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Evolution of Asian monsoons and phased uplift of the Himalaya–Tibetan plateau since Late Miocene times

Naturevolume 411, pages62–66 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

The climates of Asia are affected significantly by the extent and height of the Himalayan mountains and the Tibetan plateau1,2,3,4. Uplift of this region began about 50 Myr ago, and further significant increases in altitude of the Tibetan plateau are thought to have occurred about 10–8 Myr ago4,5, or more recently. However, the climatic consequences of this uplift remain unclear. Here we use records of aeolian sediments from China6,7 and marine sediments from the Indian8,9,10 and North Pacific oceans11 to identify three stages of evolution of Asian climates: first, enhanced aridity in the Asian interior and onset of the Indian and east Asian monsoons, about 9–8 Myr ago; next, continued intensification of the east Asian summer and winter monsoons, together with increased dust transport to the North Pacific Ocean11, about 3.6–2.6 Myr ago; and last, increased variability and possible weakening of the Indian and east Asian summer monsoons and continued strengthening of the east Asian winter monsoon since about 2.6 Myr ago. The results of a numerical climate-model experiment, using idealized stepwise increases of mountain–plateau elevation, support the argument that the stages in evolution of Asian monsoons are linked to phases of Himalaya–Tibetan plateau uplift and to Northern Hemisphere glaciation.

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Figure 1: Locations of geographic features and terrestrial and marine records.
Figure 2: Terrestrial and marine records from the Chinese Loess plateau and the southern margin of Asia.
Figure 3: Climate indices from an experiment with four idealized stages of Himalaya–Tibetan plateau elevation (HT-1 to HT-4) and one glacial maximum stage (G) made with the NCAR climate model CCM3.
Figure 4: Terrestrial and marine records dating from 6 to about 2 Myr ago from China and the North Pacific, and indicating changes in Asian climate and global-scale glaciation.

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Acknowledgements

The model simulations used climate models and computer resources provided by the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. This work was supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, and the Chinese National Science Foundation, and by grants to the University of Wisconsin and Brown University from the US National Science Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Box 17, Xi’an, 710054, China

    An Zhisheng

  2. Center for Climatic Research, Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1225 W. Dayton Street, Madison, 53706, Wisconsin, USA

    John E. Kutzbach

  3. Geological Sciences, Brown University, Box 1846, Providence, Rhode Island, 02912-1846, USA

    Warren L. Prell

  4. Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington, Box 351310, Seattle, Washington, 98195, USA

    Stephen C. Porter

Authors
  1. An Zhisheng

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  2. John E. Kutzbach

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  3. Warren L. Prell

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  4. Stephen C. Porter

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Correspondence toJohn E. Kutzbach.

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Zhisheng, A., Kutzbach, J., Prell, W.et al. Evolution of Asian monsoons and phased uplift of the Himalaya–Tibetan plateau since Late Miocene times.Nature411, 62–66 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/35075035

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