himalayan forelands palaeontological evidence for oligocene detrital deposits in the bugti hills balochistan pakistan in the southwestern sulaiman geological province balochistan pakistan terrestrial detri tal facies from the bugti hills region have yielded the richest tertiary vertebrate faunas to be found in asia thus far new fossils from five successive and distinct bone beds bridge the supposed oligocene sedimentary hiatus within the sulaiman geological province the lowermost continental levels of the previously described miocene chitarwata formation known as the bugti member are oligocene in age in the bugti area neither a mixture of heterochronic faunal elements nor endemism of any fauna is evident in this area additional microfaunal material from the bugti member constrains an oligocene age for the lower chitarwata formation in zinda pir northeast of the bugti hills this oligocene transition between the marine kirthar eocene and continental siwalik miocene deposits consists of a regressive fluvio deltaic system occupying a vast floodplain it represents an early stage molasse in the palaeo indus basin which drained western orogenic highlands resulting from the colli sion between the indian and eurasian plates

new absolute time scale for the quaternary climate in the chinese loess region by grain size analysis continuous loess sequences in china provide not only information for paleoclimatic reconstructions but also permit the establishment of a reliable absolute time scale for the quaternary an empirical relationship is developed between the grain size of the loess and the sedimentation rate in a short well dated reference section step 1 this relationship is extrapolated to the complete quaternary section step 2 after derivation of the sedimentation rate by measuring the grain size in all the layers of the sequence the duration of deposition of each layer is obtained by dividing thickness by sedimentation rate and subsequently the age of each point in the sequence is calculated by adding together all the duration values of the overlying layers the chronology of the extrapolated part of the section obtained in this way is independent of dates provided by other methods and may also be checked by them

provenance of cenozoic sedimentary rocks from the sulaiman fold and thrust belt pakistan implications for the palaeogeography of the indus drainage system abstract the provenance of middle eocene to early miocene sedimentary rocks cropping out in the sulaiman fold and thrust belt has been determined examining the mineralogy bulk rock major and trace elements and nd sr isotopes the older 50 30 ma deposits are characterized by a mixed orogenic provenance with a major contribution from the karakorum and the tethyan belt c 80 as the 50 30 ma deposits have a provenance distinct from that of coeval subathu khojak and ghazij shallow marine formations of india and pakistan we propose that they were deposited as a distinct delta system that once fed the palaeo indus fan we document a major change in provenance that occurred before the early late oligocene transition at c 30 ma this change in provenance is marked by the appearance of chlorite and monazite and a shift toward more radiogenic nd sr isotopic compositions we interpret this change as the result of the exhumation and erosion of the proto higher himalaya the 30 15 ma sampled rocks are characterized by a major contribution from the tethyan belt and the higher himalayan crystallines 70 90 and a subordinate contribution 10 30 from the karakorum ophiolitic suture and trans himalaya as the end 0 values of our 30 15 ma samples are similar to those of the palaeo indus fan deposits we suggest that the 30 15 ma sedimentary rocks of the sulaiman fold and thrust belt were the fluvial onshore record of the indus fan other coeval deposits of india and pakistan recorded similar increasing exhumation of the higher himalaya range so that we postulate that these sedimentary rocks all derived from the palaeo indus drainage basin this would suggest that the modern indus drainage basin is no younger than 30 ma

present day climatic equivalents of european cenozoic climates abstract recently continental climate evolution in central europe over the last 45 ma has been reconstructed from the palaeobotanical record using a nearest living relative methodology coexistence approach ca the reconstructed climate curves document in detail the transition from almost tropical conditions in the mid eocene to a temperate climate at the pliocene pleistocene transition the observed climatic shifts are primarily expressed as non proportional changes of the different variables taken into account in the present study a published palaeoclimate data set for a total of 42 macrofloras complemented by new calculations is used as base to analyse the climatic space in which a fossil flora existed to define these spaces ca intervals calculated for 3 temperature mean annual temperature cold and warm month mean and 3 precipitation variables mean annual precipitation mean monthly precipitation of the driest and of the wettest month are combined using a global gridded climatology 10 resolution this climate space is then utilized to identify recent climate analogues with respect to the variables regarded for 18 macrofloras climatic analogue regions with respect to 6 variables are identified on the globe for 16 macrofloras analogues exist when three temperature parameters and mean annual precipitation are regarded no recent equivalents are found in 8 cases this corroborates the assumption of the temporary existence of non analogue climates in the cenozoic as shown by multivariate statistics the observed anomalies with respect to present day conditions basically refer to high winter temperatures deploying a gis the recent climate analogues can be presented as sets of grid cells for each flora that can be mapped on a globe once identified these regions can be merged with adequate thematic layers to assess additional proxy data for the palaeofloras to exemplify the procedure koeppen climate type numbers of days with ground frost as well as matthews biome classes are reconstructed the resulting koeppen types ranging from a to c are largely consistent with data previously published the ground frost record shows almost frost free conditions for the mid eocene greenhouse and for the mid miocene climatic optimum for the chattian up to 7 days with ground frost result during the late miocene cooling the number of days with ground frost significantly increased the inferred matthews biomes reveal changing patterns of evergreen and deciduous forest cover when recent climate analogues are found for a fossil flora present climate can be used to calibrate the original ca data it is shown that calibration considerably improves the resolution of the continental climate records

dicotyledonous wood anatomical characters as predictors of climate abstract the relationships among wood anatomical characters and climate are examined for 50 wood anatomical features in floras from 37 regions in north america south america africa and malaysia correlations simple regressions and multiple regressions were used to develop models for the prediction of climate from wood anatomy the climate variables considered were mean annual temperature mean annual range in temperature cold month mean temperature mean annual precipitation precipitation of the driest month and length of the dry season good correlations were found with temperature poorer correlations with precipitation the climate variables especially the temperature related ones were best predicted by two or more wood anatomical characters considered together characters that we selected to calculate climate variables are vessels with multiple perforations spiral thickenings present in the vessels vessel mean tangential diameter less than 100 m fibers septate rays commonly more than 10 cells wide rays heterocellular with four or more rows of upright cells rays storied axial parenchyma absent or rare marginal parenchyma present and wood ring porous models were validated on seven temperate and six tropical sites based on these results a method for determining paleoclimate from fossil wood assemblages is suggested

spatial variations of magnetic susceptibility of chinese loess for the last 600 kyr implications for monsoon evolution 1 we examine spatial variations in magnetic susceptibility ms over the loess plateau in china based on 50 sections in order to identify spatial changes in monsoon climate at key glacial interglacial and interstadial intervals for the last 600 kyr the results indicate strong coherence between ms variations during the interglacial periods and present day precipitation and temperature patterns this suggests that the strength of the summer monsoon had a dominant influence on the ms signals in soils through modulating pedogenic intensity the distribution of ms during glacial periods is characterized by weak s n gradients and rough w e zonal patterns indicating a negligible effect of the summer monsoon interstadial patterns are intermediate between the glacial and interglacial ones interglacial patterns for the last 600 kyr are essentially similar suggesting that the climate regime during these periods has not undergone significant changes and that the east asian summer monsoon has remained the main moisture carrier our estimates of the relative amplitudes of climate oscillations during these time slices are consistent with earlier paleoclimate studies these data associated with the available susceptibility based climofunctions may be used to estimate spatial changes of paleorainfall and paleotemperature for these key periods and hence to test climate models

