Holocene summer temperature record based on branched tetraethers in Northeast China

Abstract

The temperature evolution during the Holocene shows conflicting patterns and yields the controversy regarding whether the Holocene followed a warming or cooling trend. Resolving this controversy is critical for understanding the underlying mechanisms of climate change and evaluating global warming on a longer timescale. Here we present a quantitative summer temperature reconstruction based on branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers analyzed from a sedimentary sequence retrieved from the volcanic lake Kielguo crater lake in Northeast (NE) China. Our record revealed that the summer temperature in NE China followed a rough cooling trend during ~10–2.2 cal ka BP and increased after ~2.2 cal ka BP. The warmest period appeared at ~10–8.8 cal ka BP with ~15.8°C, and the coldest time occurred at ~2.3 cal ka BP with ~13.4°C. Compared with other temperature records from NE China, we conclude that the summer and winter temperature change trends in NE China were probably controlled by the summer and winter insolation respectively, and the ice volume. The mean annual temperature changes in NE China resulted from the superposition of summer cooling and winter warming during the Holocene, and the decrease in ice volume forcing the increase in mean annual temperatures before ~7–6 cal ka BP. The switch in mean annual temperature changes was probably linked with the collapse of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets.

Keywords

brGDGTs Holocene insolation Northeast China paleotemperature volcanic lake

Introduction

The Holocene remains one of the most important geological time periods to study because its temperature evolution is now overlaid by the trend of global warming. However, the climate changes during the Holocene are still unclear. Many studies suggest that a warm period occurred during the early Holocene, named the Holocene Thermal Maximum, followed by a cooling trend during the middle and late Holocene (Marcott et al., 2013; Renssen et al., 2012; Vinther et al., 2009). However, the cooling trend was challenged by the simulated warming trend due to the retreating ice sheet and rising atmospheric greenhouse gases during the Holocene (Liu et al., 2014). After that, the climate changes during the Holocene are becoming an active and debatable area. For example, the reconstructed winter temperature record based on the oxygen isotope composition of permafrost ice wedges from the Siberian Arctic (Meyer et al., 2015) and that based on stalagmites from western continental Eurasia (Baker et al., 2017) both revealed a winter warming trend through the whole Holocene. A similar result was also reported based on the α-cellulose oxygen isotope records from alpine peat in central Asia (Rao et al., 2020). By contrast, a cooling trend during the Holocene was presented by Martin et al. (2020) who reconstructed mean annual temperature (MAT), mean temperature of the warmest and coldest month based on branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers and pollen assemblages. In addition, some records show more complex patterns. For example, a warming trend in the early middle Holocene and cooling in the middle-late Holocene was revealed by the multi-proxy database of paleo-temperature time series (Temperature 12 k) (Kaufman et al., 2020a, 2020b) and by the reconstructed temperature based on the sub-fossil pollen from North America and Europe (Marsicek et al., 2018). The similar problem also appears in Northeast (NE) China, which records showed complex pattern of Holocene temperature changes (Stebich et al., 2015; Wen et al., 2010; Zheng et al., 2017, 2018). For example, the pollen-inferred summer temperature record showed a summer cooling trend in NE China (Wen et al., 2010). However, Stebich et al. (2015) suggested that the middle Holocene is the warmest period in NE China according to the pollen-inferred July temperature reconstruction in Sihailongwan maar lake (Stebich et al., 2015). Therefore, new quantitative climate proxies and reconstructions are helpful for making sense of how the climate changes during the Holocene in NE China.

The branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs) are membrane lipids from heterotrophic bacteria that live ubiquitously in soils (Dang et al., 2016; Gao et al., 2012; Lu et al. (2016, 2019); Peterse et al., 2011, 2012, 2014a; Weijers et al., 2006; Yang et al., 2014), peats (Naafs et al., 2017, 2019; Zheng et al., 2015, 2017, 2018), lakes (Chu et al., 2017; Feng et al., 2019; Hou et al., 2016; Hu et al., 2016; Tian et al., 2019; Tierney and Russell, 2009; Tierney et al., 2010), even hot springs (Schouten et al., 2007), groundwater (Ding et al., 2018), marine hydrothermal and methane cold seep carbonate (Lincoln et al., 2013), stalagmites (Yang et al., 2011), and ancient bones (Dillon et al., 2018; Zhao et al., 2020). BrGDGTs were divided into categories according to the number of methyl and cyclopentyl moieties in the glycerol backbone (Supplemental Figure S1, available online). The distributions of brGDGTs are related to the fluidity of bacteria membranes and were established to infer the variation in environmental factors such as pH and temperature (Weijers et al., 2007) in the modern environment. The distributions of brGDGTs were later used to reconstruct past temperature as a quantitative paleothermometer from lake sediment sequences (Pearson et al., 2011; Raberg et al., 2021; Sun et al., 2011; Zink et al., 2010). Several calibrations have been published based on different datasets, such as from eastern Africa (Loomis et al., 2012; Russell et al., 2018; Tierney et al., 2010), Eastern Asia (Ding et al., 2015; Sun et al., 2011), New Zealand (Zink et al., 2010, 2016), and a global dataset (Martínez-Sosa et al., 2021; Pearson et al., 2011). With the advance in detection methods, the 5-, 6-, and 7-methyl brGDGT isomers could be separated (De Jonge et al., 2013) and new calibrations were developed based on the separated brGDGT isomers (De Jonge et al., 2018; Russell et al., 2018). BrGDGTs from lake sediments are now widely and successfully applied to reconstruct terrestrial temperatures (Chu et al., 2017; Feng et al., 2019; Martin et al., 2020; Miller et al., 2018; Tian et al., 2019; Watson et al., 2018).

In this study, we present a new quantitative summer temperature reconstruction based on brGDGT membrane lipids for the last ~10 cal ka BP from Kielguo crater lake, a volcanic lake in NE China. We then use the record to help understand the temperature change during the Holocene in NE China.

Material and methods

Study site

Kielguo crater lake (47°30′N, 120°52′E, 1100 m above sea level, Figure 1) is located in the Arxan-Chaihe volcanic field in the central part of the Great Khingan Mountain Range (Wu et al., 2016b). In previous studies, this lake has also been called Moon Lake (Sun et al., 2017) or Lake Moon (Wu et al., 2016a). It is a closed crater lake in a scoria cone (Sun et al., 2017). This circular lake has a diameter of ~220 m and presently has a maximum water depth of 6.5 m (Wu et al., 2016b). Without inflows and outflows and with a flat bottom basin, Kielguo crater lake forms a stable sedimentary environment conducive to the deposition of a continuous and steady sedimentary sequence. Located at the transitional zone of the semi-arid and semi-humid climate zones and at the northern margin of the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM), the climate of Kielguo crater lake is characterized by a pronounced seasonality with a warm-humid summer and cold-dry winter (Wu et al., 2016b). The mean annual and mean summer temperatures are −2.7°C and 15.4°C, respectively (meteorological data for the period 1953–2018 CE, from Arxan station, located 79 km west of Kielguo crater lake). For 6 months a year, temperatures are below 0°C and Kielguo crater lake is ice-covered from October to the start of May the following year. The mean annual precipitation is ~454 mm, of which ~63% occurs in the summer season (June to August) and ~4.4% as snow in the winter season (December to February) (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Geographical locations of Kielguo crater lake and of the other paleoclimatic records mentioned in the text (a), the picture of Kielguo crater lake, which has been called Lake Moon (b), and the ombrothermic diagram (c) from the nearby Arxan meteorological station showing the monthly mean temperature and precipitation for the period 1953–2018 CE.

