Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T19:53:02.018Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late Pleistocene vegetation change in Korea and its possible link to East Asian monsoon and Dansgaard–Oeschger (D–O) cycles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Jaesoo Lim ,
Ju-Yong Kim ,
Seon-Ju Kim ,
Jin-Young Lee  and
Sei-Sun Hong
Jaesoo Lim
Affiliation:
Quaternary Geology Research Department, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), Daejeon 305-350, Republic of Korea
Ju-Yong Kim*
Affiliation:
Quaternary Geology Research Department, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), Daejeon 305-350, Republic of Korea
Seon-Ju Kim
Affiliation:
Jungbu Institute for Archeology, Republic of Korea
Jin-Young Lee
Affiliation:
Quaternary Geology Research Department, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), Daejeon 305-350, Republic of Korea
Sei-Sun Hong
Affiliation:
Quaternary Geology Research Department, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), Daejeon 305-350, Republic of Korea
*
*Corresponding author. Fax: + 82 42 868 3414. E-mail address:[email protected] (J.-Y. Kim).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Late Pleistocene carbon isotope (δ13C) records from a paleolithic sedimentary sequence collected from Baeki, Hongcheon, central Korea, show long-term changes with superimposed short-term isotopic excursions. The δ13C value of the sedimentary organic matter, a proxy for past vegetation change, varied from − 26‰ to − 23‰ for the period between 30 and 90 ka, with a long-term variation similar to insolation changes. High-amplitude (− 1‰ to approximately − 1.5‰) fluctuations superimposed on the long-term changes in the δ13C values decreased during stronger summer monsoon intervals but increased during the weakened summer monsoon. This millennial-scale pattern is generally similar to Greenland Dansgaard–Oeschger (D–O) cycles. The possible connection between the Hongcheon area, Korea and high latitudes may be explained by atmospheric circulation changing in response to the D–O oscillations in the Northern Hemisphere.

Keywords

Carbon isotope (δ13C) recordsC4 plant abundanceEast Asian monsoonDansgaard–Oeschger (D–O) cycleVegetation change
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 79 , Issue 1 , January 2013 , pp. 55 - 60
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

An, Z.S., Huang, Y., Liu, W., Guo, Z., Steven, C., Li, L., Warren, P., Ning, Y., Cai, Y., Zhou, W., Lin, B., Zhang, Q., Cao, Y., Qiang, X., Chang, H., and Wu, Z. Multiple expansion of C4 plant biomass in East Asia since 7 Ma coupled with strengthened monsoon circulation. Geology 33, (2005). 705–708.Google Scholar
Berger, A.L. Long-term variations of caloric insolation resulting from the Earth's orbital elements. Quaternary Research 9, (1978). 139–167.Google Scholar
Bøtter-Jensen, L., Bulur, E., Duller, G.A.T., and Murray, A.S. Advances in luminescence instrument systems. Radiation Measurements 32, (2000). 523–529.Google Scholar
Boutton, T.W., Archer, S.R., Midwood, A.J., Zitzer, S.F., and Bol, R. δ13C values of soil organic carbon and their use in documenting vegetation change in a subtropical savanna ecosystem. Geoderma 82, (1998). 5–41.Google Scholar
Brincat, D., Yamada, K., Ishiwatari, R., Uemura, H., and Naraoka, H. Molecular-isotopic stratigraphy of long-chin n-alkanes in Lake Baikal Holocene and glacial age sediments. Organic Geochemistry 31, (2000). 287–294.Google Scholar
Cerling, T.E., Harris, J.M., MacFadden, B.J., Leakey, M.G., Quade, J., Eisenmann, V., and Ehleringer, J.M. Global vegetation change thourgh the Miocene/Pliocene boundary. Nature 389, (1997). 153–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chang, N.-K., and Lee, S.-K. Studies on the classification, productivity and distribution of C3, C4 and CAM plants in vegetations of Korea: I. C3 and C4 type plants. Korean Journal of Ecology 6, (1983). 62–69. (in Korean) Google Scholar
