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A reconstruction of Holocene rainfall is presented for southwest China - an area prone to drought and flooding due to variability in the East Asian monsoon. The reconstruction is derived by comparing a new high-resolution stalagmite δ18O record with an existing record from the same moisture transport pathway. The new record is from Heshang Cave (30°27′N, 110°25′E; 294 m) and shows no sign of kinetic or evaporative effects so can be reliably interpreted as a record of local rainfall composition and temperature. Heshang lies 600 km downwind from Dongge Cave which has a published high-resolution δ18O record (Wang, Y.J., Cheng, H., Edwards, R.L., He, Y.Q., Kong, X.G., An, Z.S., Wu, J.Y., Kelly, M.J., Dykoski, C.A., Li, X.D., 2005. The Holocene Asian monsoon: links to solar changes and North Atlantic climate. Science 308, 854-857). By differencing co-eval δ18O values for the two caves, secondary controls on δ18O (e.g. moisture source, moisture transport, non-local rainfall, temperature) are circumvented and the resulting Δδ18O signal is controlled directly by the amount of rain falling between the two sites. This is confirmed by comparison with rainfall data from the instrumental record, which also allows a calibration of the Δδ18O proxy. The calibrated Δδ18O record provides a quantitative history of rainfall in southwest China which demonstrates that rainfall was 8% higher than today during the Holocene climatic optimum (≈ 6 ka), but only 3% higher during the early Holocene. Significant multi-centennial variability also occurred, with notable dry periods at 8.2 ka, 4.8-4.1 ka, 3.7-3.1 ka, 1.4-1.0 ka and during the Little Ice Age. This Holocene rainfall record provides a good target with which to test climate models. The approach used here, of combining stalagmite records from more than one location, will also allow quantification of rainfall patterns for past times in other regions. © 2008.

We report the presence of clear annual cycles in trace-element (Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca, Ba/Ca, and U/Ca) and stable-isotope (δ18O and δ13C) composition in an annually banded stalagmite from Heshang Cave, Hubei Province, China (30.44°N, 110.42°E). Through a combination of micromilling and in situ analysis (LA-MC-CPMS), we measured geochemical variations across 16 annual growth bands, to assess their potential as seasonal resolution paleomonsoon proxies. To facilitate comparison with modern climatic and environmental data we created composite annual cycles for each proxy by stacking 6 well-defined years. Speleothem δ18O variations (- 10.8‰ to - 8.5‰) are controlled by seasonal variations in temperature and drip-water δ18O which lead to maximum values during May, around the time of summer monsoon onset. This provides a chronological marker which can be used to constrain the timing of the other geochemical cycles. The composite cycles reveal a strong positive correlation between Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca, Ba/Ca, and δ13C values in the micromilled section (R2 = 0.65-0.98), with minimum values occurring around May. Maximum U/Ca values occur at the same time. We present simple models which show that these correlations, as well as the observed ranges of Mg/Ca (14.1 to 22.4 mmol/mol), Sr/Ca (0.2 to 0.4 mmol/mol), and δ13C (- 12.5 ‰ to - 10.7-), may be fully explained by progressive CO2 degassing and calcite precipitation from an initially saturated solution. Using realistic initial conditions for Heshang Cave (T = 18 °C, Mg/Casolution = 0.84 mol/mol, Sr/Casolution = 0.69 mmol/mol, δ13CTDIC = - 16.75‰), we find that the observed relationships can be produced by using DMg = 0.016 and DSr = 0.30, within the range of expected values. The model suggests that the fraction of Ca removed from the solution ranges from 0 to 30% to produce the observed seasonal cycles. This variation may be due to two related processes which occur during drier periods: (1) increased prior precipitation of calcite in the epikarst or on the cave ceiling, and/or (2) a greater degree of CO2 degassing and calcite precipitation on stalagmite surfaces when drip-rates are lower. Both mechanisms would have the effect of enriching speleothem Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca, Ba/Ca, and δ13C values during drier periods. Past variations in Heshang carbonate chemistry may therefore be useful as seasonal resolution proxies for past rainfall. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The stable isotopic composition of materials such as glacial ice, tree rings, lake sediments, and speleothems from low-to-mid latitudes contains information about past changes in temperature (T) and precipitation amount (P). However, the transfer functions which link δ18Op to changes in T or P, dδ18Op/d T and dδ18Op/d P , can exhibit significant temporal and spatial variability in these regions. In areas affected by the Southeast Asian monsoon, past variations in δ18O and δD of precipitation have been attributed to variations in monsoon intensity, storm tracks, and/or variations in temperature. Proper interpretation of past δ18Op variations here requires an understanding of these complicated stable isotope systematics. Since temperature and precipitation are positively correlated in China and have opposite effects on δ18Op, it is necessary to determine which of these effects is dominant for a specific region in order to perform even qualitative paleoclimate reconstructions. Here, we evaluate the value of the transfer functions in modern precipitation to more accurately interpret the paleorecord. The strength of these transfer functions in China is investigated using multiple regression analysis of data from 10 sites within the Global Network for Isotopes in Precipitation (GNIP). δ18Op is modeled as a function of both temperature and precipitation. The magnitude and signs of the transfer functions at any given site are closely related to the degree of summer monsoon influence. δ18Op values at sites with intense summer monsoon precipitation are more dependent on the amount of precipitation than on temperature, and therefore exhibit more negative values in the summer. In contrast, δ18Op values at sites that are unaffected by summer monsoon precipitation exhibit strong relationships between δ18Op and temperature. The sites that are near the northern limit of the summer monsoon exhibit dependence on both temperature and amount of precipitation. Comparison with simple linear models (δ18Op as a function of T or P) and a geographic model (δ18Op as a function of latitude and altitude) shows that the multiple regression model is more successful at reproducing δ18Op values at sites that are strongly influenced by the summer monsoon. The fact that the transfer function values are highly spatially variable and closely related to the degree of summer monsoon influence suggests that these values may also vary temporally. Since the Southeast Asian monsoon intensity is known to exhibit large variations on a number of timescales (annual to glacial-interglacial), and the magnitude and sign of the transfer functions is related to monsoon intensity, we suggest that as monsoon intensity changes, the magnitude and possibly even the sign of the transfer functions may vary. Therefore, quantitative paleoclimate reconstructions based on δ18Op variations may not be valid. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.