Aridification in the Asian Interior Recorded by Mineral Assemblages in Tarim Basin since the Late Miocene and Its Link to Global Cooling

Abstract

Understanding climate change during the relatively warm Pliocene, as compared to the present, offers significant potential for understanding future global consequences of rising atmospheric CO2. Sensitivity differences among various climate proxies lead to divergent interpretations of the driving mechanisms of inland aridification. Minerals as a paleoclimatic indicator with high water-sensitivity can provide effective support for reconstructing climate evolution and clearly understanding driving mechanisms in extremely arid regions. Here we present results of mineral analyses from lacustrine–fluvial Neogene sediments in the eastern Tarim Basin. Evaporite minerals are composed principally of calcite, dolomite, and gypsum, with minor amounts of ankerite and celestite. Clay minerals are dominated by illite and chlorite. We find that evaporite minerals and illite reflect regional climate change through time, and specifically determine the following: (1) climate in the Tarim Basin during the late Miocene was relatively humid, with alternating dry and wet periods from 6.86~5.58 Ma; (2) immediately following that interval, aridification increased rapidly, with reduced regional precipitation that accelerated the shrinkage of the lake; (3) from 4.4 Ma to 3.62 Ma, regional precipitation increased slightly but afterwards, aridification resumed: the climate there has been extremely dry since about 2.7 Ma. Our results show that the climate in the Tarim Basin has followed a global cooling trend since the late Miocene, and suggest that the effect of uplift in the Tibetan Plateau is a secondary influence.