Chang, N.-K., and Lee, S.-K. Studies on the classification, productivity and distribution of C3, C4 and CAM plants in vegetations of Korea: III. The distribution of C3 and C4 type plants. Korean Journal of Ecology 6, (1983). 128–141. (in Korean) Google Scholar
Dansgaard, W. et al. Evidence for general instability of climate from a 250-kyr ice-core record. Nature 364, (1993). 218–220.Google Scholar
Fang, X.M. et al. Asian summer monsoon instability during the past 60,000 years: magnetic susceptibility and pedogenic evidence from the western Chinese Loess Plateau. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 168, (1999). 219–232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grootes, P.M., and Stuiver, M. Oxygen 18/16 variability in Greenland snow and ice with 103- to 105-year time resolution. Journal of Geophysical Research 102, (1997). 26455–26470.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hatté, C., and Guiot, J. Palaeoprecipitation reconstruction by inverse modelling using the isotopic signal of loess organic matter: application to the Nußloch loess sequence (Rhine Valley, Germany). Climate Dynamics 25, (2005). 315–327. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00382-005-0034-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hatté, C., Antoine, P., Fontugne, M., Lang, A., Rousseau, D.D., and Zöller, L. δ13C of loess organic matter as a potential proxy for paleoprecipitation. Quaternary Research 55, (2001). 33–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, Y., Street-Perrott, F.A., Metcalfe, S.E., Brenner, M., Moreland, M., and Freeman, K.H. Climate change as the dominant control on glacial–interglacial variations in C3 and C4 plant abundance. Science 293, (2001). 1647–1651.Google Scholar
Huang, Y., Shuman, B., Wang, Y., Webb, T., Grimm, E.C., and Jacobson, G.L. Climatic and environmental controls on the variation of C3 and C4 plant abundances in central Florida for the past 62,000 years. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 237, (2006). 428–435.Google Scholar
Hyashi, R., Takahara, H., Hayashida, A., and Takemura, K. Millennial-scale vegetation changes during the last 40,000 yr based on a pollen record from Lake Biwa, Japan. Quaternary Research 74, (2010). 91–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ijiri, A. et al. Paleoenvironmental changes in the northern area of the East China Sea during the past 42,000 years. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 219, (2005). 239–261.Google Scholar
Kim, S.-J. Baeki, Hongcheon. Journal of Korean Archaeology (2006). 12–14. (written in Korean) Google Scholar
Lee, G.-R., and Yoon, S.-O. Gravel weathering properties with formative age at Hongcheon River terraces, Central Korea. Journal of the Geological Society of Korea 39, (2003). 431–444. (written in Korean) Google Scholar
Lim, J., and Matsumoto, E. Bimodal grain-size distribution of aeolian quartz in a maar of Cheju Island, Korea, during the last 6500 years: its flux variation and controlling factor. Geophysical Research Letters 33, (2006). L21816 http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2006GL027432Google Scholar
Lim, J., and Matsumoto, E. Fine aeolian quartz records in Cheju Island, Korea, during the last 6500 years and pathway change of the westerlies over east Asia. Journal of Geophysical Research 113, (2008). D08106 http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2007JD008501Google Scholar
Lim, J., Nahm, W.H., Kim, J.K., and Yang, D.Y. Regional climate-driven C3 and C4 plant variation in the Cheollipo area, Korea, during the late Pleistocene. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 298, (2010). 370–377.Google Scholar
Meyers, P.A. Organic geochemical proxies of palaeoceannographic, palaeolimnologic, and palaeoclimatic processes. Organic Geochemistry 5–6, (1997). 213–250.Google Scholar
Nagashima, K., Tada, R., Tani, A., Sun, Y.B., Isozaki, Y., Toyoda, S., and Hasegawa, H. Millennial-scale oscillations of the westerly jet path during the last glacial period. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 40, (2011). 1214–1220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nordt, L.C., Boutton, T.W., Jacob, J.S., and Mandel, R.D. C4 plant productivity and climate-CO2 variations in South-Central Texas during the late Quaternary. Quaternary Research 58, (2002). 182–188.Google Scholar
