CPD Climate of the Past Discussions CPD 1814-9359 Copernicus GmbH Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/cpd-7-2741-2011 The quantitative reconstruction of the paleoclimate between 5200 and 4300 cal yr BP in the Tianshui Basin, NW China Sun N. 1 2 Li X. Q. 1 2 The Laboratory of Human Evolution, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Palaeoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 142 Xizhimenwai street, Beijing, 100044, China State Lab of Loess & Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hi-Tech Zone, Xi'an, 710075, Shaanxi, China 31 08 2011 7 4 2741 2762 This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This article is available from http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/7/2741/2011/cpd-7-2741-2011.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/7/2741/2011/cpd-7-2741-2011.pdf

The quantitative reconstruction of the paleoclimate is the ultimate goal of studying past global change. Here, the Coexistence Approach (CA) was applied to reconstruct climatic factors quantitatively based on the fossil charcoal records between 5200 and 4300 cal yr BP in the Tianshui Basin, NW China. The climate of the Tianshui Basin belonged to the northern subtropical zone from 5200–4300 cal yr BP. The climatic tolerance ranges were selected, and the lower limit value was regarded as the logical climate factor to reflect the values of climatic factors. The CA analysis showed that the mean annual temperature (MAT) was approximately 13.2°C, and the mean annual precipitation (MAP) was approximately 778 mm between 5200 and 4900 cal yr BP. The MAT was approximately 13.2°C, and the MAP was approximately 688 mm between 4800 and 4300 cal yr BP. The MAT increased approximately 2.2°C, and the MAP increased approximately 280 mm from 5200–4900 cal yr BP. The MAT also increased approximately 2.2°C from 4800–4300 cal yr BP, while the MAP increased around 196 mm. No climate event occurred from 5200–4300 cal yr BP; however, a drought tendency appeared after 4800 cal yr BP.

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