Central Asian modulation of Northern Hemisphere moisture transfer over the Late Cenozoic

• Autor(a) principal: Prud'homme, Charlotte
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Scardia, Giancarlo [UNESP], Vonhof, Hubert, Guinoiseau, Damien, Nigmatova, Saida, Fiebig, Jens, Gerdes, Axel, Janssen, Renee, Fitzsimmons, Kathryn E.
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNESP
• Texto Completo: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00173-z; http://hdl.handle.net/11449/218266

Earth's climatic evolution over the last 5 million years is primarily understood from the perspective of marine mechanisms, however, the role of terrestrial feedbacks remains largely unexplored. Here we reconstruct the last 5 million years of soil moisture variability in Central Asia using paleomagnetism data and isotope geochemistry of an 80 m-thick sedimentary succession at Charyn Canyon, Kazakhstan. We identify a long-term trend of increasing aridification throughout the period, along with shorter-term variability related to the interaction between mid-latitude westerlies and the Siberian high-pressure system. This record highlights the long-term contribution of mid-latitude Eurasian terrestrial systems to the modulation of moisture transfer into the Northern Hemisphere oceans and back onto land via westerly air flow. The response of Earth-surface dynamics to Plio-Pleistocene climatic change in Central Asia likely generated terrestrial feedbacks affecting ocean and atmospheric circulation. This missing terrestrial link elucidates the significance of land-water feedbacks for long-term global climate. Late Cenozoic variation in Central Asian hydroclimate resulted from the interaction between mid-latitude westerlies and the Siberian high-pressure system and may have driven terrestrial feedbacks, according to analyses of sediments from Charyn Canyon, Kazakhstan.