Quantitative Reconstruction of Salinity and Precipitation Changes in Central Asia over the Past 3 200 Years Using Diatom and Pollen Records of Lacustrine Sediment in Aibi Lake of SW Junggar Basin

Abstract

The response of lake environments in arid Central Asia to climate change during the Late Holocene over the centennial to millennial timescales remains contentious. The reason that primarily paleoenvironmental proxies diverse and the scarcity of accurate quantitative reconstruction records. In this study, we employed diatoms and pollen records from lacustrine sediment in the Aibi Lake of Southwest Junggar Basin to quantitatively reconstruct salinity and watershed precipitation amounts while exploring the associated forcing mechanisms. The results indicate that Aibi Lake salinity varied between 2 and 47 g/L during the Late Holocene Period, indicating a generally brackish environment, and corresponding to prevailing Tryblionella granulata diatom in the lake basin. Westerly-dominated annual precipitation varied between 250 and 320 mm during the Late Holocene Period in the basin, exhibiting a generally semi-arid environment and prevailing desert steppe vegetation. The Aibi Lake has a low salinity of average value of ∼15 g/L and exhibits elevated precipitation (average value of ∼280 mm) during the periods of the 2 900–1 990, 1 570–1140, and 590–120 cal yr BP. The reconstructed precipitation and salinity exhibit a periodicity of ∼200 years, which is consistent with the cycle of phase changes of the North Atlantic oscillation (NAO) and total solar irradiance (TSI). This correlation suggests that variations in NOA and TSI significantly influence the precipitation and salinity changes in Central Asia over centennial to millennial timescales.

Keywords

arid central Asia / diatom / pollen / salinity / precipitation / forcing mechanism

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