sea surface temperature history of the low latitude western pacific during the last 5 3 million years abstract the late neogene was a time of cryosphere development in the northern hemisphere the present study was carried out to estimate the sea surface temperature sst change during this period based on the quantitative planktonic foraminiferal data of 8 dsdp sites in the western pacific target factor analysis has been applied to the conventional transfer function approach to overcome the no analog conditions caused by evolutionary faunal changes by applying this technique through a combination of time slice and time series studies the sst history of the last 5 3 ma has been reconstructed for the low latitude western pacific although the present data set is close to the statistical limits of factor analysis the clear presence of sensible variations in individual sst time series suggests the feasibility and reliability of this method in paleoceanographic studies the estimated sst curves display the general trend of the temperature fluctuations and reveal three major cool periods in the late neogene i e the early pliocene 4 7 3 5 ma the late pliocene 3 1 2 7 ma and the latest pliocene to early pleistocene 2 2 1 0 ma cool events are reflected in the increase of seasonality and meridional sst gradient in the subtropical area the latest pliocene to early pleistocene cooling is most important in the late neogene climatic evolution it differs from the previous cool events in its irreversible steplike change in sst which established the glacial climate characteristic of the late pleistocene the winter and summer sst decreased by 3 3 5 4 c and 1 0 2 1 c in the subtropics by 0 9 c and 0 6 c in the equatorial region and showed little or no cooling in the tropics moreover this cooling event occurred as a gradual sst decrease during 2 2 1 0 ma at the warmer subtropical sites while that at cooler subtropical site was an abrupt sst drop at 2 2 ma in contrast equatorial and tropical western pacific experienced only minor sst change in the entire late neogene in general subtropics was much more sensitive to climatic forcing than tropics and the cooling events were most extensive in the cooler subtropics the early pliocene cool periods can be correlated to the antarctic ice volume fluctuation and the latest pliocene early pleistocene cooling reflects the climatic evolution during the cryosphere development of the northern hemisphere

internally and externally forced climate variability a dynamical systems approach using the central england temperature record by using concepts from dynamical systems theory we demonstrate a technique which has the potential to distinguish explicitly between internally forced and externally forced climate variability this technique is applied to the instrumental central england temperature cet record where variability related to changes in the external solar activity and variability due to internal climate dynamics are separated based on the cet record and the sunspot record we reconstruct a map relating successive summer temperature maxima given the number of sunspots for low values of the sunspot number the equilibrium behaviour of this map shows chaotic motion indicating dominant internal climate dynamics for high values of the sunspot number this is not the case the robustness of the reconstruction is tested using surrogate data

development of the east asian monsoon and northern hemisphere glaciation oxygen isotope records from the south china sea abstract oxygen isotope records of the surface dwelling foraminifer globigerinoides ruber from odp site 1143 in the southern south china sea scs are presented for the last 5 ma the g ruber 18o of site 1143 for the past 500 ka is lighter by 0 5 1 0 in interglacial and by 0 1 0 5 in glacial periods than the site 806b record from the ontong java plateau we infer the light glacial interglacial g ruber 18o at site 1143 compared with the open western pacific to have been caused by stronger monsoon induced precipitation over the scs while glacial interglacial planktonic 18o values remained stable over the 3 3 2 5 ma period the benthic cibicidoides wuellerstorfi 18o gradually became positive leading to an obvious slope in their 18o difference 18ob p the stable glacial interglacial g ruber 18o over this period is probably caused by the decrease of sea surface salinity which counteracted the effects of global ice volume and sea surface temperature on the g ruber 18o we interpret that the intensification of the east asian monsoon winds coupled with the northern hemisphere glaciation 3 3 2 5 ma ago likely brought frequent and strong precipitation over the scs and or caused large scale intrusions of borneo alongshore low salinity waters to the southern scs which greatly freshened the scs and decreased its salinity after 2 5 ma especially in the quaternary period the planktonic and benthic 18o show similar variations over glacial interglacial cycles in responding to the waxing and waning of the northern hemisphere continental ice sheet and their relatively stable 18o difference 18ob p indicates a period of steady fluctuations of the east asian monsoon winds the more positive values of 18ob p probably suggest stronger east asian winter monsoon during quaternary glacials whereas the more negative values of 18ob p may imply stronger east asian summer monsoon during quaternary interglacials

east asian winter monsoon evolution since the late pliocene based on a pollen record from lake xingkai northeast asia a 328 58 m drill core xk12 was recovered from lacustrine alluvial sediments in the xingkai basin northeast china with the aim of obtaining a high resolution pollen record of east asian winter monsoon eawm evolution since 3 6 ma an index based on the pollen record of thermophilous trees and terrestrial herbs is used as an indicator of winter temperature conditions controlled by the eawm at the glacial interglacial scale primary age control was established based on lithostratigraphy and magnetostratigraphy and then the pollen index was correlated to the lr04 global benthic 18 o record and finally tuned to earth orbital obliquity to produce a high resolution astronomical time scale the pollen record indicates that the eawm underwent two stepwise enhancements at 2 8 and 1 6 ma these events are consistent with paleoclimatic records of mean quartz grain size from the chinese loess plateau and they are also in accord with the initiation and intensification of northern hemisphere glaciation our findings suggest that the variability of the eawm since 3 6 ma was primarily controlled by changes in global ice volume and climatic cooling

foliar physiognomic record of climatic conditions during dormancy climate leaf analysis multivariate program clamp and the cold month mean temperature abstract the extent to which the leaves of woody dicots encode in their physiognomy the climatic conditions that exist during dormancy was tested by sampling 20 sites along an approximately west east transect across european russia the crimean peninsula western siberia and central eastern siberia this transect encompassed the most extreme mean annual temperature range recorded in the modern world where vegetation exists climate leaf analysis multivariate program clamp revealed little change in calibration of the warm month mean temperature compared with the physg3ar data set derived from less extreme sites primarily in north america and japan but significant change with respect to the cold month mean temperature cmmt calibration although clamp underestimated the cmmt by up to 9 c in the coldest sites the addition of the transect sites improved clamp s performance at low temperatures this suggests that winter cold is encoded in foliar physiognomy even though the leaves are functional only duri

ice volume forcing of east asian winter monsoon variations in the past 800 000 years particle size measurements of some typical loess soil samples taken in different localities of the chinese loess plateau demonstrate that the grain size ratio of 10 m can be used as an indicator of variations in intensity of the east asian winter monsoon winds grain size curves of the baoji and weinan sections show that this proxy indicator is very sensitive to loess soil alterations analytical results also suggest that during soil forming periods eolian dust accumulation was still substantial and hence loess deposition can be regarded as a nearly continuous process during the quaternary period in this study we compared the baoji grain size time series with the specmap marine isotope record with the objective of elucidating the dynamic linkage between changes in global ice volume and the winter monsoon circulation both records show good agreement at both time and frequency domains in particular the winter monsoon variations are also dominated by a 100 000 yr period over the past 800 000 yr it is thus inferred that direct local insolation forcing could be less important in driving the east asian winter monsoon variability and alternatively variations in glacial age boundary conditions may have played a key role in modulating and pacing its strength and timing

plio pleistocene climate evolution trends and transitions in glacial cycle dynamics abstract we describe the evolution of climate system dynamics by examining the climate response to changes in obliquity and precession over the last 5 3 myr in particular we examine changes in the shape of glacial cycles and the power of obliquity and precession response in benthic 18 o when the exponential trend in 18 o variance is removed its spectral power exhibits strong proportional responses to amplitude modulations in orbital forcing over most of the plio pleistocene precession responses correlate with modulations in forcing for the last 5 myr but 41 kyr response is sensitive to obliquity modulation only before 1 4 myr where responses are sensitive to modulations in forcing we demonstrate that glacial cycles are orbitally forced rather than being self sustained or paced by orbital changes the shapes of glacial cycles have several nonlinear properties which may be indicative of glacial interglacial differences in climate sensitivity or response time the saw tooth asymmetry of glacial cycles first appears shortly after the onset of major northern hemisphere glaciation and the relative duration of interglacial stages decreases at 1 4 myr collectively trends in the shape of glacial cycles and the sensitivity of 18 o to obliquity and precession are suggestive of major transitions in climate dynamics at approximately 2 5 and 1 4 myr but show no significant change associated with the appearance of strong 100 kyr cycles during the mid pleistocene transition

mega pulses and megacycles in east asian monsoon variations recorded in chinese loess red clay magnetic susceptibility 1 three mega pulses first order variations and four megacycles second order variations in loess red clay magnetic susceptibility are identified in a loess section in the central chinese loess plateau implying pulsed fluctuations in east asian monsoon intensity on tectonic timescales comparisons of the loess record with the mineral flux from odp site 758 and the diatom record in lake baikal core bdp 98 suggests that the loess red clay magnetic susceptibility may represent a continental scale signal of climate change it is apparent that the stepwise diachronous rise of the tibetan plateau and its resulting climatic influence may be the main cause of the observed monsoon pulses