O`Leary, M.H. Carbon isotope fractionation in plants. Phytochemistry 20, (1981). 553–567.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O`Leary, M.H. Carbon isotopes in photosynthesis. BioScience 38, (1988). 328–335.Google Scholar
Porter, S.C., and An, Z.S. Correlation between climate events in the North Atlantic and China during the last glaciation. Nature 375, (1995). 305–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rao, Z.G., Zhu, Z.Y., and Zhang, J.W. Different climatic controls of soil δ13Corg in three mid-latitude regions of the Northern Hemisphere since the Last Glacial period. Chinese Science Bulletin 52, (2007). 259–266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rohling, E.J., Mayewski, P.A., and Challenor, P. On the timing and mechanism of millennial-scale climate variability during the last glacial cycle. Climate Dynamics 20, 2–3 (2003). 257–267.Google Scholar
Sage, R.F., Wedin, D.A., and Li, M. The biogeography of C4 photosynthesis: patterns and controlling factors. Sage, R.F., and Monson, R.K. C4 Plant Biology. (1999). Academic Press, San Diego. 313–373.Google Scholar
Schefuß, E., Schouten, S., Jansen, J.H.F., and Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. Africa vegetation controlled by tropical sea surface temperatures in the mid-Pleistocene period. Nature 422, (2003). 418–421.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shin, J.-B., Naruse, T., and Yu, K.-M. The application of loess–paleosol deposits on the development age of river terraces at the midstream of Hongcheon River. Journal of the Geological Society of Korea 41, (2005). 323–333. (written in Korean) Google Scholar
Song, G.-W., and Kim, M.-J. OSL age dating for Paleolithic sediments in Baeki, Hongcheon. Report of Kangwon Research Institute of Cultural Heritage 96, (2009). 709–715. (written in Korean) Google Scholar
Street-Perrott, F.A., Huang, Y., Eglington, G., Barker, P., Khelifa, L.B., Karkness, D.D., and Olago, D.O. Impact of lower atmospheric carbon dioxide on tropical mountain ecosystems. Science 278, (1997). 1422–1426.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sun, Y.B., Clemens, S.C., Morrill, C., Lin, X.P., Wang, X.L., and An, Z.S. Influence of Atlantic meridional overturning circulation on the East Asian winter monsoon. Nature Geoscience 5, (2012). 46–49.Google Scholar
Takahara, H., Igarashi, Y., Hayashi, R., Kumon, F., Liew, P.-M., Yamamoto, M., Kawai, S., Oba, T., and Irino, T. Millennial-scale variability in vegetation records from the East Asian Island: Taiwan, Japan and Sakhalin. Quaternary Science Reviews 29, (2010). 2900–2917.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tieszen, L.L. Natural variations in the carbon isotope values of plants: implications for archaeology, ecology, and paleoecology. Journal of Archaeological Science 18, (1991). 227–248.Google Scholar
Wang, Y.J., Cheng, H., Edwards, R.L., An, Z.S., Wu, J.Y., Chen, C.-C., and Dorale, J.A. A high-resolution absolute-dated late Pleistocene monsoon record from Hulu Cave, China. Science 294, (2001). 2345–2348.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, Y.J., Chen, H., Edwards, R.L., Kong, X.G., Shao, X.H., Chen, S.T., Wu, J.Y., Jiang, X.Y., Wang, X.F., and An, Z.S. Millennial- and orbital-scale changes in the East Asian monsoon over the past 224, 000 years. Nature 451, (2008). 1090–1093.Google Scholar
Yamamoto, S., Kawamura, K., Seki, O., Meyers, P.A., Zheng, Y., and Zhou, W. Environmental influences over the last 16ka on compound-specific δ13C variations of leaf wax n-alkanes in the Hani peat deposit from northeast China. Chemical Geology 277, (2010). 261–268.Google Scholar
Zhang, Z., Zhao, M., Lu, H., and Faiia, A.M. Lower temperature as the main cause of C4 plant decline during the glacial periods on the Chinese Loess Plateau. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 214, (2003). 467–481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar