Millennial-scale climate variability of the Asian summer monsoon over the last 690,000 years: insights from cave records

X Niu; J Wang; L Kang; Y Li; H Zhang; X Dong; H Li; L Sha; L Yi; A Sinha; Y Ning; X Jia; B Zong; F Zhang; Y Cai; J Woodhead; F Liang; Z Chu; J Guo; RL Edwards; H Cheng

Journal article

Millennial-scale climate variability of the Asian summer monsoon over the last 690,000 years: insights from cave records

X Niu, J Wang, L Kang, Y Li, H Zhang, X Dong, H Li, L Sha, L Yi, A Sinha, Y Ning, X Jia, B Zong, F Zhang, Y Cai, J Woodhead, F Liang, Z Chu, J Guo, RL Edwards Show all

Science Bulletin | Published : 2025

DOI: 10.1016/j.scib.2025.02.011

Abstract

The Asian summer monsoon (ASM) is an important component of the global climate system. Cave oxygen isotope (δ18O) records from the region have well characterized the ASM millennial-scale climate variability (MCV) over the last 640 ka, with especially detailed insights for the most recent 60 ka, but little is known about ASM variability beyond the U-Th dating limit of ∼640 ka. Furthermore, questions remain regarding the climatic significance of millennial-scale ASM variability recorded among various climate archives, particularly in the context of the “orbital-scale paradox”. Here, we present high-resolution and U-Pb dated cave δ18O records from two Chinese caves spanning 690–600 ka BP (befor..

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