the coexistence approach a method for quantitative reconstructions of tertiary terrestrial palaeoclimate data using plant fossils abstract the coexistence approach is introduced as a method for quantitative terrestrial palaeoclimate reconstructions in the tertiary it is based on the assumption that tertiary plant taxa have similar climatic requirements to their nearest living relatives the aim of the coexistence approach is to find for a given fossil flora and a given climate parameter the climatic interval in which all nearest living relatives of the fossil flora can coexist for this purpose we have developed a data base climbot containing for over 800 tertiary plant taxa the nearest living relatives and their climatic requirements and an algorithm for analysis climst for all types of fossil floras the coexistence approach thus allows the rapid quantitative reconstruction of 10 different climate parameters including the mean annual temperature temperature of the warmest month temperature of the coldest month mean annual precipitation maximum monthly precipitation minimum monthly precipitation precipitation of the warmest month relative humidity potential evaporation as well as the ratio of mean annual precipitation over potential evaporation the reliability and resolution of the coexistence approach are tested with various techniques and proved to be reasonably good for instance the resolution with respect to the mean annual temperature can be up to 1 c applications to various modern and fossil floras are illustrated and the advantages and disadvantages of the coexistence approach are discussed

lithofacies depositional environments regional biostratigraphy and age of the chitarwata formation in the bugti hills balochistan pakistan abstract the oligocene early miocene chitarwata formation records a critical interval of terrestrial sedimentation that predates the siwalik deposits on the potwar plateau of north central pakistan this oligocene early miocene time interval has long been considered as lacking in the entire indo pakistan region the chitarwata formation is widely exposed in the sulaiman range but has never been described in detail in the sulaiman lobe where the famous fossiliferous strata called bugti bone beds have been known for over a century and half the chitarwata formation represents coastal delta at the base and plain and fluvial environments at the top lithofacies and sedimentary structures of the chitarwata formation in the bugti area are described in detail and show a clearly distinct lithologic pattern different from that reported from the zinda pir area the chitarwata formation also records an important transition in the evolution of the drainage systems in the area during the late paleogene and early neogene this transition from the west flowing paleo indus fluvial system to the development of the ancestral indus drainage system may explain the numerous hiatuses that characterize the chitarwata formation the abundance of fossil mammals from the chitarwata and overlying vihowa formation in the bugti hills provides critical biochronologic information that sheds new light on biostratigraphic correlation with the zinda pir area and for the entire sulaiman range

holocene variations in asian monsoon moisture a bidecadal sediment record from the south china sea the east asian monsoon system involves extensive transport of sensible latent heat between land and sea and from low to high latitudes our high resolution bidecadal marine records present a first detailed history of monsoon climate change over the holocene the high amplitude perturbation in monsoon moisture centered at 8 150 years ago and the monsoon maximum in the early holocene show inter hemispheric teleconnections to both a cool episode in greenland and to the indian monsoon monitored in the arabian sea periodicities of 84 102 and especially near 775 years in monsoon variation suggest a climatic forcing both by long term oscillations in thermohaline circulation and possibly solar activity cycles

pliocene pleistocene stable isotope and paleoceanographic changes in the northern south china sea abstract based on the stable isotopic analysis of planktonic and benthic foraminifers from ocean drilling program core 1148 of the northern south china sea scs pliocene pleistocene isotope stratigraphy and events have been reconstructed the benthic foraminiferal 18o record shows that the pacific intermediate water had a greater influence upon the scs or the pacific deep water above 2600 m was warmer before 3 2 ma than at present after that the benthic 18o conspicuously increased during the 3 2 2 5 ma period in correspondence to the formation of the northern hemisphere ice sheet whereas the planktonic 18o signal suggests a stepwise overall decrease of sea surface temperature during the 2 2 0 9 ma period compared to the equatorial pacific records the decrease in planktonic globigerinoides ruber 13c during the 3 2 2 2 ma period is particularly striking suggesting that fertility of surface water increased noticeably according to the modern 13c distribution of g ruber in the northern scs it is inferred that the east asian winter monsoon strengthened during this interval afterwards there were several conspicuous decreases of g ruber 13c at 1 7 1 3 0 9 0 45 and 0 15 ma bp that is about every 0 4 ma suggesting that the east asian winter monsoon became episodically stronger this is confirmed by changes in relative abundance of planktonic foraminifer species neogloboquadrina dutertrei a typical east asian winter monsoon proxy the deep water 13c of the scs is close to that of the pacific but lighter than that of the atlantic implying that the pattern of deep water originating mainly from the atlantic and through the pacific entering the scs existed at least since the early pliocene after 1 4 ma the benthic 13c signal decreased conspicuously but with a periodicity of 100 ka suggesting that the deep water ventilation of the scs was reduced probably corresponding to a decrease of the north atlantic deep water and or further isolation of the scs deep basin from the pacific during glaciations

faunal turnovers of palaeogene mammals from the mongolian plateau most orders and many families of modern mammals were established during the palaeogene mammalian evolution during this period of time has been correlated with global climatic events1 2 3 4 although the timing mode and scale of such a climate evolution link remain debatable1 5 6 the palaeogene global climate was step punctuated by a warming across the palaeocene eocene boundary about 55 myr ago and a cool off throughout the late eocene and early oligocene epochs1 2 7 8 9 10 the most severe cooling was at 33 5 myr slightly after the eocene oligocene boundary and was characterized by a drop in the mean annual temperature and by changes in vegetation from eocene dense forests to oligocene more open country5 here we analyse 33 palaeogene mammal faunas from the mongolian plateau of china and mongolia there is a distinct pattern of faunal turnovers perissodactyl dominant faunas of the eocene were abruptly replaced by rodent lagomorph dominant faunas of the oligocene we interpret the turnovers as having been effected by global climatic shifts and name the prominent biotic reorganization across the eocene oligocene boundary the mongolian remodelling which correlates to the european grande coupure

cyclic quaternary alluviation and terracing in a nonglaciated drainage basin on the north flank of the qinling shan central china abstract pleistocene alluvial terraces of the nonglaciated ba river drainage basin on the north flank of the qinling shan are capped by a succession of loess units and paleosols that correlate with the standard marine isotope chronology and are used to date the subjacent alluvial gravels alluvial fills were deposited during isotope stages 2 6 8 12 and 16 whereas terracing occurred during interglacial stages 1 5 7 11 and 15 the apparent absence of terraces dating to stage 14 and stage 4 may be due to the lesser intensity of these glaciations compared to that of stage 2 although disruption of the alluvial regime by local tectonism is a likely alternative for the lack of a stage 4 terrace a stage 10 terrace was not positively identified from available exposures its possible absence could be related to post stage 12 uplift aggradational episodes correlate with glaciations and loess deposition whereas degradational episodes correlate with interglaciations or interstades and soil formation implying that climate is the primary control on quaternary paleohydrology this in turn points to variations in the earth s orbital geometry as the major factor that modulates both climate and ultimately the fluvial system in the qinling shan in this region glaciations were dominated by a cold dry winter monsoon climate whereas during interstades and interglaciations a warmer and wetter climate prevailed implying strengthening of the summer monsoon both the loess paleosol and the alluvial records are consistent with climate model simulations spanning the last 18 000 yr that show a change from cold dry conditions during the last glacial maximum to a climate warmer and wetter than present during the first half of the holocene

eocene krabi basin southern thailand paleontology and magnetostratigraphy we present the magnetostratigraphy of the late eocene krabi section from the krabi basin thailand the investigated section is about 105 m thick and consists of red and yellow siltstones sandstones gray claystones lignites and limestones we collected 86 samples at 43 different stratigraphic levels from the 105 m thick section the samples yielded a paleomagnetic direction and paleomagnetic analyses give favorable demagnetization behaviors two magnetic components can be isolated rock magnetic experiments show that the natural remanent magnetization generally results from the presence of titanomagnetite the first component has roughly the direction of the present day field the second component displays only reversed polarity with a mean direction declination 192 34 inclination 15 5 n 71 95 4 7 k 14 after bedding correction mammalian biostratigraphy indicates a late eocene age correlation to the geomagnetic polarity time scale relies on biostratigraphic data previously proposed for the fauna found in the same section these correlations have been achieved by comparing variations in the sedimentation rate derived from the alternative correlation the proposed correlation puts the krabi section in chron c12r or chron c13r this suggests sedimentation rates of 4 9 and 9 4 cm k y respectively this correlation suggests that the krabi section is older than 31 ma and younger than 34 ma

