The East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) variability on orbital timescale has been extensively investigated in Quaternary loess and speleothems. However, EASM variability during pre-Quaternary time remains poorly understood. Here, we report a continuous upper Miocene cyclostratigraphic record from lake deposits of the Tianshui Basin, Northeast Tibet, to reconstruct past variations of the regional hydrological cycle. Our results, combined with previously published cyclostratigraphic records from Northeast Tibet, show that regional lake expansion cycles have been consistently dominated by ~100 kyr eccentricity forcing over most of the middle to late Miocene. These ~100 kyr cycles corroborate a significant forcing of the East Asian hydrological cycle by Antarctic ice sheet variations at that time. It is, however, unclear if this forcing affected EASM intensity or westerly-derived moisture supply to the Far East. Regardless of the nature of the main source of precipitation in Northeast Tibet during the Miocene, these results emphasize the existence of a strong teleconnection between Antarctic ice-sheet modulations and the continental climate of Asia.

Supplement to: Wang, Zhixiang; Huang, Chunju; Licht, Alexis; Zhang, Rui; Kemp, David B (2019): Middle to late Miocene eccentricity forcing on lake expansion in NE Tibet. Geophysical Research Letters