青藏高原东北缘武山盆地中中新世炭屑记录及其古气候意义

doi:10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2021.279

Abstract

Abstract:

Fire activity is an important part of ecosystem dynamics which can be indicative of paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental change. Reconstructing the history of fire can help us to understand wildfire mechanisms and past climatic patterns. However, globally, there are few high-resolution fire records for the Miocene. Micro-charcoal preserved in sediments can provide a basis for reconstructing the history and variations of wildfire activity. Micro-charcoal concentration (MC) can be used as a proxy for the intensity of fire activity, and particle size can, to a certain degree, indicate the extent of fire activity. Micro-charcoal particle shape can also be usefully classified into two distinct shapes according to length/width ratio (L/W): sub-round (L/W<2.5) and sub-long (L/W>2.5); these represent woody and herbaceous sources, respectively. We use high-resolution charcoal records to reconstruct fire history in the Wushan Basin (a semi-aid and semi-humid region in China) during the Middle Miocene (15.30-13.60 Ma). We discuss fire-climate-vegetation relationships, and possible links to global changes, by comparing our findings with complementary data (specifically pollen from the Nanyu section of the Wushan Basin, and global deep-sea foraminiferal δ¹⁸O records). Our results show that: (1) Total micro-charcoal concentration (MC_total) varies from 59 to 4324 grains·g^-1 (averaging 835 grains·g^-1); particle sizes finer than 50 μm (MC<50 μm) form the main component; and sub-round particles (MC_R) are much more abundant than sub-long (MC_L) ones. Together, these findings suggest that fire activity was dominated by the burning of trees, which mainly occurred on a regional scale as fires in the forest area. From variations in MC_total over time, we divide the Middle Miocene fire history of the study area into two phases: Phase I (15.30-14.00 Ma), during which MC_total gradually increased (averaging 866 grains·g^-1); and Phase II (14.00-13.60 Ma), characterized by a dramatic decrease in MC_total (averaging 777 grains·g^-1). (2) Analysis of sporopollen assemblages has shown that there was open forest with low humidity during the period 15.30-14.38 Ma; humidity and forest density increased during the period 14.38-14.00 Ma; then tree cover and humidity decreased significantly during the period 14.00-13.60 Ma. (3) Variations in MC_total through the Middle Miocene show similar trends to arboreal pollen percentage, and the MC_R trend correlates strongly with changes in broad-leaved plant pollen percentage. Therefore, we propose that the intensity of fire activity in the Wushan Basin during the Middle Miocene was strongly linked to changing forest coverage, especially changes in the extent of broad-leaved forest. Additionally, by comparing the MC_total trend with global deep-sea δ¹⁸O records (from benthic foraminifera), we propose that global temperature changes may have influenced the intensity of fire activity through effects on vegetation in the study area.

Key words: Wushan Basin, Mid Miocene, charcoal, fire, paleoclimate

ZHOU Xuewen,WEI Xiao,CHEN Peng,SHI Tianyu,HUI Zhengchuang. Charcoal records during the Middle Miocene and its paleoclimatic significance in the Wushan Basin, northeastern Tibetan Plateau[J].Arid Land Geography, 2022, 45(3): 826-835.

Figures/Tables 5

References 56

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Charcoal records during the Middle Miocene and its paleoclimatic significance in the Wushan Basin, northeastern Tibetan Plateau

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