Articles | Volume 9, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1911-2013
© Author(s) 2013. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1911-2013
© Author(s) 2013. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Post-Pliocene establishment of the present monsoonal climate in SW China: evidence from the late Pliocene Longmen megaflora
T. Su
Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China
State Key Laboratory of Paleobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
F. M. B. Jacques
Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China
R. A. Spicer
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Earth, Planetary, Space and Astronomical Research, The Open University, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK
Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, China
Y.-S. Liu
Department of Biological Sciences, P.O. Box 70703, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee 37614-1710, USA
Y.-J. Huang
Key Laboratory of Biodiversity and Biogeography, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650204, China
Y.-W. Xing
Institute of Systematic Botany, University of Zürich, Zürich, 8008, Switzerland
Z.-K. Zhou
Key Laboratory of Tropical Forest Ecology, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla 666303, China
Key Laboratory of Biodiversity and Biogeography, Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming 650204, China
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Untangling the complex tectonic evolution in the Tibetan region can help us understand its impacts on climate, the Asian monsoon system, and the development of major biodiversity hotspots. We show that this “missing link” site between high elevation Tibet and low elevation coastal China had a dynamic environment but no temperature change, meaning its been at its current-day elevation for the past 34 million years.
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Untangling the complex tectonic evolution in the Tibetan region can help us understand its impacts on climate, the Asian monsoon system, and the development of major biodiversity hotspots. We show that this “missing link” site between high elevation Tibet and low elevation coastal China had a dynamic environment but no temperature change, meaning its been at its current-day elevation for the past 34 million years.
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The Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP) played a crucial role in shaping the biodiversity in Asia during the Cenozoic, but the evolutionary history of biodiversity in this large region remains unclear. Here, we report a new fossil record of Fulgoridae from the middle Eocene Lunpola Basin, central QTP, which represents the earliest Fulgoridae fossil record in Asia and suggests a warm climate with relatively low elevation during the middle Eocene in central QTP.
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Revised manuscript has not been submitted
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Subject: Atmospheric Dynamics | Archive: Terrestrial Archives | Timescale: Cenozoic
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Climate equability is a paradox in paleoclimate research, but modeling suggests that strong seasonality should be a feature of greenhouse Earth periods too. Records of temperature from floral assemblages, paleosol geochemistry, clumped isotope thermometry, and downscaled models during the early Eocene show that the mean annual range of temperature was high, and may have increased during warming events. This has implications for predicting future seasonal climate impacts in continental regions.
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