Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Vegetation evolution and millennial-scale climatic fluctuations since Last Glacial Maximum in pollen record from northern South China Sea

  • Articles
  • Published:
Chinese Science Bulletin

Abstract

In order to study vegetation evolution and environmental change since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), a total of 180 pollen samples with an average time resolution of 150 years were analyzed on the top parts (0–31 m, 0–27 kaBP) of deep sea sediments from ODP Site 1144 (20°3.18’N, 1170°25.14’E), northeastern SCS. The character-istic features of pollen diagram include that pine dominates in the interglacial, and herb pollen dominates with a good deal of tropical-subtropical pollen in the last glacial, and from 18 kaBP the tropical-subtropical pollen influx rose abruptly, while the herbaceous pollen influx and percentage dropped quickly, indicating that climate turned warmer and more humid, and more tropical-subtropical vegetation grew on the mainland and the emerging continental shelf, while the grassland on the shelf diminished. A detailed comparison shows an earlier change of pollen assemblages at the glacialinterglacial transition between MIS6 and 5 (Termination II) than the ice volume change indicated by the oxygen isotope record, implying that mid-low latitude climate warming preceded ice sheet retreat. Millennial-scale climatic fluctuations of vegetation change in pollen record are also discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Wang, P. X., Jian, Z. M., Searching high-resolution paleoenvironmental records: A review, Quatenary Sciences (in Chinese), 1999, 1: 1–17.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Heinrich, H., Origin and consequences of cyclic ice rafting in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean during the past 130000 years, Quaternary Research, 1988, 29: 142–152.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Broecker, W. S., Massive iceberg discharges as triggers for global climate change, Nature, 1994, 372: 421–424.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Bond, G., Broecker, W., Johnsen, S. et al., Correlations between climate records from North Atlantic sediments and Greenland ice, Nature, 1993, 365: 143–147.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Kennett, J. P., Peterson, L. C., Rapid climate change: Ocean response to earth system instability in the late Quaternary, JOIDES Journal, 2002, 28(1): 5–9.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Hendy, I. L., Kenner, J. P., Late Quaternary North Pacific surface water response imply atmosphere-driven climate instability, Geology, 1999, 27: 291–294.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Pterson, L. C., Huang, G. H., Hughen, K. et al., Rapid changes in the hydrologic cycle of the tropical Atlantic during the last glacial, Science, 2000, 290: 1947–1951.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Sachs, J. P., Lehman, S. J., Subtropical north Atlantic temperatures 60000 to 30000 years ago, Science, 1999, 286: 756–759.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Wang, L. J., Sarnthein, M., Erlenkeuser, H. et al., East Asian monsoon climate during the late Pleistocene: High-resolution sediment records from the south China Sea, Marine Geology, 1999, 156(3/4): 245–284.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Luo, Y. L., Sun, X. J., Millennial-scale climatic fluctuations in pollen record of deep sea from South China sea, Quaternary Sciences (in Chinese), 1999, 6: 536–540.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Stott, L., Poulsen, C., Lund, S. et al., Super ENSO and global climate oscillation at millennial time scales, Science, 2002, 297: 22–226.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Wang, P. X., Western Pacific in glacial cycles: Seasonality in marginal seas and variability of Warm Pool, Science in China, Ser. D, 1998, 41(1): 35–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Jian, Z. M., Li, B. H., Pflaumann, U. et al., Late Holocene cooling event in the western Pacific, Science in China, Ser. D, 1996, 39(5): 543–550.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Jian, Z. M., Chen, M. B., Lin, H. L. et al., Stepwise paleoceanographic changes during the last deglaciation in the southern South China Sea: The records of isotopes and microfossils, Science in China, Ser. D, 1998, 41(2): 187–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Sun, X. J., Li, X., Different dynamics and routes of modern pollen transport in the northern and southern parts of the South China Sea, Science in China, Ser. D, 1998, 41(1): 57–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Sun, X. J., Li, X., Beug, H., Pollen distribution in hemipelagic surface sediments of the South China Sea and its relation to modern vegetation distribution, Marine Geology, 1999, 156: 221–226.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Sun, X. J., Li, X., A pollen record of the last 37 ka in deep sea core 17940 from the northern slope of the South China Sea, Marine Geology, 1999, 156: 227–244.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Sun, X. J., Li, X., Luo, Y., et al., The vegetation and climate at the last glaciation on the emerged continental shelf of the South China Sea, Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclinatol. Palaeoecol., 2000, 160: 301–316.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Sun, X. J., Chen, X. D., Luo, Y. L. et al., An insight into paleovegetation on the emerged shelf at the last galciation, pollen data of the South China Sea, Acta Botanica Sinica (in Chinese with English abstract), 1999, 41(9): 1016–1023.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Sun, X. J., Li, X., Luo, Y. L., Environment change from pollen record in deep sea site from northern South China Sea, Quaternary Sciences (in Chinese), 1999, 1: 18–26.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Li, X., Sun, X. J., Palynological records since Last Glacial Maximum from a deep sea core in southern South China Sea, Quaternary Sciences (in Chinese), 1999, 6: 526–535.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Sun, X. J., Li, X., Luo, Y. L., Vegetation and climate on the Sunda Shelf of the South China Sea during the Last Glaciation—Pollen results from Station 17962, Acta Botanica Sinica, 2002, 44(6): 746–752.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Sun, X. J., Luo, Y. L., Huang, F. et al., Deep sea pollen from the South China Sea: Pleistocene indicators of East Asian Monsoon, Marine Geology, 2003, 201: 97–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Wang, P. X., Tian, J., Chen, X. R. et al., Carbon reservoir changes preceded major ice-sheet expansion at the mid-Brunhes event, Geology, 2003, 31(3): 239–242.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Wang, P. X, Prell, W. L., Blum, P. et al., Proc. ODP. Init. Repts. 184: College Station TX (Ocean Drilling Program), 2000, 1–77.

