Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-9pm4c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T09:22:44.124Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Tree-Ring δD as an Indicator of Asian Monsoon Intensity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Xiahong Feng ,
Haiting Cui ,
Kuilian Tang  and
Laura E. Conkey
Xiahong Feng
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, 03755
Haiting Cui
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China
Kuilian Tang
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, 03755
Laura E. Conkey
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, 03755
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Oxygen and hydrogen isotopic compositions of meteoric water are known to correlate with surface air temperature, except in tropical areas. This relationship has been described using a number of terms corresponding to specific observations, such as latitude, altitude and seasonal effects. However, these temperature effects do not seem to apply to precipitation in monsoonal areas of Asia. Questions have been raised as to whether the isotopic composition of meteoric water can be used to reconstruct paleomonsoon intensity. Tree rings of two modern spruce trees (Picea meyeri) and a 10,000-yr-old timber (Picea jezoensis) were analyzed for hydrogen isotopic composition. On average, the older tree is depleted in deuterium by 45‰ compared to the modern trees. We attribute this isotopic depletion to the strength of summer monsoons, which were more intense in the early Holocene than at present. Although this study is not definitive, it suggests that paleomonsoon intensity can be reconstructed by direct or proxy methods that yield the oxygen or hydrogen isotopic composition of meteoric water.

Keywords

Asian MonsoonsδD of tree ringsHolocene climate
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , May 1999 , pp. 262 - 266
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Cui, H., Liu, H., Yao, X., (1997). The finding of a paleo-spruce timber in Hunshandak sandy land and its paleoecological significance. Science in China 40, 599–604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dansgaard, W., (1964). Stable isotopes in precipitation. Tellus 16, 436–468.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DeNiro, M.J., (1981). The effects of different methods of preparing cellulose nitrate on the determination of the D/H ratios of non-exchangeable hydrogen of cellulose. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 54, 177–185.Google Scholar
Domrös, M., Peng, G., (1988). The Climate of China. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.Google Scholar
Epstein, S., Yapp, C.J., (1977). Isotope tree thermometers. Nature 266, 477–478.Google Scholar
Epstein, S., Yapp, C.J., Hall, J.H., (1976). The determination of the D/H ratio non-exchangeable hydrogen in cellulose extracted from aquatic and land plants. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 30, 241–251.Google Scholar
Feng, X., (1994). Climatic implications of an 8000-year hydrogen isotope time series from bristlecone pine trees. Science 265, 1079–1081.Google Scholar
Fontes, J.C., Gasse, F., Gibert, E., (1996). Holocene environmental changes in Lake Bangong basin (Western Tibet). Part 1. Chronology and stable isotopes of carbonates of a Holocene lacustrine core. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 120, 25–47.Google Scholar
Hoffmann, G., Heimann, M., (1997). Water isotope modeling in the Asian monsoon region. Quaternary International 37, 115–128.Google Scholar
Jarvis, D.I., (1993). Pollen evidence of changing Holocene monsoon climate in Sichuan Province, China. Quaternary Research 39, 325–337.Google Scholar
Lipp, J., Trimborn, P., Graf, W., Becher, B., (1993). Climatic significance of D/H ratios in the cellulose of late-wood in tree rings from spruce (Picea abies L. . Isotope Techniques in the Study of Past and Current Environmental Changes in the Hydrosphere and the Atmosphere. p. 395–405.Google Scholar
Maher, B.A., Thompson, R., Zhou, L.P., (1994). Spatial and temporal reconstructions of changes in the Asian paleomonsoon: A new mineral magnetic approach. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 125, 461–471.Google Scholar
Miehe, G., (1996). On the connection of vegetation dynamics with climatic changes in High Asia. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 120, 5–24.Google Scholar
Overpeck, J., Anderson, D., Trumbore, S., Prell, W., (1996). The southwest Indian monsoon over the last 18,000 years. Climate Dynamics 12, 213–225.Google Scholar
Pachur, H.J., Wünnemann, B., (1995). Lake evolution in the Tengger Desert, Northwestern China, during the last 40,000 years. Quaternary Research 44, 171–180.Google Scholar
Porter, C.S., An, Z., Zheng, H., (1992). Cyclic Quaternary alluviation and terracing in a nonglaciated drainage basin on the north flank of the Qinling Shen, Central China. Quaternary Research 38, 157–169.Google Scholar
Prell, W.L., Kutzbach, J.E., (1987). Monsoon variability over the past 150,000 years. Journal of Geophysical Research 82, 8411–8425.Google Scholar
Prell, W.L., Van Campo, E., (1986). Coherent response of Arabian Sea upwelling and pollen transport to late Quaternary monsoonal winds. Nature 323, 526–528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramesh, R., Bhattacharya, S.K., Copalan, K., (1985). Dendroclimatological implications of isotope coherence in trees from Kashmir Valley, India. Nature 317, 802–804.Google Scholar
Rozanski, K., Araguás-Araguás, L., Gonfiantini, R., (1993). Isotopic patterns in modern global precipitation. Climate Change in Continental Isotopic Records. American Geophysical Union, Washington.p. 1–36.Google Scholar
Sirocko, F., Sarnthein, M., Erienkeuser, H., Lange, H., Arnold, M., Duplessy, J.C., (1993). Century-scale events in monsoonal climate over the past 24,000 years. Nature 364, 322–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tan, K.S., Lin, B.H., Liu, R.M., Teng, Z.H., Chen, L., (1992). Preliminary research on carbon and oxygen isotopic compositions of paleosol carbonate nodules at Luochuan loess section—Stable isotopic evidence of palemonsoon fields. Journal of Northeast University 22, .Google Scholar
Van Campo, E., Cour, P., Hang, S., (1996). Holocene environmental changes in Bangong Co Basin (Western Tibet). Part 2. The pollen record. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 120, 49–63.Google Scholar
Van Campo, E., Gasse, F., (1993). Pollen- and diatom-inferred climatic and hydrological change in Sumxi Co Basin (Western Tibet) since 13,000 yr B.P. Quaternary Research 39, 300–313.Google Scholar
Vennemann, T.W., O'Neil, J.R., (1993). A simple and inexpensive method of hydrogen isotope and water analyses of minerals and rocks based on zinc reagent. Chemical Geology 103, 227–234.Google Scholar
Wei, K., (1997). Stable isotope geochemistry of precipitation, In, Stable Isotope Geochemical Studies in China. YuY. Li, Z., 541, 565., Scientific Press, China.Google Scholar
Wei, K., Lin, R., (1994). The influence of the monsoon climate on the isotopic composition of precipitation in China. Geochimica 23, 33–41.Google Scholar
White, J.W., Lawrence, J.R., Broecker, W.S., (1994). Modeling and interpreting D/H ratios in tree rings: A test case of white pine in the northeastern United States. Geochemica et Cosmochimica Acta 58, 851–862.Google Scholar