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Changes in Earth’s eccentricity, obliquity, and precession can cause quasi-cyclic variations in Earth’s climate that may be preserved in sedimentary archives. Recent research has shown that shallow-marine paleoclimate archives in mid- to low-latitude regions have the potential to preserve changes in hydroclimate driven by precession, given sufficient space for sediment accumulation and a high sedimentation rate. Our integrated stratigraphic study of the Kueichulin Formation in Taiwan’s Western Foreland Basin (WFB) uses magnetostratigraphy, biostratigraphy and astrochronology to constrain time, with the aim to assess how the evolution of a rapidly uplifting mountain range affected the preservation of climate cycles in the shallow-marine record.Using time-series analysis of two sets of gamma-ray borehole data from the late Miocene to Pliocene Kueichulin Formation (WFB), we found that despite increasing monsoon intensities between 8 and 3 Ma, the preservation of precession-driven East Asian Summer Monsoon variability was low during the early stages of Taiwan orogenesis (before 5.4 Ma). Prior to 5.4 Ma, the Taiwan Strait had not yet formed. Consequently, the southeastern margin of Eurasia was open to the Pacific Ocean, and so the depositional environments in the WFB were susceptible to reworking by large waves. This led to the preservation of low-frequency eccentricity and obliquity, but not higher-frequency precession.Despite increasing basin subsidence from 5.4 to 4.9 Ma, the preservation of orbital oscillations is low. This is attributed to either low sedimentation rates at deeper water depths, which could obscure variations in sediment input or result in cycles below the resolution of the gamma-ray logging tool, or cycles not being detectible in the gamma-ray proxy record due to a lack of contrasting lithology. After 4.9 Ma and up to 3.2 Ma, the Taiwan orogen became the dominant sediment source for the WFB, and rapid growth of the orogen shielded the WFB from high-energy waves generated in the Pacific Ocean. The increased sediment influx and the formation of a semi-sheltered strait, combined with increased space for sediment accumulation in the WFB, resulted in enhanced preservation of precession-driven East Asian Summer Monsoon variability.

Collision between the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate in the late Miocene-early Pliocene resulted in the uplift of Taiwan, and lithospheric flexure to the west formed the adjacent Western Foreland Basin (WFB). Petrographic studies of late Miocene to Recent sediment and sedimentary strata in the WFB indicate that Taiwan was the main sediment source to the WFB in the early- to mid-Pleistocene, and prior to this, sediments were assumed to be derived primarily from the Eurasian continent. However, uplift of Taiwan began significantly earlier, and sediment derived from the island should reflect the onset and acceleration of uplift and subsequent erosion.To resolve the timing of changes in sediment sources in the WFB, we present clay mineralogy, carbon and nitrogen geochemistry, and magnetic susceptibility data from the late Miocene to late Pliocene Kueichulin Fm that outcrops along the Da’an River in western Taiwan. This formation is composed of the lower Kuantaoshan Member, the middle Shihliufen Shale, and the upper Yutengping Sandstone. Clay mineralogy shows an upward increase in illite and illite crystallinity, and a decrease in chlorite and kaolinite starting at the base of the Shihliufen Shale, and this suggests that rapid erosion of Taiwan became a major sediment source to the WFB between the late Miocene and early Pliocene (Shihliufen Shale). δ13Corg­­­ and C/N ratios preserve the dominance of Taiwan-derived sediment in the early Pliocene where there is a marked change from dominantly marine- to dominantly terrestrially sourced carbon at the transition from the Shihliufen Shale to the overlying Yutengping Sandstone. Finally, a rapid decrease (>50%) in magnetic susceptibility across the Shihliufen/Yutengping boundary indicates a significant dilution of magnetic minerals deposited in the WFB by the high flux of non-magnetic minerals delivered from the Taiwan orogenic belt. Together, these datasets record a major shift in sediment source to the WFB during the late Miocene to early Pliocene, and that Taiwan became the dominant source of sediment supply to the WFB by the early Pliocene, approximately two million years earlier than previously thought.

The stratigraphic records of shallow-marine environments are not commonly regarded as excellent climate archives because of their presumed temporal incompleteness. However, a recent study of lower Pleistocene strata in the Western Foreland Basin, Taiwan, reveals high-resolution records of past climate oscillations preserved within shallow-marine strata. Deriving such narratives is made possible because of the high accommodation and sedimentation rates in the basin, which enhanced the completeness of the stratigraphic record.Here, we astrochronologically tune the Chinshui Shale and the lower part of the Cholan Formation of the Western Foreland Basin from approximately 3.5 to 2 Ma. These strata are calibrated to global deep-sea stable oxygen isotope (δ18O) records with established time scales detailing global climate change during the studied time period. The Chinshui Shale is mudstone-dominated and was deposited mostly in offshore settings, while the Cholan Formation comprises mainly heterolithic strata deposited in shallower settings (i.e., offshore transition, nearshore) of the paleo-Taiwan Strait. The data used herein are two borehole gamma-ray profiles through the Chinshui Shale and the Cholan Formation that have a proximal-distal relation to Taiwan. High gamma-ray values reflect clay-rich intervals and correlate to lower values of δ18O in the global reference records. Low gamma-ray values point to sand-rich packages and correlate with higher values of δ18O.Preliminary results show that the alternating clay-rich to sand-rich deposits during the late Pliocene to early Pleistocene are orbitally paced. The results allow us to i) tune the upper Pliocene–lower Pleistocene Chinshui Shale and lower part of the Cholan Formation, ii) refine the magneto-biostratigraphic framework established for this time interval in the Western Foreland Basin of Taiwan, and iii) lay the groundwork for connecting climatic changes in Taiwan during this time period to the wider frame of global climate change.