Reconstruction of the 30-40 ka BP enhanced Indian monsoon climate based ongeological records from the Tibetan Plateau

Multi-proxy records from ice caps, lakes and pollen records from the Tibeta n Plateau are used to reconstruct the palaeoclimate during the period 30-40 ka up. Lake geomorphological and lacustrine sedimentological studies show that numerous high lake level stands and/or freshwater lakes occurred in la rge are;ls of western China at this time, including over the Tibetan Platea u where the area contains mostly shallow water and saline-hypersaline water lakes under extremely dry conditions of today. Pollen-based reconstruction of Tibetan vegetation shows systematic differences from the present: alpin e steppe-forests were shifted ca. 400 km further north and the alpine conif er forest extended ca. 400-800 km beyond their present western limits. Vari ations in delta O-18 curves from ice cores from the Plateau suggest that th e temperature was 2-4 degreesC higher and precipitation was 40% to over 100 % higher than today. All of the evidence consistently suggests the existenc e of an exceedingly strong summer monsoon climate over the Plateau. The vig orous evaporation of the tropical ocean surface would also play an importan t role in promoting the penetration of moisture-rich southwest monsoon over the Tibetan Plateau. These climate patterns with strong summer monsoon cir culation during the period 30-40 ka sp reflect the 20 ka earth orbital prec essional cycle, when the Tibetan Plateau region received greater solar radi ation which thus enlarged the thermodynamical contrast between the Plateau and the mid-south portion of the Indian Ocean. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B. V. All rights: reserved.