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  • Review Article
  • Published:

Reorganization of Asian climate in relation to Tibetan Plateau uplift

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment volume 3, pages 684–700 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Reorganization of the Asian climate from one dominated by global planetary wind systems to a regional monsoon climate is closely related to the surface uplift of the Tibetan Plateau (TP). However, evaluating this climatic reorganization is limited by difficulty in constraining the complex, multistaged uplift of the TP and contradictory evidence regarding Asian Monsoon onset. In this Review, we summarize proxy and model evidence for Asian Monsoon initiation at different latitudes to identify the main controls on monsoon evolution. Stratigraphy and palaeoclimate proxy records indicate that the Asian climate was reorganized in a two-stage northward expansion process. At ~41 million years ago (Ma), the monsoon advanced northwards from the tropic to the southern subtropical regions (~26° N, approximately present-day Yunnan), probably driven by central TP uplift, global cooling and rapid regression of the proto-Paratethys Sea. At ~26 Ma, the monsoon expanded northwards into temperate regions (~30–36° N, equivalent to the present-day Asian Monsoon boundary), likely driven by TP growth and global warming. Additional proxy records are needed to fill regional gaps, establishing more solid boundary conditions and improving parameter constraints for climate models.

Key points

  • Stratigraphic and proxy records from several key sites along the Asian Monsoon expansion route demonstrate that the Asian climate reorganization occurred in two stages, including northward expansion at ~41 million years ago (Ma) and attainment of a similar to modern pattern at ~26 Ma.

  • Before ~41 Ma, the Asian Monsoon was limited to a tropical monsoon system south of ~20–22° N, largely driven by seasonal fluctuations in the Intertropical Convergence Zone.

  • At ~41 Ma, the Asian Monsoon permanently expanded northwards to the southern subtropical region in East Asia, accompanied by simultaneous aridification in the northern Tibetan Plateau (TP) and Central Asia.

  • The modern-like pattern of the Asian Monsoon was established at ~ 26 Ma, which includes a north-west dry to south-east humid boundary along ~30–36 °N.

  • The two stages of reorganization were probably driven by a combination of south TP and Tanggula Shan uplift, retreat of the proto-Paratethys Sea, Himalaya–central TP uplift and global climate changes, respectively.

  • In turn, regional Asian climate and environmental changes between ~41 and ~26 Ma impacted global surface processes and climate, through increased erosion and silicate weathering of the Himalaya region, organic carbon burial in the south-east humid regions and increased dust emissions from aridification in Central Asia.

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Fig. 1: Cenozoic palaeogeographic reconstructions for the Eurasian region.
Fig. 2: The integrated temporal and spatial lithological changes of representative basins.
Fig. 3: Integrated vegetation and clay mineral records in both Asian Monsoon and arid regions.
Fig. 4: Integrated palaeoclimate records for East Asia since 26 Ma.
Fig. 5: Comparisons of Asian climate with tectonic and global climate records.
Fig. 6: The global impacts of Asian climate reorganization in relation to TP surface uplift.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank N. Barbolini, Y. Miao, Z. Tang, Z. Hui, X. Wang, L. Zhao and S. Wan for providing the original data. This work is supported by the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research (2019QZKK0707), the National Natural Science Foundation of China BSCTPES project (41988101-01) and the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA20070201).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Fuli Wu, Xiaomin Fang & Yibo Yang

  2. Geosciences Rennes, UMR-CNRS, University of Rennes, Rennes, France

    Guillaume Dupont-Nivet

  3. Key Laboratory of Western China’s Environment System (Ministry of Education), College of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China

    Junsheng Nie

  4. Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP), Université de Paris, CNRS, Paris, France

    Frédéric Fluteau

  5. School of Earth Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China

    Tao Zhang

  6. Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Water and Soil Conservation and Environmental Protection, College of Resources and Environment Sciences, Linyi University, Linyi, China

    Wenxia Han

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All authors contributed substantially to discussion of the content.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiaomin Fang.

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Nature Reviews Earth & Environment thanks H. Lu, A. Farnsworth, M. Ingalls and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Glossary

Proto-Paratethys Sea

A shallow epicontinental sea, extended from Cretaceous to Palaeogene times across Eurasia from the Mediterranean Tethys to the Tarim Basin in western China.

Intertropical Convergence Zone

(ITCZ). A convergence zone of the north-east and the south-east trade winds from the both hemispheres. The ITCZ runs along the thermal equator, but varies seasonally between roughly 20–22° in north and south latitude.

Solar insolation

A measure of the solar radiation flux that is incident per unit of horizontal area for a specified locality. It depends mainly on the tilt of the measuring surface, the height of the sun above the horizon and atmospheric conditions.

Obliquity

The angle between the rotational axis of an object and its orbital axis, the line that is perpendicular to its orbital plane. For the Earth, it is defined as the angle between the planes of the Earth’s equator and orbit with a current value of about 23° 26′ 11.57.

Eccentricity

A measure of deviation from circularity. A value of zero is a circular orbit and a large value means a higher uncircular curve. For the Earth whose orbit approximates an ellipse, eccentricity measures the departure of the Earth’s orbit from circularity.

Perihelion

The point nearest to the sun in the path of an orbiting celestial body (planet, asteroid or comet); the opposite of aphelion (the point that is furthest from the sun).

Paraceratherium linxiaense sp.

The largest land mammal during the Cenozoic, which lived in climates sufficiently warm and subhumid for sufficient feeding.

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Wu, F., Fang, X., Yang, Y. et al. Reorganization of Asian climate in relation to Tibetan Plateau uplift. Nat Rev Earth Environ 3, 684–700 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-022-00331-7

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