Variability of the Asian summer monsoon during the penultimate glacial/interglacial period inferred from stalagmite oxygen isotope records from Yangkou cave, Chongqing, Southwestern China.

The orbital-timescale dynamics of the Quaternary Asian summer monsoons (ASM) are frequently attributed to precession-dominated Northern Hemisphere summer insolation. However, this ASM variability is inferred primarily from oxygen isotope records of stalagmites, mainly from Sanbao cave in mainland China, and may not provide a comprehensive picture of ASM evolution. A new spliced stalagmite oxygen isotope record from Yangkou cave tracks summer monsoon precipitation variation from 124-206 thousand years ago in Chongqing, southwest China. When superimposed on the Sanbao record, the Yangkou-inferred precipitation time series is shown to support the strong ASM periods at marine isotope stages (MIS) 6.3, 6.5, and 7.1 and weak ASM intervals at MIS 6.2, 6.4, and 7.0. This consistency confirms that ASM events affected most of mainland China. We show that change in glacial/interglacial (G/IG) ASM intensity was also governed by the Walker Circulation by combining our results with published paleo-Pacific thermal and salinity records. One of the strongest ASM events over the past fiver G/IG cycles, at MIS 6.5, was enhanced by such zonal forcing associated with prevailing trade winds in the Pacific. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]