Sampling and chronology

An 886 cm sedimentary sequence, composed of two overlapping piston cores, was obtained from the center of Kielguo crater lake in March 2007 (Core 2007) (Wu et al., 2019). The top of the sequence (0–590 cm) is composed of dark brown finely laminated gyttja, the middle part (590–732 cm) is a brown organic-rich laminated clay, and the bottom part (732–886 cm) is a gray clay. The sequence was sub-sampled at a 2 cm interval. Because all the sediment for the uppermost part of the Core 2007 had been used up for previous analyses, a new short core (80 cm) was retrieved from Kielguo crater lake in March 2021 (Core 2021) to obtain more material. The Core 2021 was subsampled at 0.5 cm intervals for the top part (15 cm) and at 1 cm intervals in the lower part. Cores 2021 and 2007 were correlated with each other using their age models.

For Core 2007, 21 AMS ¹⁴C dates were obtained from the Poznan radiocarbon Laboratory using terrestrial and aquatic plant macrofossils and bulk sediments (Liu et al., 2010; Wu et al., 2019; Figure 2, Supplemental Table S1, available online). For Core 2021, the chronology was based on 3 AMS ¹⁴C dates from terrestrial plant materials obtained at the Beta Analysis Testing Laboratory (Supplemental Table S1, available online), together with measurements of the activities of the radionuclides ²¹⁰Pb and ¹³⁷Cs (Figure 2). The highest ¹³⁷Cs activity occurs at the depth of 9 cm down-core, which is assumed to correspond to the 1964 CE maximum emission (Figure 2b). Ages derived from the ²¹⁰Pb, data were calculated using the constant rate of supply (CRS) model (Appleby and Oldfield, 1978).

Figure 2.

Age-depth model for the Kielguo crater lake sediment sequence, which has been called Lake Moon (Wu et al., 2019). (a) The combined chronological model for AMS ¹⁴C dates of Core 2007 and Core 2021. (b) ²¹⁰Pb and¹³⁷Cs activities from Core 2021, the peak in ¹³⁷Cs corresponds to the maximum fallout of global atmospheric thermonuclear weapon tests (GTWT). (c) The details of ²¹⁰Pb/¹³⁷Cs and AMS ¹⁴C dates of Core 2021.

The calibrated AMS ¹⁴C date at 10–11 cm is ~277 cal yr BP, which is ~278 years older than the age derived from the ²¹⁰Pb/¹³⁷Cs chronological model for the same core depth. Based on this difference, we deduce a ~278-year radiocarbon reservoir effect. Thus, the final chronological model of Core 2021 combines AMS ¹⁴C and ²¹⁰Pb/¹³⁷Cs dates from which 278 years were subtracted. It was established using a Bayesian approach and the Bacon V2.2 software (Blaauw and Christen, 2011).

GDGTs extraction and analysis

GDGTs were extracted from 0.5 to 1 g of freeze-dried sediment samples using an organic solvent composed of a dichloromethane: methanol (9:1, v/v) mixture which was ultrasonicated 5–7 times until the solvent was colorless. After evaporating the solvent, the dried samples were successively treated with n-hexane and methanol via silica-gel chromatography to purify and separate the material into polar and non-polar fractions. The polar fractions were dissolved in DCM and passed through a 0.45 μm PTFE filter. GDGTs analyses were performed using HPLC-APCI-MS (Agilent 1260 HPLC system with 6100 MS) with auto-injection at the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ITP-CAS) in Beijing. Samples were brought up in 300 μL n-hexane: ethyl acetate (EtOAc) (84:16, v/v), and the injection volume was 10 μL. The 5- and 6-methyl brGDGT isomers were separated by three Hypersil Gold Silica LC columns in sequence (each 100 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.9 μm, Thermo Fisher Scientific; USA), maintained at 40°C. Detection was achieved by positive ion APCI of the eluent. Selected ion monitoring (SIM) was used to target specific [M + H]⁺ at m/z 744 for the C46 standard and 1050, 1048, 1046, 1036, 1034, 1032, 1022, 1020, 1018 for the brGDGTs. The 5- and 6-methyl brGDGTs were assigned as described by De Jonge et al. (2018).

