Dust emissions in the arid Asian interior and abrupt changes in midlatitude atmospheric circulation during the glacial-Holocene transition

Loess deposits from the Kunlun Mountains provide high-resolution eolian dust archives that allow us to understand past dust emission patterns in the Asian interior, and associated abrupt atmospheric circulation changes during the glacial-Holocene transition. Coarse-grained particles from this area (site AQ16) offer evidence of frequent dust plumes on millennial to centennial timescales in the Tarim Basin. Abrupt dust flux fluctuations during this transition, particularly during the Younger Dryas (YD), exhibit co-variation patterns similar to those seen in dust records from West Asia, East Asia, and Greenland, suggesting intercontinental climate teleconnections through the boreal westerly jet. We observe an anomalously high dust flux during the YD, not correlated with grain size. We attribute this circumstance to a stagnant westerly jet over the Tarim Basin for an extended period, leading to a prolonged duration of dust events. This could be due to a weakened Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation that triggered a southward shift and strengthening of the westerly jet, in conjunction with the North Atlantic Oscillation. These findings have broad implications for understanding regional dust emission dynamics and the coupling between dust emissions and atmospheric circulation on a global scale during the transition from the last glacial to the early Holocene.