The mid-latitude Westerlies and the East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) are two major atmospheric circulation systems influencing dust activities in the Northern Hemisphere (NH). However, the interplay between these wind systems and their effects on regional dust activities remain poorly understood. In this study, we present a well-dated aeolian sedimentary sequence from the loess section (ZES) on the

The presence of the Tibetan Plateau is believed to lower pCO2atm by stimulating weathering carbon sink, during which the global ocean is considered a passive carbon reservoir despite the tremendous marine carbon inventory. Yet, recent studies reveal that the orographic forcing of the Tibetan Plateau could lead to drastic changes in ocean circulation, which would substantially affect basin-scale carbon

The Cambrian Explosion was an unprecedented bioevolutionary event that witnessed rapid diversification of marine invertebrate phyla and establishment of metazoan-dominated marine ecosystems. Nitrogen is a critical nutrient element essential for all life on Earth, and its biogeochemical cycling in the ocean is tightly associated with marine redox conditions. Numerous nitrogen isotope investigations

Net Primary Productivity (NPP) is an index for assessing ecosystem services and productivity on land. However, previous studies focused solely on NPP changes across ecological regions, overlooking the comparative advantage of the impacts of land changes and climatic variations on various forms of NPP as indicators of ecosystem degradation and restoration across different eco-political milieux. This

There are still a series of controversies about the variation patterns and spatial differences of the Asian summer monsoon (ASM) during the Heinrich Stadials (HSs). Using stalagmite δ18O records from Yangkou Cave, Southwest China, this study revealed the climate dynamics of 6 weak ASM events corresponding to Heinrich events since the last glacial period. During the Asian Heinrich Stadial (AHS) 1–6

Heterotrophic bacterial production represents an important part of microbial food web processes in marine ecosystems and plays a significant role in biogeochemical carbon cycle. As environmental factors have changed in marginal seas of the Western Pacific Ocean over the past 20 years, the response and regulation of bacterial production remain poorly understood. In this study, we quantified bacterial

Global warming has significantly accelerated the retreat of glaciers and expansion of glacial lakes in the central Himalayas, thereby heightening the risks of various disasters, including ice avalanches, rock avalanches, and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). These events pose considerable threats to the lives and properties of individuals residing in downstream areas. Consequently, conducting comprehensive

The Hongguleleng Formation in western Junggar, northwest China preserves a rich variety of fossils and was previously regarded as a “refugium” during the Late Devonian biotic crisis. Uncertainty in the age of the Hongguleleng Formation has persisted for a considerable time. In this study, cyclostratigraphic analysis was carried out on the Upper Devonian Bulongguoer and Wulankeshun sections from western

The chemical weathering of basalt rocks is crucial for stabilizing Earth's habitability and carbon cycle. Currently, the soil chemistry and weathering rates of basalt under significant aeolian influence are not fully understood. This study addresses this gap by investigating the U geochemistry and regolith production rates in a highly weathered basalt profile in Southern China. The εNd(0) values decrease

The millennial-scale hydroclimate variability in East Asia has been debated for a long time due to the lack of reliable precipitation records from southern China and inconsistent model simulations. Here, we reconstruct a 40-kyr rainfall record for southern China and Taiwan based on enviro-magnetic and clay mineral proxy parameters from a northern South China Sea marine sediment core. Both proxies suggest

The Miocene-Pliocene boundary (∼5.3 million years ago, Ma) represents a climate transition, where global warming resulted in a rise in sea surface temperatures from near modern values in the late Miocene, to sustained, warmer than modern values in the early Pliocene. Estimated atmospheric CO2 concentrations were within the range of anthropogenic values. Thus, this transition provides an opportunity

Rapid climate change is reshaping the ecological dynamics of coral reefs, posing significant challenges in understanding the long-term effects of environmental disturbances on reef development. In the current study, we conducted a chronological analysis and regional review of Holocene massive Porites corals in the northern South China Sea, revealing a unique episodic growth pattern, including a 2500-year

The terrigenous sediment source-to-sink processes in marginal seas are governed by intricate interactions among climate, sea level, and ocean currents. The continental slope of the northern South China Sea (SCS) provides an excellent setting to examine these processes due to its substantial terrigenous influx and continuous sedimentation. In this study, we present a high-resolution sedimentary record

The Nama Group in southern Namibia captures one of the best-preserved records of the last ∼10 million years of the Ediacaran Period, recording pivotal changes to Earth's biosphere and oceans. Within the Nama Group, the lower Schwarzrand Subgroup preserves early complex bilaterian trace fossils, but uncertainties surrounding the ages of their first occurrences hinder global correlation and the understanding

