Crustal thickness and elevation variations control mountain building and climate change at convergent margins. As an archetypal Andean-type convergent margin, eastern Asia preserves voluminous magmas ideal for quantifying these processes and their impacts on climate. Here, we use Sr/Y and Ce/Y proxies to show that the crust experienced alternating thickening and thinning during the Late Mesozoic. We identify a noticeably thickened (50 to 55 kilometers) crust associated with tectonic shortening at 120 to 105 million years, corresponding to a >2500-meter-high coastal mountain range. Using climate simulation with the Community Earth System Model, we demonstrate that the mountain uplift changed Asian atmospheric circulation and precipitation patterns, increased inland aridity (~15%), and prompted the eastward desert expansion, contributing substantially to the arid zonal belt across mid- to low-latitude Asia. These findings—compatible with independent geological, geophysical, and climatic observations—have global implications for broadening our understanding of Earth-system interactions in the Cretaceous greenhouse world.

中文翻译：

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白垩纪沿海山地建设及其对东亚气候变化的潜在影响


地壳厚度和海拔变化控制着收敛边缘的造山和气候变化。作为典型的安第斯型辐合边缘，东亚保留了大量的岩浆，非常适合量化这些过程及其对气候的影响。在这里，我们使用 Sr/Y 和 Ce/Y 代理来表明地壳在晚中生代经历了交替增厚和变薄。我们在 120 至 1.05 亿年时发现了一个与构造缩短相关的明显增厚（50 至 55 公里）地壳，相当于 >2500 米高的沿海山脉。使用社区地球系统模型的气候模拟，我们证明山地隆起改变了亚洲大气环流和降水模式，增加了内陆干旱 （~15%），并促进了沙漠向东扩张，对亚洲中低纬度地区的干旱带做出了重大贡献。这些发现与独立的地质、地球物理和气候观测相符，对于拓宽我们对白垩纪温室世界中地球系统相互作用的理解具有全球意义。