Holocene Monsoon Change and Abrupt Events on the Western Chinese Loess Plateau as Revealed by Accurately Dated Stalagmites

Here we present, to date, the highest-resolved (similar to 5 years) and most precisely dated Holocene monsoon climate reconstruction for the western Chinese Loess Plateau based on five replicated stalagmite delta O-18 records from Wuya Cave, eastern Gansu, China. Our record suggests the wettest period occurred between 10,500 and 6,600 a BP in this region. After this period, the amplitude of Asian summer monsoon decadal-scale variability progressively increased likely in response to increasing ENSO frequency since the middle Holocene. Our study reveals similar asymmetric centennial-scale double-plunging structures of the 8.2, 5.5, and 2.8 ka events in the western Chinese Loess Plateau, suggesting a possible role of solar activity whose impact was amplified around 8.2 ka BP by the meltwater flood. In contrast, the 4.2 ka event exhibit gradually declining monsoon rainfall with centennial- to decadal-scale fluctuations.