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

Open access

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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