possible cyclicities during the last ca. 6 ka; and based upon this we may be able to predict probabilities of future climate extremes. We have identified the shells of the lacustrine gastropod Margarya, which is extremely abundant in late Quaternary sediments of Xingyun Lake, to archive hydro-meteorological signals, that can be sclerochronologically explored by stable isotope analyses, in weekly resolution over ontogenies of at least three years. Preliminary investigations at Xingyun Lake have shown that Margarya shells can be retrieved by lake sediment coring in centennial resolution, in average. This means that for every century of the last 6 ka palaeo-weather signals of ca. 3 years are archived which can be used to analyze climate extremes and to infer Mid and Late Holocene seasonality changes. In comparison and correlation with other proxies the impact of climate extremes on the cultural development can be outlined.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: China
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Bernd Wünnemann