Results and discussion

Selection and verification of brGDGT-temperature calibration

The distributions of brGDGTs from lake sediments are likely influenced by the regional climate and sedimentary conditions, thus it is important for reconstructing temperature using brGDGTs to use a suitable calibration. Firstly, the brGDGTs in Kielguo crater lake sediments are produced mainly in situ because the distributions of brGDGTs from core samples and soil sample are dominant different showed by the ternary diagram (Supplemental Figure S2, available online). In addition, another similar small closed volcanic lake (Sihailongwan maar lake) in NE China, also showed that the brGDGTs in lake sediments are produced in situ rather than soils (Zhu et al., 2021). The studies based on other volcanic lakes from NE China (Yao et al., 2020) and small park lakes from China (Wang et al., 2023) suggest that the water volume produced brGDGTs are dominant in small lakes. Therefore, the calibrations based on lake sediments are more suitable for the small lakes such as Kielguo crater lake. In order to select a suitable calibration, we collected surface sediment samples from Kielguo crater lake and from two other volcanic lakes in the same region (Lake Luming and Lake Tuofengling, located nearby Kielguo crater lake) and analyzed them to obtain their brGDGT distributions. Temperatures were derived from these results using different calibrations and were compared to the meteorological data for the mean annual temperature and summer temperature for the period 1953–2018 CE (Supplemental Table S2, available online). Most of the calculated mean annual temperatures from the calibrations were higher than the measured mean annual temperature of −2.7°C. Besides, the warm season temperature reconstructed by the calibration developed by Sun et al. (2011) was similar to the measured summer temperature of 15.4°C (Supplemental Table S2, available online).

On the other hand, the calibrations for summer (or warm season) temperature are more suitable for lake sediments from NE China than that for the mean annual temperature because of the prominent seasonality of the climate in NE China. Previous observations have revealed a seasonal trend in the brGDGTs production in soils, which mainly occurs during the growing season (spring, summer, and autumn) in the Asian monsoon region (Deng et al., 2016; Wang et al., 2016). Peterse et al. (2014b) also suggested that the brGDGTs in lake sediments may be more sensitive to seasonal variations than that in soils because brGDGTs-producing bacteria in lacustrine systems are more abundant and metabolically active during the warmer conditions in high latitudes (Peterse et al., 2014b; Rueda et al., 2009; Shanahan et al., 2013; Sun et al., 2011). Kielguo crater lake is ice-covered 8 months long, from October to the start of May the following year, and therefore the brGDGTs-producing bacteria probably grow only for 4 months (from June to September). Similar conditions have been reported from Sihailongwan maar Lake, another volcanic lake in NE China (Zhu et al., 2021). The brGDGTs in Sihailongwan maar Lake are produced dominantly in summer and autumn, and the production in autumn occurs when the water column is mixing (Zhu et al., 2021). Kielguo crater lake is smaller and shallower than Sihailongwan maar Lake, has a longer ice-cover period, and has no water column mixing period in autumn. These conditions suggest that the production of brGDGTs in Kielguo crater lake sediments is restricted to the summer season and thus that brGDGTs record summer temperatures in that lake. Therefore, the brGDGTs-based temperature from Kielguo crater lake is more likely to reflect the mean summer temperature rather than the mean annual temperature. Therefore, the calibration built from lake sediments from East Asia (Sun et al., 2011) was considered the most suitable for Kielguo crater lake sediments not only because the calibrated temperatures from the lake surface sediment samples and the time series are close to the measured temperature and the modern value, respectively, but also because the calibration reconstructs the summer temperature.