towards an orbital time scale for chinese loess deposits abstract in this study we analyzed the grain size of the baoji loess soil sequence at 10 cm intervals results show that grain size variations are very sensitive to loess soil alternations with loess units being much coarser than soils such a change in loess soil grains is interpreted as the result of the glacial interglacial cyclic variations in the intensity of the winter monsoon winds out of siberia the grain size record is thus employed as a proxy indicator of the winter monsoon circulation and tuned to the orbital records calculated recently by berger and loutre 1991 under the control of major magnetic reversals the tuning is independent of any correlation with 18o signals in the deep sea sediments the resulting grain size time scale is tightly constrained as suggested by the following facts 1 the filtered obliquity and precession components from the grain size data on the orbital time scale closely match the theoretical orbital records 2 ages of the major magnetic reversals estimated from the grain size time scale are in good agreement with the k ar dated ages 3 there is close coherence between the baoji grain size time series and the orbital variations at the orbital frequency bands over the entire 0 2 5 ma period and 4 the grain size record on the orbital time scale shows a close similarity to the orbitally tuned dsdp site 607 and odp site 677 18o records examination of time dependent characteristics of the grain size record suggests that there are two major shifts of dominant periodicities in the long term monsoonal cycles one occurring at about 0 8 ma bp and the other around 1 7 ma bp

a review of fossil rhinoceroses from the neogene of myanmar with description of new specimens from the irrawaddy sediments abstract four genera and one indeterminate genus total eight species of fossil rhinoceroses mammalia perissodactyla rhinocerotidae are recognized from the neogene of central myanmar in the early miocene most area of central myanmar were under the shallow marine condition and no rhinocerotid remain has been documented yet during the middle to late miocene the rhinocerotid remains are commonly found and are represented by diceratherium naricum brachypotherium perimense brachypotherium fatehjangense and an indeterminate rhinocerotid in the latest miocene these archaic rhinoceroses became extinct in the late neogene the extant genera rhinoceros late miocene to pleistocene and dicerorhinus plio pleistocene first appeared in myanmar they appear to have dispersed to the island southeast asia from the continental asia during the early pleistocene to middle pleistocene when the eustatic sea level became low remarkably

monsoon variability over peninsular india during late pleistocene signatures of vegetation shift recorded in terrestrial archive from the corridors of western ghats abstract the fossil flora recovered from the kangvai well ratnagiri district maharashtra 17 53 41 n 73 12 23 e has been used to reconstruct the monsoon variations and seasonal rainfall pattern during the late pleistocene 44 020 390 years bp by using the coexistence approach the reconstruction suggests that the southwest sw and northeast monsoons ne contributed 64 and 18 of the total rainfall respectively moreover the pre monsoon showers were responsible for about 15 of the annual rainfall as both sw and ne monsoons were very active along with the pre monsoonal rainfall the length of rainy season increased and extended up to 9 months in a year favouring the evergreen continuum and prevalence of wet evergreen forests until the late glacial maximum or slightly prior to it however due to the weakening of ne and pre monsoon rainfall later in the late pleistocene and early holocene the area experiences only four months of rainy season now on account of the present day sw monsoon these changes resulted in the extinction of wet evergreen taxa which are now endemic to the wetter parts of western ghats from the fossil locality our reconstruction agrees with the previous studies from the western ghats suggesting that the wet evergreen taxa require

lithostratigraphy and vertebrate biostratigraphy of the early miocene himalayan foreland zinda pir dome pakistan abstract deposits in the sulaiman foothills and zinda pir dome in west central pakistan provide new insight into the critical early miocene record of himalayan foreland sedimentation and paleobiology the chitarwata formation which underlies the vihowa formation in the sulaiman foothills predates the siwalik deposits on the potwar plateau of north central pakistan and provides a record of mammals spanning the interval between the early miocene bugti fauna and middle miocene to pleistocene siwalik faunas siwalik deposits on the potwar plateau are no older than middle miocene they represent fluvial environments in contrast the chitarwata and lower vihowa formations in the zinda pir dome represent coastal delta plain and fluvial environments respectively biostratigraphic information from the chitarwata formation coupled with paleomagnetic data reported by friedman et al 1992 from coincident strata suggest that coastal environments persisted in the area of the sulaiman foothills until about 18 6 ma when they were replaced by fluvial environments probably representing the ancestral indus river system apparently during the early miocene when sediments of the chitarwata formation were accumulating on the western portion of the himalayan foreland basin much of the area of the potwar plateau to the north was being eroded the overlying vihowa formation along with the relatively contemporaneous kamlial formation on the potwar plateau represent the appearance of widespread terrestrial sedimentation in the himalayan foreland basin

paleotemperatures and ice volume of the past 27 myr revisited with paired mg ca and 18o 16o measurements on benthic foraminifera 1 we explore the applicability of paired mg ca and 18o 16o measurements on benthic foraminifera from southern ocean site 747 to paleoceanographic reconstructions on pre pleistocene timescales we focus on the late oligocene through pleistocene 27 0 ma history of paleotemperatures and the evolution of the 18o values of seawater 18osw at a temporal resolution of 100 200 kyr absolute paleotemperature estimates depend on assumptions of how mg ca ratios of seawater have changed over the past 27 myr but relative changes that occur on geologically brief timescales are robust results indicate that at the oligocene to miocene boundary 23 8 ma temperatures lag the increase in global ice volume deduced from benthic foraminiferal 18o values but the smaller scale miocene glaciations are accompanied by ocean cooling of 1 c during the mid miocene phase of antarctic ice sheet growth 15 13 ma water temperatures cool by 3 c unlike the benthic foraminiferal 18o values which remain relatively constant thereafter temperatures vary by 3 c and reach maxima at 12 and 8 5 ma the onset of significant northern hemisphere glaciation during the late pliocene is synchronous with an 4 c cooling at site 747 a comparison of our 18osw curve to the haq et al 1987 sea level curve yields excellent agreement between sequence boundaries and times of increasing seawater 18o 16o ratios at 12 11 ma in particular when benthic foraminiferal 18o values do not support a further increase in ice volume the 18osw curve comes to a maximum that corresponds to a major mid miocene sea level regression the agreement between the character of our mg ca based 18osw curve and sequence stratigraphy demonstrates that benthic foramaniferal mg ca ratios can be used to trace the 18osw on pre pleistocene timescales despite a number of uncertainties related to poorly constrained temperature calibrations and paleoseawater mg ca ratios the mg ca record also highlights that deep ocean temperatures can vary independently and unexpectedly from ice volume changes which can lead to misinterpretations of the 18o record

the coexistence approach theoretical background and practical considerations of using plant fossils for climate quantification the coexistence approach was established by mosbrugger and utescher 1997 as a plant based method to reconstruct palaeoclimate by considering recent climatic distribution ranges of the nearest living relatives of each fossil taxon during its existence for over more than 15 years its basics have been tested and reviewed in comparison with other terrestrial and marine climate reconstruction techniques and climate modelling data however some controversies remain about its underlying data or its applicability in general in view of these controversies this paper discusses the power and limitations of the coexistence approach by summarising past results and new developments we give insights into the details and problems of each step of the application from the assignment of the fossil plant to the most suitable nearest living relative the crucial consideration of the usefulness of specific taxa towards their climatic values and the correct interpretation of the software based suggested palaeoclimatic intervals furthermore we reflect on the fundamental data integrated in the coexistence approach by explaining different concepts and usages of plant distribution information and the advantages and disadvantages of modern climatic maps additionally we elaborate on the importance of continually updating the information incorporated in the database due to new findings in e g palaeo botany meteorology and computer technology finally for a transparent and appropriate use we give certain guidelines for future applications and emphasize to users how to carefully consider and discuss their results we show the coexistence approach to be an adaptive method capable of yielding palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental information through rime and space c 2014 elsevier b v all rights reserved

