Mid-Holocene variability of the East Asian monsoon based on bulk organic δ13C and C/N records from the Pearl River estuary, southern China

Understanding the mid-Holocene dynamics of the East Asian monsoon (EAM) is integral to modelling the Holocene development of the global climate system (Webster et al., 1998). Thus the mid-Holocene EAM history was reconstructed using bulk organic carbon isotopes (δ13C), total carbon to total nitrogen (C/N) ratios and total organic carbon (TOC) from a sediment core (UV1), at a mean resolution of 7-10 years, from the Pearl River estuary, southern China. Sedimentary δ13C, C/N and TOC from the Pearl River estuary is a good indicator of changes in monsoonal precipitation strength (Zong et al., 2006; Yang et al., 2010; Yu et al., 2010), eg sediments buried during a period of high precipitation exhibit a high proportion of terrigenous sediments, and have low δ13C and high C/N, and vice versa (Yu et al., 2010). Results suggest a general decreasing trend in monsoonal precipitation from 6650 to 2215 cal yr BP because of the weakening Northern Hemisphere insolation most likely related to the current precession circle (An, 2000). Superimposed on this trend are apparent dry-wet oscillations at centennial to millennial timescales most likely in response to solar activity. Mismatch between δ13C and results from the Dongge Cave in southern China at millennial-timescale oscillations (Wang et al., 2005), may indicate that the δ13C from the Pearl River estuary reveals changes in precipitation in a broader area than the δ18O from Dongge Cave does. Reference An Z (2000) The history and variability of the East Asian paleomonsoon climate. Quaternary Science Reviews 19: 171-187. Wang Y, Cheng H, Edwards RL, He Y, Kong X, An Z, Wu J, Kelly MJ, Dykoski CA and Li X (2005) The Holocene Asian Monsoon: Links to Solar Changes and North Atlantic Climate. Science 308: 854-857. Webster PJ, Magaña VO, Palmer TN, Shukla J and Tomas RA (1998) Monsoons: Processes, predictability, and the prospects for prediction. Journal of Geophysical Research 103(C7): 14451-14510. Yang S, Tang M, Yim WWS, Zong Y, Huang G, Switzer AD and Saito Y (2011) Burial of organic carbon in Holocene sediments of the Zhujiang (Pearl River) and Changjiang (Yangtze River) estuaries. Marine Chemistry 123(1-4): 1-10. Yu F, Zong Y, Lloyd JM, Huang G, Leng MJ, Kendrick C, Lamb AL and Yim WWS (2010) Bulk organic δ13C and C/N as indicators for sediment sources in the Pearl River delta and estuary, southern China. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 87(4): 618-630. Zong Y, Lloyd JM, Leng MJ, Yim WW-S and Huang G (2006) Reconstruction of Holocene monsoon history from the Pearl River Estuary, southern China, using diatoms and carbon isotope ratios. The Holocene 16(2): 251-263.