| A distinctive period of global change occurred during the Pliocene between the warm Miocene and subsequent Quaternary cooling.; Dust-sized particles (including pollen), sourced from the arid regions and loess plateaus in East Asia are entrained by prevailing westerly winds and transported to the mid-latitude northwest North Pacific Ocean. This is recorded by peaks in the total concentration of pollen and spores, as well as the mean grain size of allochthonous and autochthonous silicate material in abyssal marine sediments.; Aridification of the Asian interior due to the phased uplift of the Himalayan-Tibetan Plateau created the modern East Asian Monsoon system dominated by a strengthening of the winter monsoon. The winter monsoon is further enhanced during glacials due to the expansion of desert and steppe environments at the expense of woodlands and forests recorded by the composition of palynological assemblages. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