The simultaneous occurrence of extremes (e.g., droughts) at multiple regions (usually termed as spatial compounding of extremes), such as croplands, may lead to large impacts on global food security. Recently, the concurrent droughts and hot extremes at a specific location, which are referred to as compound droughts and hot extremes (CDHEs), have garnered considerable attention due to the potentially

Disentangling the environmental determinants of tropical biomes is crucial for understanding their response to climate change. This study investigated the effect of climate and soil-related variables on biome transitions in the Caribbean region of Colombia and Panama, focusing on xerophytic forest (XF), tropical dry forest (TDF), and tropical rainforest (TRF). We analyzed the climatic variables at

Inland Asia is a major global source of dust and the dust transport from this region has global implications. However, the processes and forcing mechanisms of dust activity in inland Asia during the Holocene are still debated due to the lack of high-quality records with accurate dating, unambiguous dust signals, and a high resolution. Here we present a well-dated record of dust activity based on the

The burial of terrestrial organic carbon (OC) in marine sediments is a crucial process in the global carbon cycle, as it transfers carbon from relatively active to inactive reservoirs. However, there remains a limited understanding of the spatial and temporal variations in the source and age characteristics of terrestrial OC in marine sediments, which determine its ability to serve as a contemporary

Glacial lakes are expanding exponentially in the cryospheric environment of the Hindukush-Karakoram-Himalayas (HKH). Rapid glacier melting due to an above mean global annual temperature increase in HKH is attributed as the main reason for the expansion of the glacial lakes. The rapid expansion of glacial lakes increases the risk of future Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) events in the HKH.

The Chicxulub asteroid that ended the Cretaceous Era ∼66.05 million years ago caused a prolonged time of global darkness – the impact winter – leading to mass extinctions. Elements from the asteroid, including the platinum group elements (PGEs) osmium, iridium and platinum are known from the globally distributed boundary clay but their carrier elements have so far been unknown. We identify, for the

The direct precipitation model of Mn‑carbonate formation, based on investigation of the modern sedimentary record and simulation experiments, is commonly used to explain the genesis of both modern and ancient Mn‑carbonate deposits. This process is considered to be primarily influenced by physicochemical conditions and lacks microbial mediation. Despite the established role of microbes in global Mn

Zooplankton fecal pellets constitute a major component of passively sinking particles in the ocean. The sinking of zooplankton fecal pellets provides an efficient vehicle for the transfer and sequestration of particulate organic carbon (POC) in the deep sea, which has been widely reported in different regions. However, most existing studies focus on the sinking flux of fecal pellets within the upper

Dynamic changes in the cryosphere have profound implications for global warming. This study, through case studies of seasonal ice lakes and glacier-originated rivers, complemented by global data, offers novel insights into radium (Ra) isotopes' characteristic in the cryosphere. It elucidates the quantification of the “Ra quartet” as tracers in frozen hydrological processes across various timescales

Micropaleontological and geochemical analyses in samples from the Coniacian-Maastrichtian-aged Smoking Hills and Mason River formations in the Anderson Basin of the northern mainland coast of Arctic Canada provide a refined picture of the environmental conditions occurring in the incipient southern Arctic Ocean at the end of the Cretaceous. These units were deposited within a 22 myr time span in an

Understanding the causes of variations in global atmospheric methane concentration (GAMC) is an important issue in the study of global climatic changes. Long-term GAMC varied rhythmically on glacial-interglacial timescales, and broadly followed the orbital/suborbital cycles in northern hemisphere solar insolation. Yet the late Holocene has witnessed an increasing GAMC trend since the mid-Holocene,

Through biological productivity and ocean-atmosphere CO2 exchange, North Pacific mid-depth ventilation has the potential to regulate regional climate over glacial timescales. Nevertheless, the subtropical Northwest Pacific currently lacks continuous long redox records that would enable us to evaluate this process. In this instance, we present δ98/95Mo and redox-sensitive trace element data derived

Climate controls chemical weathering of silicate rocks on the transport of iron (Fe) and its isotopes from continent to the ocean, impacting the global Fe geochemical cycle. However, it's elusive if Fe isotope fractionation during silicate weathering reflects variations in climate factors. This study examines two granite-derived regolith profiles; one in Beijing (BJ), representing a temperate climate

The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a primary driver of interannual variability in extreme precipitation in many regions worldwide. Understanding the relationship between ENSO and extreme precipitation is crucial, as it has implications for understanding the interannual variability of flood risk. We investigated the frequency of extreme daily precipitation in Southwest Asia across different

Microbial sulfate reduction (MSR) and associated pyritic sulfide formation are important diagenetic processes in marine sediments. The sulfur isotopic composition of pyrite (δ34Spyr) is proven to be sensitive to changes in sedimentation rates and the content and reactivity of organic carbon, especially on the continental shelves and upper slopes (water depth < 350 m). However, the diagenetic responses

