We review here proxy records of temperature and precipitation in China during the Holocene, especially the last two millennia. The quality of proxy data, methodology of reconstruction, and uncertainties in reconstruction were emphasized in comparing different temperature and precipitation reconstruction and clarifying temporal and spatial patterns of temperature and precipitation during the Holocene. The Holocene climate was generally warm and wet. The warmest period occurred in 9.6-6.2 cal ka BP, whereas a period of maximum monsoon precipitation started at about 11.0 cal ka BP and lasted until about 8.0-5.0 cal ka BP. There were a series of millennial-scale cold or dry events superimposed on the general trend of climate changes. During past two millennia, a warming trend in the 20th century was clearly detected, but the warming magnitude was smaller than the maximum level of the Medieval Warm Period and the Middle Holocene. Cold conditions occurred over the whole of China during the Little Ice Age (AD 1400-AD 1900), but the warming of the Medieval Warm Period (AD 900-AD 1300) was not distinct in China, especially west China. The spatial pattern of precipitation showed significant regional differences in China, especially east China. The modern warm period has lasted 20 years from 1987 to 2006. Bi-decadal oscillation in precipitation variability was apparent over China during the 20th century. Solar activity and volcanic eruptions both were major forcings governing the climate variability during the last millennium. 相似文献
A new pollen record from the lake of Co Ngoin in the central Tibetan Plateau provides information on the vegetation and climate changes during the last 2.8 Ma. Seven major significant changes in pollen associations indicate the processes of vegetation change and possible tectonic uplifts. The seven changes in vegetation succession include a temperate montane conifer and broad-leaved mixed forest, cold temperate montane dark conifer forest, alpine shrub-meadow and alpine desert, montane dark coniferous forest and alpine shrub meadow, montane dark coniferous forest and alpine shrub meadow, montane dark coniferous forest and alpine meadow, and alpine desert and meadow. The pollen record provides the evidence of at least five times tectonic uplifts occurring at about 2.58 Ma, 1.87 Ma, 1.17 Ma, 0.83 Ma, and 0.3 Ma ago, respectively. Before 0.8 Ma, this region maintained the altitude below 4000 m a.s.l. Larger amplitude of uplift occurring at about 0.8 Ma ago enforced the plateau rising into cryosphere, shaping the basic topographic pattern of modern plateau. The major successions in vegetation of this area were largely controlled by stepwise uplift of the Tibetan Plateau.