late cenozoic eolian deposition in the north pacific asian drying tibetan uplift and cooling of the northern hemisphere a newly constructed record of eolian dust accumulation from the central north pacific shows that dust deposition increased by an order of magnitude quite rapidly at 3 6 ma we associate this sudden drying with the uplift of at least the northern portion of the tibetan plateau shutting off the indian ocean moisture source to central and western china this ten fold increase in atmospheric dust loading appears to be associated with the 1 m y long shift toward heavy 18o values that occurred at 3 6 2 6 ma the dust grain size record of wind intensity begins its late cenozoic coarsening a million years before the drying event at 4 5 ma the northern hemisphere cooling that results in intensification of the subpolar westerly winds may have as its ultimate cause the drawdown of atmospheric co2 in the latest miocene and the early pliocene closing of the panamanian seaway

the global range of the stratospheric decadal wave part i its association with the sunspot cycle in summer and in the annual mean and with the troposphere abstract the authors correlate the 23 yr series of reanalyzed 30 hpa heights and temperatures and 10 hpa heights with the 11 yr solar cycle for the summers of both hemispheres and for the annual mean the size and spatial pattern of the correlations in the northern hemisphere are the same as those of the correlations computed with a nearly twice as long series from the freie universitat berlin a belt of correlations that encircles the hemisphere in the outer tropics subtropics the correlation pattern is similar in the southern hemisphere the spatial distribution of correlations between 30 hpa temperatures and the solar cycle has the same configuration as the height correlations with the cycle the largest temperature correlations move with the sun from one summer hemisphere to the other the first eigenvector in a principal component analysis of the 30 hpa heights in summer and in the annual mean has the same shape as the above mentioned pattern in the correlations between the stratospheric data and th

intra tooth study of modern rhinoceros enamel δ18o is the difference between phosphate and carbonate δ18o a sound diagenetic test abstract the carbonate and phosphate oxygen isotopic difference 18 o c p has been suggested as a test for diagenetic alteration of isotope values in fossil apatite samples the generally accepted 18 o c p value for well preserved enamel is 9 only a few studies have focussed on the potential natural variability of this difference in modern and fossil mammal teeth the aim of this study is to document the value of the carbonate phosphate oxygen isotopic fractionation factor co3 po4 at an intra tooth level we measured the enamel phosphate and carbonate oxygen isotopic compositions of two upper molars m1 and m2 of rhinoceros unicornis following a sequence from the apex to the cervix of the crown the average co3 po4 is 1 0082 0 0007 the mean value of the 18 o c p difference is 8 4 0 7 close to the literature values given for other species however we also show that the values of the 18 o c p difference for r unicornis upper molars can vary on a 2 range in the same tooth we develop a physiological model to explain the origin of inter species and intra tooth 18 o c p difference and to understand their implications on the status of 18 o c p as a tool for identifying diagenesis the results imply that by increasing the dataset of phosphate and carbonate oxygen isotopic composition for modern mammal species we will be able to define a maximal and precise envelope corresponding to the well preserved samples and to check a possible species dependence on the 18 o c 18 o p relationship

sensitivity of east asian monsoon climate to the uplift of the tibetan plateau abstract using the cola center for ocean land atmosphere studies general circulation model a series of numerical experiments were conducted to examine the impact of uplift of the tibetan plateau on the evolution of the monsoon climate in east asia an attempt was made to isolate the effect of the plateau uplift from the changes in other forcing mechanisms we examined the spatial and temporal variation patterns of a variety of climatic variables and indices including monsoon intensity sea level pressure surface and upper air winds temperature at different levels precipitation air humidity and soil moisture our results suggest that the evolution of the east asia monsoon may be more sensitive to the uplift of the tibetan plateau than that of the south asia monsoon moreover the effect of the plateau uplift on the east asia winter monsoon is more significant than that on the summer monsoon in the northern part of east asia north china the formation of the monsoon climate is marked mainly by the establishment of the northerly winds in winter or the winter monsoon system corresponding to the uplift of the plateau when the height reaches approximately 50 of its current elevation on the other hand the establishment of the monsoon climate in the southern part of east asia the yangtze river valley and the area south of it may be much earlier than that in the northern part

using leaf margin analysis to estimate the mid cretaceous albian paleolatitude of the baja bc block abstract the baja bc hypothesis which postulates that western washington state british columbia and southern alaska originated at the latitude of mexico has pitted paleomagnetic results against long held interpretations about the tectonic evolution of western north america in this paper we develop a new paleobotanical method for estimating paleolatitude and apply it to this problem we start by showing that the modern mat field for north america is well correlated with latitude demonstrating the feasibility of using mat to estimate paleolatitude a compilation of mat and floral data from 84 modern sites in central and north america is used to establish a new prediction relationship mat 1 32 28 99p where p is the proportion of smooth margined species within a floral sample at a site our analysis also includes a more complete estimate of the uncertainties associated with estimating mat from a measurement of p using modern data we show that mat and p can be used to estimate latitude as well we then apply this approach to resolve the paleolatitude of baja bc eleven floral sites from stable north america are used to establish the latitudinal mat profile for north america during the albian and cenomanian a floral site from the winthrop formation a mid cretaceous 110 100 ma fluvial unit in the methow basin of northern washington state is linked to the baja bc block and predates its proposed northward offset forty three morphospecies of dicotyledonous angiosperm leaves from the winthrop formation give p 0 76 which is equivalent to a mat of 23 4 c indicating a subtropical to tropical climate we use the north american mat profile to estimate a paleolatitude of 38 4 n for the winthrop flora indicating 2200 km of northward offset relative to stable north america

the long term paleomonsoon variation recorded by the loess paleosol sequence in central china abstract the loess paleosol sequence in central china during the last 2 5 ma is a good record of the asian monsoon variation which could be considered as the concrete realization of global paleoclimatic cycles the geological and biological evidence of the loess paleosol sequence indicates that the loess was mainly the dust deposits transported by the northerly wind of winter monsoons and also suffered to some extent from pedogenesis caused by weakened summer monsoons and that the paleosol accreted by the rather slow dust accumulation was closely related to strengthened summer monsoons an alternating occurrence of loess and paleosol in the luochuan section implies the variation history of warm humid climate with a summer monsoon dominance and cold dry climate with a winter monsoon dominance the magnetic susceptibility of loess and paleosol can be regarded as a proxy index of asian monsoon variation an analysis of the susceptibility curve and structure characters of luochuan section shows that the asian monsoon circulation was strengthened from early pleistocene to late pleistocene and the 500 ka bp point and 1200 ka bp point seem to be a threshold and a turning point respectively in terms of the long term paleomonsoon variation in asia

climate impact of late quaternary equatorial pacific sea surface temperature variations magnesium calcium data from planktonic foraminifera in equatorial pacific sediment cores demonstrate that tropical pacific sea surface temperatures ssts were 2 8 0 7 c colder than the present at the last glacial maximum glacial interglacial temperature differences as great as 5 c are observed over the last 450 thousand years changes in sst coincide with changes in antarctic air temperature and precede changes in continental ice volume by about 3 thousand years suggesting that tropical cooling played a major role in driving ice age climate comparison of sst estimates from eastern and western sites indicates that the equatorial pacific zonal sst gradient was similar or somewhat larger during glacial episodes extraction of a salinity proxy from the magnesium calcium and oxygen isotope data indicates that transport of water vapor into the western pacific was enhanced during glacial episodes

foraminiferal responses to major pleistocene paleoceanographic changes in the southern south china sea a detailed age model for core 17957 2 of the southern south china sea was developed based on delta 18 o coarse fraction magnetostratigraphy and biostratigraphy for the last 1500 kyr the delta 18 o record has clear similar to 100 kyr cycles after the mid pleistocene revolution mpr at the entrance of marine isotopic stage mis 22 planktonic foraminifera responded to the mpr immediately showing the increased sea surface temperature sst and dissolution after the mpr benthic foraminifera did not respond to it until the brunhes matuyama boundary since the mpr the depth of thermocline gradually became shallower until miss 6 5 this major change within miss 6 5 was also reflected in the decreased ssts and increased productivity and deep water mass thus two major pleistocene paleoceanographic changes were found one was around the mpr the other occurred within miss 6 5 which speculatively might be ascribed to the reorganization of surface and deep circulation possibly induced by tectonic forces

chinese loess and the paleomonsoon abstract this paper presents a general review of the recent research advances of the east asian paleomonsoon based mainly on studies of the loess soil sequences in the chinese loess plateau in the last 2 6 million years the paleomonsoonal history may be divided into about 166 events on a time scale of the earth s orbital variations during the last glacial period millenial scale oscillations of the monsoon system were prominent which can be fairly well correlated with the dansgaard oeschger cycles recognized in the greenland ice cores the monsoonal rainfall belt has experienced a wide repeated advance retreat change during the glacial interglacial cycles of the pleistocene both temporal and spatial changes of the monsoon system in the quaternary could have been linked closely to global ice volume variations

quantitative reconstruction of the late miocene monsoon climates of southwest china a case study of the lincang flora from yunnan province the miocene lincang leaf assemblage is used in this paper as proxy data to reconstruct the palaeoclimate of southwestern yunnan sw china and the evolution of monsoon intensity three quantitative methods were chosen for this reconstruction i e leaf margin analysis lma climate leaf analysis multivariate program clamp and the coexistence approach ca these methods however yield inconsistent results particularly for the precipitation as also shown in european and other east asian cenozoic floras the wide range of the reconstructed climatic parameters includes the mean annual temperature mat of 18 5 24 7 degrees c and the mean annual precipitation map of 1213 3711 mm compared with the modem lincang climate mat 17 3 degrees c map 1178 7 mm the miocene climate is slightly warmer wetter and has a higher temperature seasonality a detailed comparison on the palaeoclimatic variables with the coeval late miocene xiaolongtan flora from the eastern part of yunnan allows us to investigate the development and interactions of both south asian and east asian monsoons during the late miocene in southwest china now under strong influence of these monsoon systems our results suggest that the monsoon climate has already been established in southwest yunnan during the late miocene furthermore our results support that both southeast asian and east asian monsoons co occurred in yunnan during the late miocene c 2010 elsevier b v all rights reserved

quantification of calabrian climate in southern primory e far east of russia an integrative case study using multiple proxies abstract early pleistocene climate dynamics in the russian far east southern primory e is studied using multiple quantitative techniques on various palaeobotanical organ types climate data of the time were obtained from a total of 8 macrofloras fruits and seeds woods and leaves and 18 microfloras collected from a 10 m thick terrigenous succession exposed in the pavlovskoe brown coal field according to magnetostratigraphy the studied section covers the last 200 kyr of the calabrian and comprises the early late pleistocene transition a crucial time span involving the transition from obliquity forced cyclicity to the strong eccentricity triggered glacial events in this first integrative study on palaeoclimate of the russian far east we employ growth ring analysis multivariate anatomical analysis leaf margin analysis climate leaf analysis multivariate program and coexistence approach on the different organs partly originating from the same layer the investigation documents the following important outcomes 1 climate data obtained from the various methods are proven to be largely consistent 2 the late calabrian of the southern primory e was characterized by overall cooling and drying our climate record displays 2 small scale cycles warm peaks at 19 4 19 8 and 14 0 14 8 m are tentatively correlated to the global isotope stages mis 25 and mis 21 respectively 3 in the warm phases the calabrian climate of southern primory e was significantly warmer and wetter when compared to the present especially regarding the cold season while in cold phases climate was similar to modern or event slightly cooler 4 as of today early pleistocene climate of southern primory e was warmer and wetter than neighboring areas of the south rfe 5 the effect of the east asian monsoon systems on the climate of the southern primory e was less pronounced compared to the present

new remains of the baluchithere paraceratherium bugtiense pilgrim 1910 from the late latest oligocene of the bugti hills balochistan pakistan new dental and postcranial remains referred to the giant rhinocerotoid paraceratherium bugtiense are described originating from its type locality lundo chur in eastern balochistan pakistan probable sexual dimorphism is revealed on the lower incisors the manus was tridactyl with a reduced fifth metacarpal the stratigraphic range of both p bugtiense and the amynodontid cadurcotherium indicum extends from the early early oligocene to the late latest oligocene in the bugti hills q 2004 published by elsevier ltd

the cenozoic cooling continental signals from the atlantic and pacific side of eurasia a b s t r a c t the evolution of cenozoic continental climate signals from the atlantic and pacific side of eurasia can be assessed for the first time by comparing climate records obtained for two mid latitudinal regions for the west a detailed climate record over the past 45 ma based on palaeofloras from two northern german cenozoic basins mosbrugger et al 2005 r evealed major trends and shorter term events throughout the cenozoic cooling thus testifying the close correlation of continental and marine temperature evolution as derived from oxygen isotopes zachos et al 2008 using the same methodology we analyze a total of 14 floral horizons originating from continental strata of southern primory e russia in order to study the evolution at the eastern side of the continent the primory e record spans the middle eocene to early pleistocene as the coeval record for the atlantic side it reflects major global signals of cenozoic climate change such as the temperature decline throughout the late eocene coinciding with the growth of antarctic ice sheets warming during the mid miocene climatic optimum and step wise cooling throughout the later neogene the comparison of both records reveals differing regional patterns the considerable longitudinal temperature gradient currently existing between both study areas already began to evolve during the aquitanian and was very significant during the mid miocene climatic optimum the temperature offset between east and west is likely attributable to an effective north atlantic current already operational from the late early miocene onwards bringing about mild winters and low seasonality in western europe while in primory e seasonality steadily increased from the late oligocene on the strong late pliocene decline of cold month mean temperatures recorded in primory e is supposed to coincide with the establishment of the siberian high as semi permanent structure of the northern hemisphere circulation pattern when comparing the precipitation records obtained for both study areas an unexpected co variability at the longer term in the order of 5 20 ma is noted pointing to continent wide hydrological changes the steady decline of mean annual precipitation in the primory e record beginning in the bartonian and culminating in the aquitanian coincides with an aridity increase reported from coeval chinese inland localities of the mid latitudes the seasonality patterns of rainfall point to progressive intensification of the east asian summer monsoon in primory e since the later tortonian while the post zanclean decline of the precipitation of the dry season can be related to an increasing impact of the winter monsoon 2015 elsevier b v all rights reserved

proxy climate record for the last 1000 years from irish blanket peat and a possible link to solar variability recent research has shown that ombrotrophic mires can yield a proxy climate signal based on changes in the degree of peat humification 1 2 and that oceanic margin sites show the most sensitive record 3 we compare humification records for the last 1000 yr from two radiocarbon dated blanket peat profiles from western ireland and show several corresponding periods of climatic fluctuations periods favouring reduced peat decomposition suggestive of wetter and or cooler climatic conditions seem to coincide with periods of reduced sunspot activity and atmospheric14c anomalies whilst climatologists have continued to debate a link between solar variability on a century timescale and climate change the exact nature of that link remains elusive 4 7 the results from ireland demonstrate that data derived from mires could be relevant to the debate as to the extent of solar forcing in natural climatic variability and the curves shown provide a continuous record to add to previous evidence for the so called medieval optimum and little ice age 8 the record may imply that during the past millennium climatic change at the oceanic margin of the northeast atlantic largely corresponded to inferred variations in solar output

early middle pleistocene transitions an overview and recommendation for the defining boundary the early middle pleistocene transition c 1 2 0 5 ma sometimes known as the mid pleistocene revolution represents a major episode in earth history low amplitude 41 ka obliq uity forced climate cycles of the earlier pleistocene were replaced progressively in the later pleistocene by high amplitude 100 ka cycles these later cycles are indicative of slow ice build up and subsequent rapid melting and imply a transition to a strongly non linear forced climate system changes were accompanied by substantially increased global ice volume at 940 ka these climate transformations particularly the increasing severity and duration of cold stages have had a pro found effect on the biota and the physical landscape especially in the northern hemisphere this review assesses and integrates the marine and terrestrial evidence for change across this transition based on the literature and especially the following 17 chapters in the present volume orbital and non orbital climate forcing palaeoceanography stable isotopes organic geochemistry marine micropalaeontology glacial history loess palaeosol sequences pollen analysis large and small mammal palaeoecology and stratigraphy and human evolution and dispersal are all considered and a series of discrete events is identified from marine isotope stage mis 36 c 1 2 ma to mis 13 c 540 460 ma of these the cold mis 22 c 880 870 ka is perhaps the most profound however we here endorse earlier views that on practical grounds the matuyama brunhes palaeomagnetic chron boundary mid point at 773 ka with an estimated duration of 7 ka would serve as the best overall guide for establishing the early middle pleistocene subseries boundary

