Fundamental questions in paleolimnology and paleoclimatology on the Tibetan Plateau

Lakes are widespread on the Tibetan Plateau, which play a crucial role in reconstructing past climate, environment, ecology, and human activities on the plateau. In the past decades, hundreds of paleolimnological records, employing various proxy indicators, have been reported, promoting our understanding the mechanism of climate changes. However, interpretations of the some paleolimnological records are conflicting, even for the records from the same lake. In this presentation, I will discuss several fundamental scientific issues in the study of paleolimnology and paleoclimatology on the Tibetan Plateau, including 1) the thermodynamic classification of plateau lakes, 2) the transition between open and closed states of lakes, 3) the implication of the proxy indicators, and 4) the issue of dating lake sediments. These issues not only affect the interpretation of proxy indicators in lake sediments but also impact the comparison of records from different proxy indicators within the same lake or the same proxy indicators from different lakes.