  26. Lü, H. Y., Liu, Z. X., Liu, B. Z. et al., Asynchrony of the marine and epicontinental climate records in the East Asia drueing the last 20 ka, Marine Geology & Quaternary Geology (in Chinese), 2002, 22(1): 17–23.

    Google Scholar 

  27. Wang, W. Y., Liu, J. Q., Liu, D. S. et al., The two-step monsoon changes of the last deglaciation recorded in tropical Maar Lake Huguangyan, Southern China, Chinese Science Bulletin, 2000, 45(16): 1529–1532.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Luo, Y. L., Sun, X. X., Vegegtation evolution during the last penultimate glacial cycle: A high-resolution pollen record from ODP Site 1144, the South China Sea, Marine Geology & Quaternary Geology (in Chinese), 2003, 23(1): 19–26.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Broecker, W. S., Cooling the tropics, Nature, 1995, 376: 212–213.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Cane, M. A., A role for the tropical Pacific, Science, 1996, 282: 40–41.

    Google Scholar 

  31. Broecker, W. S., Henderson, G. M., The sequence of events surrounding termination II and their implications for the causes of glacial interglacial CO2 change, Palerceanography, 1998, 13: 352–364.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Schulz, M., Stattegger, K., Spectrum analysis of unevenly spaced paleoclimatic time series, Computers and Geosciences, 1997, 23: 929–945.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100093, Beijing, China

    Yunli Luo & Xiangjun Sun

  2. Key Laboratory of Marine Geology, Ministry of Education, Tongji University, 200092, Shanghai, China

    Xiangjun Sun

Authors
  1. Yunli Luo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xiangjun Sun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yunli Luo.

About this article

Cite this article

Luo, Y., Sun, X. Vegetation evolution and millennial-scale climatic fluctuations since Last Glacial Maximum in pollen record from northern South China Sea. Chin.Sci.Bull. 50, 793–799 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03183681

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03183681

Keywords

Search

Navigation