To verify the reliability of the reconstruction based on the calibration from Sun et al. (2011), we compared the reconstructed temperatures based on brGDGTs from Kielguo crater lake with the meteorological record of mean summer temperatures from Arxan weather station for the period 1953–2018 CE (Figure 3). The Arxan station is located 79 km west of Kielguo crater lake and at an elevation ~103 m lower than that of Kielguo crater lake. Therefore, we estimate that temperature at Kielguo crater lake should be ~0.6°C lower than at Arxan station. Taking this elevation difference into account, it can be seen that both the trend and values of the reconstructed temperatures from 1950 CE based on brGDGTs (Figure 3, orange line) are very consistent with the instrumental temperature record (Figure 3 blue lines), although the reconstructed temperature record has a lower resolution. We interpolated the core reconstructed data to match the instrumental data by a same resolution and performed Pearson and Spearman correlations between reconstructed and instrumental temperatures, and the results show that they are significantly positively correlated with a strong statistical signiﬁcance (Pearson and Spearman correlations are 0.87 and 0.81, respectively; p < 0.0001). Therefore, we think that the reconstructed summer temperature record based on brGDGTs from Kielguo crater lake sediments is reliable.

Figure 3.

Comparison between the reconstructed summer temperature record based on brGDGTs (orange line) and the meteorological summer temperature record from Arxan weather station for the period 1953–2018 CE (light blue line) and the 5-point running mean on the same temperature data (blue line).

The amplitude of Holocene summer temperature changes and the Holocene temperature change pattern in Northeast China

Our summer temperature record shows that the warmest period appeared at ~10–8.8 cal ka BP with ~15.8°C and the highest value is 17.0°C at ~9.6 cal ka BP (Figure 4a). A relative cooling period appeared during ~8.8–6 cal ka BP, which also could be found in the temperature records from Western Europe (Martin et al., 2020) and the global mean annual temperature reconstruction but with North Atlantic records removed (Marcott et al., 2013). During ~5.8–2.2 cal ka BP, the summer temperature decreased gradually, and the coldest time occurred at ~2.3 cal ka BP with ~13.4°C (Figure 4a). The summer temperature fluctuated since ~2.2 cal ka BP and appeared with two peaks at ~0.7 cal ka BP and the modern time (Figure 4a).

Figure 4.

Comparison among winter-inferred proxy records of temperature (a and b) mean annual temperature reconstructions (c and d), and summer-weighted temperature reconstructions (e and f). Pinus pollen percentage in Sihailongwan maar lake ((a) dark blue line, Stebich et al., 2015) and Lake Moon, which is the same lake with Kielguo crater lake ((b) light blue line, Wu et al., 2019), are proxy records for the variation of winter temperature (Wu et al., 2019). (c) BrGDGTs-based mean annual temperature from Gushantun peat (Zheng et al., 2018). (d) Pollen-based annual temperature anomaly based on an extensive pollen dataset (Zhang et al., 2022). (e) Pollen-based mean warmest month (July) temperature sequence from Sihailongwan maar lake (Stebich et al., 2015). (f) BrGDGTs-based summer temperature sequence from Kielguo crater lake (dark red line showing the 5-point running mean, this study).

Compared with the July temperature record based on pollen assemblages from Sihailongwan maar lake (Figure 4b) (Stebich et al., 2015), our record shows that the warmest period occurred during the early Holocene, while the pollen-based reconstruction shows that the temperature during ~8.5–4.5 cal ka BP is the highest (Figure 4a and b). In addition, our summer temperature record has a lower change amplitude of ~3°C and more fluctuation during the Holocene. The magnitude of YD cooling in Greenland is ~4°C–9°C (Buizert et al., 2014), which is larger than the magnitude of temperature changes during the Holocene (Buizert et al., 2018). In addition, the temperature changes at higher latitudes are larger than at lower latitudes zone (Chu et al., 2017). Therefore, the amplitude of ~3°C during the Holocene recorded by our sequence is relatively more credible.