Recent high-resolution sediment records, such as Greenland ice cores and Chinese stalagmites, have greatly enhanced our understanding of millennial-scale climate variability during Heinrich Stadials (HSs) of the Last Glacial Period, particularly highlighting the diminished intensity of the Asian Summer Monsoon (ASM). These records reveal precise temporal correlations between high-latitude climate changes

Exceptionally preserved fossil deposits provide detailed information on fossil assemblages and critical data that illustrate the complexities of Cambrian marine ecosystems. The Balang Lagerstätte (Cambrian Stage 4), one of the important biotas from the slope facies of Guizhou Province, yields diverse and abundant well–preserved fossils distributed across a variety of fossil localities. Here we present

Sea ice is an essential component in polar regions and plays an important role in global climate changes. Knowing sea-ice variabilities on long-term time scales is critical to understand the rapid sea-ice decline in recent decades and to predict future Arctic changes. In this study, a suite of biomarkers including highly branched isoprenoids (IP25 and HBI III (Z)) and sterols (brassicasterol and dinosterol)

The dual pressures of global warming and increased anthropogenic activities pose significant threats to terrestrial vegetation ecosystems. To better understand the impacts of climate change and human activities on terrestrial vegetation ecosystems, we reconstructed the changes in vegetation and plant biomass over the past 4500 years using n-alkane records from sediments of two alpine lakes in northwestern

Dust activity in East Asia has shown multi-scale temporal variations in the past. Many studies have been devoted to the interannual variations of dust activity, but little attention is paid to its variations at the intra-seasonal scale and our knowledge on this is still limited. Several dust storms have occurred over East Asia in spring 2023, which is taken as a good example for us to explore the intra-seasonal

Despite its critical role in regulating the global climate and carbon cycle, the evolution of deep Pacific circulation has not been fully deciphered during the last glacial cycle. The effect of deep Pacific hydrographic change (e.g. oxygenation and circulation) on atmospheric CO2 variation is still uncertain. Here, we study redox-sensitive elements including V-U-Mn and benthic foraminiferal δ13C at

Evapotranspiration (ET) is a crucial component of both the water cycle and energy balance, with vegetation being a key factor influencing ET. Vegetation impacts ET primarily through two modes: vegetation growth change (VGC) and vegetation type conversion (VTC). Despite the different mechanisms by which VGC and VTC influence ET, previous studies have rarely differentiated their individual effects. This

Trimethylamine (TMA) is one of the dominant volatile amines that can impact atmospheric nucleation and serve as important carbon and nitrogen sources for microbes in marine environments. Despite the significance of this climate relevant gas, the distribution, fluxes and controls of TMA remain largely unconstrained in the ocean. Here we reported the abundance of TMA in the water column, sediment and

Central Asia is a substantial source of long-range-transported dust, yet the historical and geological variability of dust activity in this region remains poorly understood. This study presents a Holocene record of dust activity from a 6.2-m loess section located near Tashkent in the westerlies-dominated region of eastern Uzbekistan, Central Asia. Utilizing the quartz optically stimulated luminescence

The accurate paleoelevation reconstruction of the Qilian Mountains is critical to advancing our understanding the integrity of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) uplift model, its deep structural mechanisms, and corresponding connections with climatic, environmental, and biodiversity changes. Recently, the first quantitative reconstruction of the paleomidrange (i.e., average elevation of the basin and mountains)

The early Toarcian (∼183 Ma) was characterized by pronounced climate warming associated with massive release of 13C-depleted carbon to the exogenic system, as evidenced by globally recognized negative carbon-isotope excursions (N-CIE) in biospheric carbon reservoirs. Global warming during this interval triggered a variety of environmental perturbations, of which large-scale marine deoxygenation (as

This study aims to elucidate the environmental changes signified by biogenic components, assess fluctuations in upwelling over the past century, and evaluate the potential risks associated with variations in coastal upwelling intensity on the degradation of fisheries within the Zhoushan Fishing Ground. High-resolution sediment records were established to reveal long-term variations in Zhoushan coastal

Seismic facies analysis is the most widely used method to identify event deposits from subaqueous environments. However, the internal structures of a chaotic or transparent seismic unit that represent event deposits are usually poorly imaged. This is primarily due to the limited resolution (usually <10 m) of commonly available multi-channel seismic reflection data. As a consequence, potential (sub)meter-thick

We investigate the contributions of natural (geogenic) and anthropogenic sources of lead (Pb) to the Nee Soon Swamp Forest, a relatively undisturbed catchment in Singapore. Using a Bayesian statistical source tracking approach with Pb isotopes preserved in sediment sections, our findings reveal a predominance of geogenic Pb in contemporary sediments, despite the significant presence of anthropogenic

