Cenozoic climate and tectonics in Asia

Today, Asia contains some of the most spectacular mountain ranges on Earth, including the Himalaya, Tibetan Plateau, Tian Shan, and Altai, among others. Simultaneously, Asia hosts some of the most impressive climatic systems on Earth, including the South Asian Monsoon, East Asian Monsoon, and the winter-time Siberian High. How, why , and if these mountain ranges influence these climatic systems remains controversial, partly because the timing of when these mountain ranges arose and how their elevation has varied through time remains uncertainty. We use oxygen and carbon isotopes to track how climate and tectonics has interacted in Asia during the past 60 million years. We find that atmospheric circulation during this time has been remarkably stable, with monsoonal systems influencing climate in southern Asia and dry, westerly moisture controlling the climate of Central Asia. Only in northern Central Asia--around the Altai--do we clearly see a major shift in climate coincident with mountain uplift. There, uplift of the Tian Shan and Altai appear to have shifted the season during which precipitation falls in Kazakhstan, while drying out western Mongolia and expanding the Gobi Desert to the west.

Deeply-weathered Eocene paleosols along the northern shores of Lake Zaysan, Kazakhstan.

Relevant Publications

Yuan Gao, Daniel E. Ibarra, Jeremy K. Caves Rugenstein, Jiquan Chan, Tyler Kukla, Katharina Methner, Youfeng Gao, He Huang, Zhipeng Lin, Laiming Zhang, Dangpeng Xi, Huaichun Wu, Alan R. Carroll, Stephan A. Graham, C. Page Chamberlain, & Changshan Wang. Terrestrial climate in mid-latitude East Asia from the latest Cretaceous to the earliest Paleogene: A multiproxy record from the Songliao Basin in northeastern China. Earth-Science Reviews. v. 216: 103572. 10.1016/j.earscirev.2021.103572.
Alexis Licht, Guillaume Dupont-Nivet, Niels Meijer, Jeremy K. Caves Rugenstein, Andrew Schauer, Jens Fiebig, Andreas Mulch, Carina Hoorn, Natasha Barbolini, & Z. Guo. Decline of soil respiration in northeastern Tibet through the transition into the Oligocene icehouse. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. v. 560: 110016. 10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.110016.
Xin Wang, Barbara Carrapa, Yuchen Sun, David L. Dettman, James B. Chapman, Jeremy K. Caves Rugenstein, Mark T. Clementz, Peter G. DeCelles, Mi Wang, Jie Chen, Jay Quade, Fei Wang, Zaijun Li, Ilhomjon Oimuhammadzoda, Mustafo Gadoev, Gerrit Lohmann, Xu Zhang, & Fahu Chen. The role of the westerlies and orography in Asian hydroclimate since the late Oligocene. Geology. v. 48: 10.1130/G47400.1. pdf.
Svetlana Botsyun, Pierre Sepulchre, Yannick Donnadieu, Camille Risi, Alexis Licht, & Jeremy K. Caves Rugenstein. Revised paleoaltimetry data show low Tibetan Plateau elevation during the Eocene. Science v. 363: 946. 10.1126/science.aaq1436

See also accompanying Perspectives article by Douwe J. J. van Hinsbergen and Lydian Boschman: 10.1126/science.aaw7705
See also Comment (10.1126/science.aax8474) and Reply (10.1126/science.aax8990) in Science to this article

Jeremy K. Caves Rugenstein and C. Page Chamberlain. The evolution of hydroclimate in Asia over the Cenozoic: A stable-isotope perspective. Earth-Science Reviews, 10.1016/j.earscirev.2018.09.003. pdf.
Jeremy K. Caves, Bolat U. Bayshashov, Aizhan Zhamangara, Annie J. Ritch, Daniel E. Ibarra, Derek J. Sjostrom, Hari T. Mix, Matthew J. Winnick, and C. Page Chamberlain. Late Miocene uplift of the Tian Shan and Altai and reorganization of Central Asia climate. GSA Today, v. 27 (2): 19-26. 10.1130/GSATG305A.1. pdf.
Jeremy K. Caves, Danielle Y. Moragne, Daniel E. Ibarra, Bolat U. Bayshashov, Yuan Gao, Matthew M. Jones, Aizhan Zhamangara, Anastasia V. Arzhannikova, Sergey G. Arzhannikov, C. Page Chamberlain. The Neogene de-greening of Central Asia. Geology; vol. 44 (11): 887-890. 10.1130/G38267.1. pdf. R code used in analysis.
Jeremy K. Caves, Matthew J. Winnick, Stephan A. Graham, Derek J. Sjostrom, Andreas Mulch, and C. Page Chamberlain. Role of the westerlies in Central Asia climate over the Cenozoic. Earth and Planetary Science Letters; vol. 428: 33-43. pdf 10.1016/j.epsl.2015.07.023. pdf.
Yuan Gao, Daniel E. Ibarra, Chengshan Wang, Jeremy K. Caves, C. Page Chamberlain, Stephan A. Graham, H. Wu. Mid-latitude terrestrial climate of East Asia linked to global climate in the Late Cretaceous. Geology; vol. 43 (4): 287-290. 10.1130/G36427.1. pdf.
Jeremy K. Caves, Derek J. Sjostrom, Hari T. Mix, Matthew J. Winnick, and C. Page Chamberlain. Aridification of Central Asia and Uplift of the Altai and Hangay Mountains, Mongolia: Stable Isotope Evidence. American Journal of Science; vol. 314 (8): 1171-1201. 10.2475/08.2014.01. pdf