Monsoon Variations of the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau During the Last 12,000 Years——Geochemical Evidence From the Sediments in the Siling Lake

Although the monsoon circulation of the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibetan) Plateau, in response to the seasonal variation of the atmospheric heat contrast between the plateau and the surrounding free atmosphere, is important in influencing the atmospheric circulation of the Northern Hemisphere, there are only a few continuous paleoclimatic records available, and these are limited to the plateau’s margin. Here we present a 12,000-a climatic record from Siling Lake in the central Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, constructed from the geochemical and stable isotopic studies on the sediment core CH8803, which shows that in