Hydrological and ecosystem response to abrupt changes in the Indian monsoon during the last glacial, as recorded by sediments from Xingyun Lake, Yunnan, China

• Grain size of lake sediments keeps a good record of lake level change.
• ISM exhibits a series of millennial-scale weakening during the Last Glacial.
• Hydrology and ecosystem exhibit quick response to abrupt ISM weakening.
• Pediastrum proliferation increases during the interval of low lake level.
• Abrupt ISM weakening may be caused by southward ITCZ shifts.

The Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) is the major moisture source of precipitation in southwest China and plays an important role in regional environmental change and in economic and social development, since abrupt changes of the ISM can cause crop failures and flooding that impact the livelihood of a large population. However, with the exception of speleothem records, abrupt changes of the ISM during the last glacial are not well documented in terrestrial records. Here we present a sediment record from Xingyun Lake in Yunnan Province, southwest China, spanning the interval 36.4 ka BP to 13.4 ka BP (1 ka = 1000 cal a) which documents the occurrence of a series of millennial-scale episodes which may reflect the abrupt weakening of the ISM. Seven AMS 14C dates from terrestrial wood fragments provide a robust chronology. The results demonstrate that increases in the coarse sediment fraction (> 30 μm) correspond to increases in the concentration of Pediastrum, the grain size of magnetic minerals, carbonate content and C/N ratios, which together indicate episodes of low lake level. In addition, pollen analysis indicates that Quercus (oak) increased and that ferns decreased during intervals of abrupt weakening of the ISM, indicating a drier environment. Nine abrupt shifts to a low lake level are documented for the studied interval and three of them are correlative with Heinrich events 1 to 3. Our study supports the hypothesis that, in response to the cold events in the North Atlantic associated with massive iceberg influxes and the corresponding slowing down of Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, the mean latitudinal extent of the ITCZ shifted southwards. As a result of an atmospheric teleconnection there was a corresponding decrease in precipitation associated with ISM precipitation, which caused reduced fluvial runoff in Yunnan.