East Gobi megalake systems reveal East Asian Monsoon dynamics over the last interglacial-glacial cycle

Hongwei Li; Xiaoping Yang; Louis Anthony Scuderi; Fangen Hu; Peng Liang; Qida Jiang; Jan-Pieter Buylaert; Xulong Wang; Jinhua Du; Shugang Kang; Zhibang Ma; Lisheng Wang; Xuefeng Wang

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-37859-1

East Gobi megalake systems reveal East Asian Monsoon dynamics over the last interglacial-glacial cycle

Nat Commun. 2023 Apr 13;14(1):2103. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-37859-1.

Authors

Hongwei Li¹, Xiaoping Yang², Louis Anthony Scuderi³, Fangen Hu⁴, Peng Liang¹, Qida Jiang⁵, Jan-Pieter Buylaert⁶, Xulong Wang⁷, Jinhua Du⁸, Shugang Kang⁷, Zhibang Ma⁵, Lisheng Wang⁵, Xuefeng Wang⁵

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Geoscience Big Data and Deep Resource of Zhejiang Province, School of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
² Key Laboratory of Geoscience Big Data and Deep Resource of Zhejiang Province, School of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China. xpyang@zju.edu.cn.
³ Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA.
⁴ Geographical Research Center, Yichun University, Yichun, 336000, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Cenozoic Geology and Environment, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China.
⁶ Department of Physics, Technical University of Denmark, DTU-Risø Campus, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark.
⁷ State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, 710061, China.
⁸ School of Earth Science and Resources, Chang'an University, Xi'an, 710054, China.

Abstract

Intense debate persists about the timing and magnitude of the wet phases in the East Asia deserts since the late Pleistocene. Here we show reconstructions of the paleohydrology of the East Gobi Desert since the last interglacial using satellite images and digital elevation models (DEM) combined with detailed section analyses. Paleolakes with a total area of 15,500 km² during Marine Isotope Stage 5 (MIS 5) were identified. This expanded lake system was likely coupled to an 800-1000 km northward expansion of the humid region in East China, associated with much warmer winters. Humid climate across the Gobi Desert during MIS 5 likely resulted in a dustier MIS 4 over East Asia and the North Pacific. A second wet period characterized by an expanded, albeit smaller, lake area is dated to the mid-Holocene. Our results suggest that the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) might have been much weaker during MIS 3.