title: Resilience of the Asian atmospheric circulation shown by Paleogene dust provenance.
abstract: The onset of modern central Asian atmospheric circulation is traditionally linked to the interplay of surface uplift of the Mongolian and Tibetan-Himalayan orogens, retreat of the Paratethys sea from central Asia and Cenozoic global cooling. Although the role of these players has not yet been unravelled, the vast dust deposits of central China support the presence of arid conditions and modern atmospheric pathways for the last 25 million years (Myr). Here, we present provenance data from older (42-33 Myr) dust deposits, at a time when the Tibetan Plateau was less developed, the Paratethys sea still present in central Asia and atmospheric pCO2 much higher. Our results show that dust sources and near-surface atmospheric circulation have changed little since at least 42 Myr. Our findings indicate that the locus of central Asian high pressures and concurrent aridity is a resilient feature only modulated by mountain building, global cooling and sea retreat.
authors.affiliation: Biodiversity Institute, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045, USA.|Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Universität Potsdam, Potsdam 14476, Germany.|Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5267-7545
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Licht
authors.affiliation: Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Universität Potsdam, Potsdam 14476, Germany.|Géosciences Rennes, UMR CNRS 6118, Université de Rennes, Rennes 74205, France.|Key Laboratory of Orogenic Belts and Crustal Evolution, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dupont-Nivet
authors.affiliation: Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA.|Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pullen
authors.affiliation: Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kapp
authors.affiliation: Department of Geosciences and Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft 2628 CN, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: H A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Abels
authors.affiliation: School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Orogenic Belts and Crustal Evolution, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Abell
authors.affiliation: Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Giesler