Our summer temperature record showed a gradual summer cooling trend in NE China, although some unexpected periods intercepted this trend such as the periods of ~8.8–6 cal ka BP and the last ~2.2 cal ka BP (Figure 4a). This summer cooling trend during Holocene is also supported by the pollen data from Hulun Lake (Wen et al., 2010) and Jingbo Lake (Li et al., 2011). However, the summer temperature cooling trend probably is opposite to the winter temperature changes during Holocene in NE China. There was no quantitative winter-referred temperature reconstruction in NE China, but Pinus pollen percentages can be used as proxy records for changes in winter temperature because the migration of Pinus into the cold temperate boreal forest indicates an increase in the winter temperature (Wu et al., 2019). The Pinus pollen percentage sequences from Sihailongwan maar Lake and Lake Moon (Stebich et al., 2015; Wu et al., 2019) suggested that the winter-inferred temperature gradually increased during Holocene (Figure 4c and d). This winter warming trend during Holocene also was found in other regions of the Northern Hemisphere, such as the winter temperature reconstructions from the Siberian Arctic (Meyer et al., 2015) and in Eurasia (Baker et al., 2017) (Figure 4c and d), and an α-cellulose oxygen isotope record in central Asia (Rao et al., 2020).

As for the mean annual temperature, brGDGTs records from Gushantun and Hani peat in NE China (Zheng et al., 2017, 2018) show a cooling trend during Holocene (Figure 4e and f). In addition, the MAT records based on terrestrial mollusk assemblages from North China (Dong et al., 2022) and based on an extensive pollen dataset from the Northern Hemisphere (Zhang et al., 2022) (Figure 5d) suggested a trend of warming during the early-middle Holocene and cooling during the middle-late Holocene. The brGDGTs records from Gushantun and Hani peat contradicted the records based on mollusk and pollen probably because the brGDGTs records from NE China carried more summer-inferred temperature information rather than the MAT. The MAT at Gushantun peat is ~3°C and the winter temperature is as low as ~−17°C (Zheng et al., 2018), which indicated this peat bog is frozen completely in winter. The frozen condition restrains the growth of brGDGTs production bacteria (Zhu et al., 2021). Therefore, the MAT change trend during Holocene probably is warming during the early-middle Holocene and cooling during the middle-late Holocene as shown by Dong et al. (2022) and Zhang et al. (2022).

Figure 5.

Comparison of summer, winter, mean annual temperature records, and potential climate forcings. (a) Oxygen isotopes from Kinderlinskaya Cave in the southern Ural Mountains that document winter season temperatures (Baker et al., 2017). (b) Oxygen isotope composition of permafrost ice wedges in the Siberian Arctic that reflects winter season temperatures (Meyer et al., 2015). (c) Pinus pollen percentage in Lake Moon, which as the same lake with Kielguo crater lake (Wu et al., 2019). (d) Pollen-based annual temperature anomaly based on an extensive pollen dataset (Zhang et al., 2022). (e) Reconstructed mean annual temperatures for 30°N–60°N from the Temperature 12 k database (Kaufman et al., 2020b). (f) Mean summer temperature sequence based on brGDGTs in Kielguo crater lake in NE China (this study, red line). (g) The summer (red line), winter (blue line) and mean annual (orange line) insolation at 45°N (Laskar et al., 2004). (h) Ice-volume equivalent sea-level records (Bintanja and van de Wal, 2008; Grant et al., 2012. (i) Sedimentary record of ²³¹Pa/²³⁰Th from the subtropical North Atlantic Ocean (McManus et al., 2004). (j) The CO₂ record from the EPICA Antarctic ice core (Bereiter et al., 2015).

The possible forcing mechanism of Holocene temperature changes in Northeast China

