Holocene vegetation history and responses to climate and sea-level change in the Liaohe Delta, northeast China

Abstract

To reconstruct the Holocene vegetation history from Liaohe Delta in northeast (NE) China, a high-resolution palynological study on a well-dated sediment core ZK2 was conducted. The pollen record of ZK2 suggests that during the early Holocene, the regional vegetation in the plain was meadow-dominated by Artemisia. And forest with cool-temperate conifers and temperate broad-leaved trees were present in the nearby hills, which is coincident with the gradual climate warming and delta transgression. From mid-Holocene to early late Holocene, meadow vegetation with Artemisia was relatively stable, while the forest vegetation with broadleaved trees reached the maximum expansion in the nearby hills. The large expansion of broadleaved trees indicates warm and humid regional environmental conditions and this is coincidental with the relatively high regional sea-level stand during this period. Since ca. 1470 cal yr BP, with the continuous delta progradation, a large coastal region was colonized by Suaeda spp., which suggests that the formation of unique red beach wetlands along the coastal region of the Liaohe Delta. By analysis of pollen dispersal and transportation mechanism in surface sediments of Liaodong Bay, it is indicated that the percentage changes of arboreal pollen dominated by Pinus and Quercus and the non-arboreal pollen dominated by Amaranthaceae and Artemisia in core ZK2 may as an index refers to the local sea level oscillation and paleoclimate change. Then by comparison with previous multi-proxy records together with the surface sediment record from Liaodong Bay, it is suggested that the Holocene vegetation changes of the Liaohe Delta are mainly driven by the intensity changes of East Asia monsoon and regional sea-level oscillation.