Fuli Wu

Pollen record from red clay sequence in the central Loess Plateau between 8.10 and 2.60 Ma

The Late Miocene and Pliocene are the key periods for understanding the origin and development of the present Asian monsoon circulations and ecologic environments. Here we present a pollen record from Chaona Red Clay section located in the central Loess Plateau in attempt to establish the histories of vegetation and associated climate changes between 8.10 and 2.60 Ma. Our results show that Gramineae-dominated woodland-grasslands developed in this region withCedrus- and Pinus-characterized montane coniferous forests distributing in higher elevations from 8.10 to 6.73 Ma, probably suggesting a semi-humid climate in a warm-temperate zone. A subsequent expansion ofUlmus-dominated deciduous forests and a synchronous increase of Gramineae-dominated grassland reflect a warmer and more humid climate between 6.73 and 5.67 Ma. The vegetation changed to anArtemisia- and Gramineae-characterized steppe in lower elevations and to a coniferous forest in higher elevations from 5.67 to 3.71 Ma, implying probably a warm and semiarid climate in lowland and hill, and a colder and moister climate in mountain. During this period, a considerable warmer and more humid climate occurred between 4.61 and 4.07 Ma as indicated by pollen assemblages. The period between 3.71 and 2.58 Ma was characterized by the disappearance ofCedrus andTsuga and also by an abrupt expansion of Cupressaceae, reflecting a drastic enhancement of monsoon-related climatic seasonality.

A 1.5 Ma sporopollen record of paleoecologic environment evolution in the central Chinese Loess Plateau

A 1.5 Ma sporopollen record was obtained from a continuous loess-paleosol sequence at Chaona in the central Chinese Loess Plateau. It shows that (1) arid herbs of largelyArtemisia and Chenopodiaceae and arbors of mainlyPinus, Betula andQuercus dominate loess and paleosol, respectively, reflecting cycles of cold-dry and warm-humid conditions of glaciation and interglaciation; (2) that similar vegetation pattern and cold-dry condition were found in times of unusual thick and coarse loesses L9 and L15, which have been regarded as two extremely cold and dry times as indicated by inorganic climatic proxies; and (3) that shifts of vegetations from earlier forest-steppe to open-forest and steppe and then to steppe were found at 0.95 and 0.5 Ma, implying a stepwise of drying of the Loess Plateau in the Quaternary.