biogeography and migration routes of large mammal faunas in south east asia during the late middle pleistocene focus on the fossil and extant faunas from thailand abstract thailand has long held a key position in south east asia because of its location at the boundary of the indochinese and sundaic provinces the major biogeographical regions of south east asia these provinces are distinct climatically floristically and faunistically the present day limit between them is located at the kra isthmus in peninsular thailand previous studies of the javanese large mammal fossil faunas and the recent study of fossil large mammal faunas from thailand strengthen the hypothesis of a continental migration route in contrast with the insular hypothesis via taiwan and the philippines during the late middle late pleistocene period thailand was even part of this migration route during the glacial periods the faunal exchanges were favored by the emersion of a huge continental shelf called sundaland south east asian continental area connected to borneo and indonesia islands by land bridges when the sea level was low no geological biogeographical or paleobiogeographical evidence supports the hypothesis of a migration route via taiwan and the philippines analysis of the extant and late middle pleistocene large mammal faunas carnivora primates proboscidea and ungulata points out the antiquity of the indochinese and sundaic provinces this idea is also supported by the fact that mainland faunas already displayed modern character whereas the javanese faunas were mainly composed of endemic forms however the occurrence of the extinct species elephas namadicus found in a malaysian site tambun indicates that the limit between the two provinces if not close to the present place was located more southward than today possibly in peninsular malaysia it is also confirmed by the presence of northern species such as ailuropoda melanoleuca baconi and crocuta crocuta ultima in late middle pleistocene sites of thailand in fact because of climatic cooling that occurred in the northern hemisphere during the pleistocene the northern faunas had to move southward to our knowledge the hypothesis of the antiquity of the south east asian provinces with a boundary south of the present day one is mentioned here for the first time previous biogeographical studies were based mainly on insular data from the philippine archipelago geological and mainly present day zoogeographical data but also from indonesia and borneo paleontological data however the recent discovery of thai large mammal faunas from late middle pleistocene allows to bridge the gap in the fossil record between the northern faunas of south east asia and the southern ones these thai faunas are characterized mainly by extant forms but some are today absent from the thai territory ailuropoda melanoleuca crocuta crocuta pongo pygmaeus sus cf barbatus rhinoceros cf unicornis cervus eldii

paleoclimatic estimation reveals a weak winter monsoon in southwestern china during the late miocene evidence from plant macrofossils the late miocene xianfeng flora of yunnan province southwestern china was chosen to reconstruct the paleoclimate and the intensity of the asian monsoon three available quantitative climate reconstruction methods from fossil plants i e leaf margin analysis lma the climate leaf analysis multivariate program clamp and the coexistence approach ca were used in this study mats mean annual temperatures resulting from these three approaches i e lma 17 2 2 38 degrees c clamp 15 43 1 25 degrees c ca 17 2 21 7 degrees c appear to have been higher than the present 14 9 degrees c suggesting a much warmer climate in the late miocene both the growing season precipitation gsp from clamp 1908 7 217 7 mm and mean annual precipitation map from ca 1206 0 1613 0 mm estimates are higher than modern values 1003 2 mm gsp and 1038 mm map respectively indicating a more humid climate during the late miocene by comparing these with climates reconstructed from neighboring late miocene floras we conclude that the general late miocene climate appears warmer and more humid than present conditions in southwestern china furthermore the evident differences in estimated monthly temperatures between the summer and winter and precipitations between the humid and dry seasons indicate the existence of seasonality though not as strong as that of today difference in precipitation of dry season indicates a marked strengthening in the winter monsoon since the late miocene a new monsoon intensity index has also been defined based on precipitation seasonality to investigate the intensity of the asian monsoon c 2012 elsevier b v all rights reserved

early rhinocerotids mammalia perissodactyla from south asia and a review of the holarctic paleogene rhinocerotid record the earliest rhinocerotids from south asia are identified on the basis of few dental remains originating from the late eocene of thailand wai lek mine krabi basin and the early oligocene of pakistan paali nala c2 bugti hills once synthesized the holarctic paleogene rhinocerotid record points out a westward diachronism of rhinocerotid first appearance data from north america to europe via asia throughout mid cenozoic times the faunal similarity among mammal localities from the late eocene and early oligocene of peninsular thailand southern china and pakistan suggests the existence of a single south asian paleoprovince during this interval and the persistence of a tropical subtropical climate substantial faunal changes recorded in eastern balochistan reveal a significant climatic deterioration from the middle part of the oligocene neither provinciality nor endemism is noticeable for rhinocerotoid taxa recognized in the oligocene of the indian subcontinent neither the himalayas nor the tibet plateau was a paleogeographic barrier for large mammals during this interval resume les plus anciens rhinocerotides d asie du sud sont identifies gr ce a quelques restes dentaires provenant de l eocene superieur de thailande mine de wai lek bassin de krabi et de l oligocene inferieur du pakistan paali nala c2 collines bugti la synthese du registre fossile paleogene holarctique des rhinocerotides revele un net diachronisme des premieres apparitions de rhinocerotides depuis l est amerique du nord vers l ouest asie puis europe au cours du cenozoique moyen la similarite des communautes de mammiferes entre les localites de l eocene superieur et de l oligocene inferieur de thailande peninsulaire de chine du sud et du pakistan suggere l existence d une seule paleoprovince sud asiatique pendant la periode consideree sous un climat tropical a subtropical les changements fauniques enregistres au balouchistan oriental revelent une deterioration climatique significative a partir du milieu de l oligocene aucun indice de provincialisme ou d endemisme n est releve pour les rhinocerotoides oligocenes du sous continent indien ni les himalayas ni le plateau du tibet ne constituaient a l epoque une barriere paleogeographique pour les grands mammiferes

quantification of calabrian vegetation in southern primory e far east of russia using multiple proxies abstract early pleistocene vegetation dynamics in the russian far east southern primory e are studied using multiple quantitative techniques on various palaeobotanical organ types vegetation data for this time interval were obtained from a total of 8 macrofloras fruits and seeds woods and leaves and 18 microfloras collected from a 10 m thick terrigenous succession exposed in the pavlovskoe brown coal field according to magnetostratigraphy the studied section covers the last 250 kyr of the calabrian 1 0 to 0 781 ma and includes the early middle pleistocene boundary in this first integrative study on quantification of palaeovegetation of the russian far east we apply the following methods plant functional type pft approach integrated plant record ipr vegetation analysis and ecological coexistence approach ca eco on the different organs partly originating from the same layer the investigation documents the following outcomes 1 vegetation types obtained from the various methods are proven to be largely consistent all data indicate the presence of more forested conditions and show no xeric open woodland throughout the section 2 vegetation as reconstructed using the various methods generally is in good agreement with the recently published climate evolution throughout the section 3 there is a cyclic evolution of pft diversity which is in line with climate data 4 the changes of vegetation types obtained from ipr analysis relate to cooling drying trends of the climate evolution

synchronous tropical south china sea sst change and greenland warming during deglaciation the tropical ocean plays a major role in global climate it is therefore crucial to establish the precise phase between tropical and high latitude climate variability during past abrupt climate events in order to gain insight into the mechanisms of global climate change here we present alkenone sea surface temperature sst records from the tropical south china sea that show an abrupt temperature increase of at least 1 c at the end of the last glacial period within the recognized dating uncertainties this sst increase is synchronous with the bolling warming observed at 14 6 thousand years ago in the greenland ice sheet project 2 ice core

