Lacustrine sedimentological and geochemical records for the last 170 years of climate and environmental changes in southeastern China

Reconstruction of modern climate and environmental changes in east Asia using inland natural climate archives can provide valuable insights on decadal–multidecadal climate and environmental patterns that are probably related to both natural and anthropogenic forcing. Here we investigated an 89-cm-long sediment core (TH1) from Tian Lake, southeastern China, for sedimentological, physical and geochemical parameters in order to understand climate and environmental changes for the latest two centuries. 137Cs- and 210Pb-based age models show that the fine sand–coarse silt-dominated core contains ~170 years (c. AD 1842–2011) of continuous sedimentation. Sediments with fine sands, low MS values, high water content, high TOC content and a high C:N ratio from c. AD 1842 to 1897 suggest intense hydrological conditions and strong runoff in the catchment, probably because of a humid climate. From AD 1897 to 1990, sediments with very fine sand and coarse silt, high MS values, low water content and unchanged TOC and C:N ratios indicate normal hydrological conditions and in-lake algae-derived organic matter. During this interval, the chemical weathering indicators show stronger weathering conditions compared with sediments deposited during AD 1842–1897, supporting the dominance of weathered surface soil input in the earlier interval and physical erosion dominance in the later period, respectively. Since AD 1990, the continuous decrease of geochemical proxies suggests human-interacted Earth surface processes in the catchment of Tian Lake. A PCA revealed four dominant geochemical controlling factors – detrital input, trophic status, grain size and early diagenesis –, accounting for 26, 20, 18 and 16% of total variance, respectively. This study for the first time provides lacustrine geochemical evidence for the most recent two centuries of climate and environmental changes in coastal southeastern China, a region that is currently undergoing an inversion of critical zone, i.e. an overturning of its soil profile, owing to swift modernization.