Forest management policies play a crucial role in enhancing the carbon sequestration capacities of forests. China's current harvest-prohibitive policies may result in the development of old-growth forests and the eventual saturation of their carbon stocks. This study combines empirically derived forest biomass growth models, spatially explicit information on forest age and live biomass carbon stock

The aeolian deserts of northwestern China are major landscape types in the arid regions of the Northern Hemisphere, and collectively they are one of the largest dust source regions on Earth. However, owing to occurrence of sedimentary hiatuses within aeolian deposits in the deserts, we lack clear knowledge of the history of Holocene aeolian activity and the interaction between aeolian processes and

The accuracy of paleothermometers is a prerequisite for understanding the past sea surface temperature (SST) changes in the tropical seas. Here, we analyzed the SST estimates reconstructed by four lipid proxies with common linear and newly advanced models in parallel in a sediment core collected from the southern South China Sea (SCS). After excluding the impact of terrestrial input, all of the four

Rapidly intensifying global land drought poses severe threats to human societies, economies, and ecosystems. While previous studies have primarily investigated long-term drought trends, the frequency and concurrence of trend turnings have been largely neglected. In this study, we address this gap by employing the Running Slope Difference (RSD)-t-test to quantify trend turning frequency in Afro-Eurasian

Sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) from plants offers an effective proxy for estimating gross primary productivity (GPP) by modeling SIF-GPP relationships, a widely used method to evaluate the global carbon sink. However, most SIF-GPP models ignore SIF differences between shaded and sunlit leaves, resulting in GPP underestimation, particularly in dense vegetation. This study aims to partition

In the context of climate change, the functionality of ecosystems is primarily influenced by the availability of water and energy supply. However, there is limited research that comprehensively uses energy indicators to explore how climate change affects the water and energy limiting states of ecosystems. Here we evaluated the historical and future water and energy limitations using the Ecosystem Limitation

With climate change, the frequency and intensity of wet and dry events are increasing, as is the uncertainty of their impact on tree growth. There have been studies on the effects of wet and dry conditions on tree growth, but there is a lack of comparisons of tree adaptation strategies to different types of wet and dry events in heterogeneous environments. Therefore, we explored differences in the

The El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the most influential climatic phenomenon affecting global ecosystems, water use, and agriculture on an interannual scale. However, limited instrumental records make it difficult to fully understand the characteristics of ENSO events. In this study, we used both monthly-resolved Porites coral δ18O records, i.e., living Porites corals of δ18O–HYDL4 (1992–2015)

Foreland fold-and-thrust belts (FTBs) are shaped by the coupled influence of surface processes (e.g., erosion, sedimentation) and deep geological processes (e.g., plate rheology, flexure and kinematics) across various timescales. These processes record multiple phases of orogenic evolution and are crucial for understanding the interplay between mountain building and the sedimentary basin filling. In

Chemical weathering plays an important role in modulating Earth's climate. However, chemical weathering is usually influenced by multiple factors simultaneously (e.g., climate, topography and lithology), and it is difficult to understand how these variables modulate the effect of chemical weathering on atmospheric pCO2. In this study, we collected and analyzed water chemistry and multiple isotopes

Paleoceanographic studies rely heavily on an accurate stratigraphy as well as the interpretation of the oxygen isotope (δ18O) records generated from microfossils. In this study, we present new planktonic foraminiferal assemblage and stable oxygen isotope records of both planktonic and benthic foraminifera from sedimentary deposits at the IODP Site U1443 on the northern Ninety East Ridge in the equatorial

Peatlands are a key carbon sink and play an important role in the global carbon cycle and climate change. Understanding the process of peatland initiation is essential to understand the carbon sink functions of peatlands. While the climate is widely recognized as the main driver that controls the peatland initiation, the importance of topography, a limiting factor that influencing local climate conditions

A greater frequency of sea fog/low clouds may be observed in the Arctic under the effects of global warming, which strongly affects the safety of navigation in the Arctic. Using moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) infrared multiband remote sensing data, in this paper, we construct a detection algorithm for sea fog and low clouds in the daytime during the summer period in the Arctic

Yi (2023) proposed a new deep Western Pacific ventilation hypothesis using beryllium (10Be/9Be) and 230Thex dates, magnetostratigraphy, and element-based tuning data from two box cores and one gravity core. However, given the low sedimentation rates of these cores and uncertain stratigraphy, we suggest that some interpretations require further clarifications and corrections. The low sedimentation rates

The loess-paleosol sequences on the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) are among the best terrestrial archives for recording orbital-scale global paleoenvironmental and East Asian monsoon changes during the Quaternary Period. Dust provenance and climate patterns vary across the CLP due to its vast size. However, whether available climate proxies were influenced by varying signals from the different dust source