The reconstructed records showed the temperature change trends during the Holocene in NE China of winter warming, summer cooling, and MAT increasing during the early-middle Holocene and decreasing during the middle-late Holocene. The discrepancy in trends among the summer, winter, and MAT changes in NE China probably is the result that they are controlled by different forcings or the different responses of the same forcings. Regional and global climate changes contribute to the superposition of two distinct modes (Buizert et al., 2014; He et al., 2013; Shakun and Carlson, 2010): the variations of radiative forcing and the interhemispheric heat redistribution that is associated with the variation in the strength of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC). Variations in the intensity of AMOC were of low amplitude during the Holocene (Figure 5i). Therefore, the interhemispheric heat redistribution by the AMOC probably played a limited role in the Holocene seasonal temperature variability in NE China. For summer cooling in NE China, both the increasing atmospheric CO₂ and decreasing ice volume in the Northern Hemisphere cannot result in summer cooling (Liu et al., 2014). Therefore, the decrease in summer insolation in the Northern Hemisphere probably was the primary forcing for the summer cooling in NE China. The winter warming in NE China probably was controlled by the increase in winter insolation and the retreat and collapse of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets. The reason is that Pinus pollen percentages in the Sihailongwan and Lake Moon sequences began to increase at ~7 cal ka BP simultaneously (Figure 5c), which is synchronous with the disappearance of the Laurentide ice sheet (Dyke, 2004). The winter warming in Eurasia has been attributed in climate simulation models to the retreat of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets before ~7000 years ago, the rising concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases, and the rising winter insolation after ~7000 years ago (Baker et al., 2017). In Northwest China, the winter temperature record suggests that greenhouse gases became an important forcing for temperature changes only after ~5 cal ka BP (Rao et al., 2020). However, Pinus pollen percentages in NE China did not increase after ~2–3 cal ka BP, which is inconsistent with the atmospheric CO₂ that kept rising since ~7–6 cal ka BP (Bereiter et al., 2015) (Figure 5j). The MAT variability is the superposition of summer and winter temperature variability (Dong et al., 2022). Before ~7–6 cal ka BP, the annual insolation was changing very slowly at that time as the summer and winter insolation were following opposite trends (Laskar et al., 2004). The large reduction of ice sheets diminished the reflection of solar radiation (i.e. the albedo effect), and the corresponding increase in absorption of solar radiation by the earth surface caused the MAT increase before ~7–6 cal ka BP (Figure 5d and e). During the Late-Holocene, the observed cooling in MAT may be explained by the predominant role played by changes in summer temperature in the superposition of summer and winter temperature changes. This interpretation of the MAT variability is similar to the result of the transient climate model simulation that revealed two modes of MAT variability (Bader et al., 2020). The collapse of the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets probably played a key role in the alternation of the dominance of winter and summer temperatures in MAT in NE China.

Conclusion

In this study, we presented a quantitative summer temperature reconstruction for the past 10,000 years based on branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers from the sedimentary sequence of Kielguo crater lake, a volcanic lake in NE China. The high consistency between the reconstructed summer temperature time series and the meteorological record over the past 70 years was used to demonstrate the reliability of the brGDGTs-based temperature record from Kielguo crater lake sediments. The main features of our Holocene temperature reconstruction are: a summer cooling trend that spanned the interval between ~10 and 2.2 cal ka BP, with the highest summer temperature of ~15.8°C occurring at ~10–8.8 cal ka BP, while the coldest summer occurred at ~2.2 cal ka BP, with a reconstructed temperature of ~13.4°C. Compared with other temperature records from NE China, we conclude that the summer and winter temperature changes in NE China were probably controlled by the summer and winter insolation, respectively. Meanwhile, the decline in ice volume also played a crucial role in the summer cooling and winter warming during the early Holocene. The recorded trend in mean annual temperature is the superposition of summer cooling and winter warming during the Holocene, with winter warming predominant before ~7–6 cal ka BP, as a result of melting ice sheets, and summer cooling becoming predominant afterward.

Supplemental Material

sj-docx-1-hol-10.1177_09596836231197769 – Supplemental material for Holocene summer temperature record based on branched tetraethers in Northeast China

Supplemental material, sj-docx-1-hol-10.1177_09596836231197769 for Holocene summer temperature record based on branched tetraethers in Northeast China by Zeyang Zhu, Jing Wu, Jiaxin Lu, Guoqiang Chu, Patrick Rioual, Luo Wang and Jiaqi Liu in The Holocene

Footnotes

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was funded by the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB 26000000), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (42030507, 41972190).

ORCID iDs

Zeyang Zhu

Patrick Rioual

Supplemental material

Supplemental material for this article is available online.

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