pliocene uplift of the northern tibetan plateau neogene redbeds passing upward into upward coarsening conglomerate and debris flow deposits at the foot of the kunlun mountains record the change in paleoslope related to uplift of the surface of the northern tibetan plateau detailed magnetostratigraphy of a 4 5 km section near yecheng in the western kunlun mountains shows that the change from deposition on distal alluvial plains to proximal alluvial fans occurred during the gilbert reversed chron 4 5 3 5 ma the change in depositional facies was accompanied by an increase in sedimentation rate from an average 0 15 mm yr between the earliest oligocene and the earliest pliocene to 1 4 mm yr in the gauss normal chron 3 6 2 6 ma we interpret the change in depositional facies and increase in sedimentation rate as indicating that the main uplift of the northwestern tibetan plateau began ca 4 5 ma

late quaternary paleoceanography of the south china sea surface circulation and carbonate cycles paleoceanographic information from 34 sediment cores is summarized to investigate the glacial interglacial variations in sea surface circulation and late quaternary carbonate cycles in the south china sea judging from the distribution pattern of deposition rates the enormous terrigenous supply by rivers is responsible for the high rate of hemipelagic sedimentation which was even higher during glacial periods paleotemperature maps based on transfer function temperature estimates have revealed a e w gradient of sst for glacial summer and a s n gradient for glacial winter and this agrees well with the clockwise surface circulation in summer and counterclockwise in winter during glacials as shown by a preliminary computer modelling the high resolution paleotemperature curves of core v36 3 from the northern slope show an abrupt cooling event which may belong to the younger dryas carbonate percentage in sediments and preservation of foraminifers and pteropods are used to study the carbonate cycles in the marginal sea it turns out that two mechanisms are functioning there being a basin with large drainage areas vast amount of river borne terrigenous input dilutes carbonate and its intensification during glacial decreases the glacial cac03 being a basin connected with the pacific the fluctuations of lysocline ccd and acd in the scs are related to those in the pacific ocean and dissolution is strengthened at interglacial thus above the present ccd the dilution factor predominates and the atlantic cycles are produced below the present ccd the dissolution factor prevails resulting in the pacific pattern of carbonate cycles

effect of the formation of the isthmus of panama on atlantic ocean thermohaline circulation the late cenozoic closure of the seaway between the north andsouth american continents is thought to have caused extensive changes in ocean circulation and northern hemisphere climate1 2 but the timing and consequences of the emergence of the isthmus of panama which closed the seaway remain controversial1 2 3 4 5 here we present stable isotope and carbonate sand fraction records from caribbean sediments which when compared to atlantic and pacific palaeoceanographic records indicate that the closure caused a marked reorganization of ocean circulation starting 4 6 million years ago shallowing of the seaway intensified the gulf stream and introduced warm and saline water masses to high northern latitudes these changes strengthened deep water formation in the labrador sea over the next million years as indicated by an increased deep water ventilation and carbonate preservation in the caribbean sea and favoured early pliocene warming of the northern hemisphere the evaporative cooling of surface waters during north atlantic deep water formation would have introduced moisture to the northern hemisphere although the pronounced intensification of northern hemisphere glaciation between 3 1 and 2 5 million years ago substantially lagged the full development of north atlantic deep water formation we propose that the increased atmospheric moisture content was a necessary precondition for ice sheet growth which was then triggered by the incremental changes in the earth s orbital obliquity

effect of orogeny plate motion and land sea distribution on eurasian climate change over the past 30 million years the eurasian climates of today 10 million and 3o million years ago are simulated using an atmospheric general circulation model that incorporates realistic continental geography and epicontinental sea distributions the resulting climates compare well with various palaeoclimate records the retreat of the paratethys an epicontinental sea shifts the central asian climate from temperate to continental conditions and plays as important a role as uplift of the himalayan tibetan plateau in driving the asian monsoon changes

a coupled environmental system formed at about 2 5 ma in east asia abstract the somewhat abrupt commencement of loess deposition on a large scale in north central china is palaeomagnetically measured at about 2 5 ma the formation of the dynamical conditions responsible for windblown loess processes implies a reorganization of the atmospheric circulation over eastern asia it is speculated that at that time the accelerated uplift of the tibetan plateau had reached a threshold height giving rise to the intensification and northward shift of the siberian high and deepening of the cyclone in the lee of the tibetan plateau the uplift of tibet and the resulting reorganization of atmospheric circulation at about 2 5 ma would initiate a coupled environmental system tibetan plateau inland desert loess plateau in eastern asia that could be a key system in understanding the onset of glaciation in northern hemisphere and climatic change in the quaternary the climatic shift from near continuous warm condition before 2 5 ma to frequent and chaotic fluctuations after is speculated to be triggered to a significant extent by the uplift of the tibetan plateau an orography cold surge albedo temperature feedback mechanism is developed in explaining the harsher climate over east asia during glacial time and is thought to be one of the major contributors in promoting glacial development on the globe

onset of asian desertification by 22 myr ago inferred from loess deposits in china the initial desertification in the asian interior is thought to be one of the most prominent climate changes in the northern hemisphere during the cenozoic era1 2 3 4 but the dating of this transition is uncertain partly because desert sediments are usually scattered discontinuous and difficult to date here we report nearly continuous aeolian deposits covering the interval from 22 to 6 2 million years ago on the basis of palaeomagnetic measurements and fossil evidence a total of 231 visually definable aeolian layers occur as brownish loesses interbedded with reddish soils this new evidence indicates that large source areas of aeolian dust and energetic winter monsoon winds to transport the material must have existed in the interior of asia by the early miocene epoch at least 14 million years earlier than previously thought3 5 regional tectonic changes and ongoing global cooling are probable causes of these changes in aridity and circulation in asia

pakistan mammal tooth stable isotopes show paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental changes since the early oligocene abstract this research presents an isotopic study of three large mammal groups elephantoid proboscideans hyracodontid and rhinocerotid rhinocerotoids equids of the hipparion group from the bugti hills sequence eastern balochistan pakistan combined with published data from the miocene siwalik group northern central pakistan these two exceptional fossil records from pakistan provide an unambiguous source of biotic information from the early oligocene up to the late miocene the 13 c c and 18 o c results from the same herbivore groups show several significant variations in environmental and climatic conditions throughout the 30 to 7 5 myr period in this region first from 30 to 22 myr the environment is characterized by a relatively dry but dense forest existing under a temperate to subtropical climate with a more closed tropical environment at 23 myr oligocene 18 o of the terrestrial herbivore teeth agrees with the marine foraminifera 18 o and mg ca trends suggesting that the pakistan region was affected by global climate rather than regional conditions after 22 myr the 18 o c mammal enamel results show a long term decreasing trend until 15 myr toward a wetter environment with the appearance of tropical forests in response to the probable onset of the asian monsoon this is a period of high tectonic activity with the india asia collision leading to uplift of the tibetan plateau and shrinkage of the epicontinental paratethys sea this activity modified the land sea distribution and the thermal contrast between ocean and continent the driving force of the monsoon climate the middle miocene environment in pakistan experienced moist conditions under an intense monsoon system with relatively closed rainforest after 12 myr the 18 o c enamel values record a positive shift until 9 3 myr toward a drier environment with an increase of seasonality as suggested by higher 18 o c variability after 9 3 myr these late miocene drier climatic conditions and the asian monsoon intensification could potentially favour the c 4 photosynthetic pathway and hence the development of grassland to the detriment of subtropical forests resulting in the higher enamel 13 c values recorded after 9 3 myr

links between climate and sea levels for the past three million years the oscillations between glacial and interglacial climate conditions over the past three million years have been characterized by a transfer of immense amounts of water between two of its largest reservoirs on earth the ice sheets and the oceans since the latest of these oscillations the last glacial maximum between about 30 000 and 19 000 years ago approximately 50 million cubic kilometres of ice has melted from the land based ice sheets raising global sea level by approximately 130 metres such rapid changes in sea level are part of a complex pattern of interactions between the atmosphere oceans ice sheets and solid earth all of which have different response timescales the trigger for the sea level fluctuations most probably lies with changes in insolation caused by astronomical forcing but internal feedback cycles complicate the simple model of causes and effects