A high resolution climate reconstruction from annually laminated tufa deposits of the Qilian Mountains, NW China

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Steffen Mischke
• Subject Area: Palaeontology
• Term: from 2005 to 2007
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5442303

In order to fully understand the causes and mechanisms of recentenvironmental change, it is necessary to develop highlydetailed and reliable records of past fluctuations. Unfortunately,there is a paucity of high-resolution paleoclimate datafrom the Tibetan plateau and Gobi desert transition zone. Asthe physical and isotopic hydrologic patterns in this regionare very complex, and thus very hard to model, there is a greatnecessity for a more accurate and thorough paleorecord. Avtivelyformed spring tufa carbonate from the central Qilian Mountains,located at 37°27¿N. 101°48¿E may contain a detailedrecord of climate change. The climate of this region is dominatedby the rainy summer monsoon and the dry winter monsoon. Theintensity of the Asian monsoon has undergone severe changesthroughout the Holocene which may be recorded in the geochemistryof the laminated tufa deposits. Stable isotope variationsalong vertical axes of tufa deposition combined with preciseU-series dating and lamination counting may provide a hightemporal resolution record of the summer monsoon intensity overthe last several thousand years.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants