Sedimentology and stable oxygen isotope record of the northern South China Sea

High-resolution sediment records from the South China Sea reveal a winter monsoon dominated glacial regime and a summer monsoon dominated Holocene regime during the last glacial cycle. A fundamental change between regimes occurred during deglaciation through a series of millennial reoccurrences of century-scale changes in the East Asian monsoon (EAM) climate. These abrupt events centered at 17.0, 15.9, 15.5, 14.7, 13.5, 13.9, 13.3, 12.1, 11.5, and 10.7 14C ka correlate well with the millennial-scale events in the Santa Barbara Basin and the Arabian Sea, i.e. a relationship between EAM and El Niño/Southern Oscillation systems. The abrupt increases in summer monsoon imply enhanced heat transport from low-latitude sea area to the midlatitude/high-latitude land area. The phase relationship between events of EAM and ice sheet may reflect a faster EAM response and a slower ice sheet response to the insolation change. A far-reaching conclusion is that the EAM might have triggered the Northern Hemisphere deglaciation.

南海高分辨率沉积记录揭示：末次冰期旋回内，冰期阶段以冬季风为主导气候态，全新世阶段则以夏季风为主导气候态。冰消期发生了两种气候态的根本性转变，这一转变伴随东亚季风（East Asian Monsoon，EAM）气候出现一系列千年尺度重现的百年尺度波动。这些以17.0、15.9、15.5、14.7、13.5、13.9、13.3、12.1、11.5及10.7个14C千年为发生年代的突变事件，与圣巴巴拉盆地和阿拉伯海记录的千年尺度气候事件高度契合，证实了东亚季风与厄尔尼诺-南方涛动（El Niño/Southern Oscillation）系统之间的关联。夏季风的突变增强现象，暗示低纬度海域向中高纬度陆地区域的热量输送显著增强。东亚季风突变事件与冰盖活动的相位关系，或可反映在天文日照变化的驱动下，东亚季风响应更为迅速，而冰盖的响应则相对迟缓。一项具有深远影响的结论表明，东亚季风或许曾触发了北半球的冰消过程。