Abstract Numerous studies of changes in the climate, vegetation and landscape responses of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) during the Holocene have been published in recent decades. However, several conflicting interpretations are evident within these studies and a comprehensive review of the topic is needed to reconcile them, and thus to provide an improved understanding of the history and forcing mechanisms of Holocene environmental changes within the region. Here we review the evidence for changes in climate (temperature, precipitation/moisture), vegetation and landscape attributes (glacier and eolian activity) on the TP during the Holocene. Our main conclusions are as follows. 1) The patterns of Holocene mean annual temperature change on the TP remain controversial; however, an early to middle Holocene summer temperature maximum is evident, which coincided with high summer insolation and a strengthening of the Indian summer monsoon (ISM). This suggests that the summer land-sea thermal gradient, impacted by the temperature of the TP, may be an important factor driving orbital-scale ISM changes. 2) Lake-level records indicate an optimum in moisture conditions on the southwestern (SW) TP in the early Holocene, while on the northeastern (NE) TP the optimum occurred in the middle to late Holocene. This out-of-phase or anti-phased relationship may be linked to the role of the ISM in dominating precipitation on the SW TP, while the westerlies and East Asian summer monsoon dominated the precipitation on the NE TP. 3) Most of the lake-sediment-based stable isotope records (δ18O and leaf wax δD) exhibit a pattern similar to that of stalagmite δ18O records from monsoonal Asia, reflecting the dominance of large-scale patterns of atmospheric circulation, rather than localized moisture changes reflected by lake level records. 4) A synthesis of pollen records reveals that the extent of forest was maximal in the mid-Holocene, while from the early Holocene onwards alpine steppe shrunk and alpine meadow and desert gradually expanded. 5) Evidence of glacier advance increased slightly during the early Holocene, decreased during the mid-Holocene, and then increased substantially after 3 ka BP. 6) The integrated ages of eolian sand and loess from the NE TP reveal that eolian activity intensified during the early and late Holocene. Site inter-comparisons reveal that regional climate change played a major role in modulating changes in vegetation and other landscape attributes. Overall, producing Holocene climate reconstructions for the entire TP remains a major challenge even though much progress has been made. Further improvements in terms of the spatial coverage of high-resolution paleoclimatic records with robust chronological control, and a deeper understanding of the specific climatic significance of several climatic proxies, will facilitate an improved understanding of how the monsoon and the westerlies interacted and their impacts on vegetation and landscape changes on the TP.

中文翻译：

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全新世青藏高原气候变化、植被历史和景观响应：综合回顾

摘要 近几十年来，已经发表了大量关于全新世青藏高原（TP）气候、植被和景观响应变化的研究。然而，在这些研究中明显存在一些相互矛盾的解释，需要对该主题进行全面审查以协调它们，从而更好地了解该地区全新世环境变化的历史和强迫机制。在这里，我们回顾了全新世期间青藏高原气候（温度、降水/水分）、植被和景观属性（冰川和风成活动）变化的证据。我们的主要结论如下。1) 青藏高原全新世年平均气温变化规律尚存争议；然而，全新世早期至中期的夏季最高温度很明显，恰逢夏季日照强烈和印度夏季风 (ISM) 加强。这表明受青藏高原温度影响的夏季海陆热梯度可能是驱动轨道尺度 ISM 变化的重要因素。2）湖泊水位记录表明，西南（SW）高原在全新世早期水分条件最佳，而在东北（NE）高原，最佳水分条件发生在全新世中晚期。这种异相或反相的关系可能与 ISM 主导西南高原降水的作用有关，而西风和东亚夏季风主导了东北 TP 的降水。3) 大部分湖底沉积物稳定同位素记录（δ18O 和叶蜡δD）表现出与亚洲季风石笋δ18O 记录相似的模式，反映了大气环流大尺度模式的主导地位，而不是湖泊水位记录反映的局部水分变化。4）综合花粉记录显示，中全新世森林面积最大，而从全新世早期开始，高山草原缩小，高山草甸和沙漠逐渐扩大。5) 冰川前进的证据在全新世早期略有增加，在全新世中期减少，3 ka BP 后显着增加。6) 青藏高原东北部风积沙与黄土综合年龄显示，全新世早晚风积活动加剧。场地比对表明，区域气候变化在调节植被和其他景观属性变化方面发挥了重要作用。全面的，尽管已经取得了很大进展，但为整个 TP 进行全新世气候重建仍然是一项重大挑战。在具有强大年代控制的高分辨率古气候记录的空间覆盖方面的进一步改进，以及对几种气候代理的特定气候意义的更深入了解，将有助于更好地了解季风和西风如何相互作用及其对气候的影响。 TP 上的植被和景观变化。