EGU2020-9276
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-9276
EGU General Assembly 2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

A synchronous change of mid- to late- Holocene hydroclimate and prehistoric population in coastal East Asia indicated by pollen, XRF and grain size data

Jinheum Park1, Jungjae Park1,2, Sangheon Yi3,4, Jin Cheul Kim3, Eunmi Lee3, Quihong Jin1, and Jieun Choi1
Jinheum Park et al.
  • 1Department of Geography, Seoul National University, 1, Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea
  • 2Institute for Korean Regional Studies, Seoul National University, 1, Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul, 08826, Republic of Korea
  • 3Geology Division, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources, 124, Gwahak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejon, 34132, Republic of Korea
  • 4Department of Petroleum Resources Technology, University of Science and Technology, 217, Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34113, Republic of Korea

A relationship between climate change and prehistoric civilizations is a topic of growing interest. Here, we present a 6,000-year-long pollen, X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and grain size data of the core STP18-03 from the southern Korean peninsula, spanning the mid- to late- Holocene. The proxies generally show a synchronous change throughout the core. During dry periods, reduced precipitation indicated by lower sand proportion (river discharge) would have hindered tree growth, which then resulted in increased titanium erosion from nearby hills, and vice versa. The drying trend is remarkable during ca. 4.8, 4.3, 4.0, 3.3, 2.7-2.3 ka BP and corresponds with sudden dropping points of a summed probability distribution (SPD) of archaeological records found in the Korean Peninsula. This implies that ancient civilizations of Korea responded highly sensitively to abrupt climate deterioration. As an underlying mechanism of the change, we suggest a role of the equatorial Pacific Ocean. The temporal pattern of our arboreal pollen proportion closely follows that of sea surface temperature (SST) data from the Western Pacific Warm Pool (WPWP) region. Furthermore, the dry periods indicated by our multiple proxies coincide with strong El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) activity, when the core region of the warm seawater pool deviated eastward than usual. This supports that the equatorial Pacific Ocean has served as an important factor for modulating mid- to late- Holocene hydroclimate of the Korean Peninsula, where the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) accounts for nearly 70 percent of the total annual precipitation amount.

How to cite: Park, J., Park, J., Yi, S., Kim, J. C., Lee, E., Jin, Q., and Choi, J.: A synchronous change of mid- to late- Holocene hydroclimate and prehistoric population in coastal East Asia indicated by pollen, XRF and grain size data, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-9276, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-9276, 2020

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