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Constraints on Paleoclimate from 11.5 to 5.0 ka from Shoreline dating and Hydrologic Budget Modeling of Baqan Tso, Southwestern Tibetan Plateau

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Tyler Huth ,
Adam M. Hudson ,
Jay Quade ,
Lei Guoliang  and
Zhang Hucai
Tyler Huth*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
Adam M. Hudson
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Jay Quade
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
Lei Guoliang
Affiliation:
College of Geographical Sciences, Fujian Normal University, Fujian 350007, China
Zhang Hucai
Affiliation:
College of Tourism and Geography, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming 650500, China
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail address:tyler.huth@utah.edu (T. Huth).
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Abstract

14C dating of shoreline deposits of closed-basin lake Baqan Tso in the western Tibetan Plateau shows that lake level regressed from the undated highstand (46 m above modern, 4.3 × modern surface area) of likely earliest Holocene age by 11.5 ka, and remained larger than modern until at least ≈ 5.0 ka. The shoreline record broadly matches other regional climate records, with lake level closely following Northern Hemisphere summer insolation overprinted by sub-millennial lake-level oscillations. A model coupling modern land runoff and lake surface heat closely reproduces estimated modern precipitation of ≈ 240 mm/yr. We estimate that the Baqan Tso basin required ≈ 380 mm/yr precipitation to sustain the maximum early Holocene lake area, a 55% increase over modern. Precipitation increases, not glacial meltwater, drove lake-level changes, as Baqan Tso basin was not glaciated during the Holocene. Our estimate assumes early Holocene insolation (≈ 1.3% overall increase), and mean annual increases of 2°C in temperature, and 37% in relative humidity. We additionally developed a Holocene precipitation history for Baqan Tso using dated paleolake areas. Using the modern and early Holocene model results as end-members, we estimate precipitation in the western Tibetan Plateau which was 300–380 mm/yr between 5.0 and 11.5 ka, with error of ± 29–57 mm/yr (± 12–15%).

Keywords

Tibetan PlateauPaleolakeCarbon-14 datingHoloceneShoreline datingPaleohydrologic modelPrecipitationMonsoon
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 83 , Issue 1 , January 2015 , pp. 80 - 93
Copyright
University of Washington

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