Progress and challenges in understanding Asian palaeogeography and monsoon evolution from the perspective of the plant fossil record

Robert A. Spicer; Alex Farnsworth

doi:10.54991/jop.2021.16

Authors

Robert A. Spicer School of Environmental, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, U.K.
Alex Farnsworth School of Geographical Sciences and Cabot Institute, University of Bristol, Bristol, BS8 1SS, U.K.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54991/jop.2021.16

Keywords:

Tibet, Himalaya, Palaeoaltimetry, Plant fossils, Palaeoclimate

Abstract

Land surface elevation, climate and vegetation are intrinsically linked at a range of spatial and temporal scales. In the case of Asia, complex relief hosts some of the richest biodiversity on our planet and is dominated by a system of monsoons, the features of which are determined in large part by topography and land surface characteristics, including vegetation. Such regions have not only acted as an incubator for evolving species but also as refugia during periods of environmental crisis. The exceptional topography of Asia includes the largest and highest elevated region on Earth, the Tibetan Plateau, along with the Himalaya and the Hengduan mountains, collectively referred to here as the THH region. In recent years there has been a revolution in thinking as to how the THH was formed, how the several monsoons systems that affect it have changed, and how it has influenced regional, even global, biodiversity evolution. Accurately dated plant fossils have played key roles in these advances. Here we review the complex evolution of the THH landscape, the modernization of the biota in the Paleogene, and the transition to the modern landscape and monsoon systems in the Neogene. We show how these changes in understanding have been brought about by recent fossil discoveries and new radiometric dating of previously known assemblages, methodological advances arising from integrating improved proxy data, and numerical palaeoclimate modelling. Significant knowledge gaps remain, however, which demand further advances in proxy and numerical methodologies, as well as new fossil discoveries in key locations for specific time intervals.

सारांश

भूमि की सतह का उत्थान, जलवायु और वनस्पति आंतरिक रूप से स्थानिक और लौकिक पैमानों की श्रेणी में जुड़े हुए हैं। एशिया के संदर्भ में, जटिल प्रमुखता हमारे ग्रह पर सबसे समृद्ध जैव विविधता की मेजबानी करती है और मानसून की एक प्रणाली की प्रभुत्वता दिखाती है, जिनकी विशेषताएं वृहद भाग में स्थलाकृति और वनस्पति सहित भूमि की सतह विशेषताओं द्वारा निर्धारित की जाती हैं। ऐसे क्षेत्रों ने न केवल विकसित प्रजातियों के लिए एक इनक्यूबेटर के रूप में काम किया है बल्कि पर्यावरणीय संकट की अवधि के दौरान रिफ्यूजिया के रूप में भी काम किया है। एशिया की असाधारण स्थलाकृति में पृथ्वी पर सबसे बड़ा और सबसे ऊंचा क्षेत्र, तिब्बती पठार, हिमालय और हेंगडुआन पर्वत शामिल हैं, जिन्हें सामूहिक रूप से यहां टीएचएच क्षेत्र के रूप में संदर्भित किया गया है। हाल के वर्षों में इस सोच में एक क्रांति आई है कि टीएचएच कैसे बना, इसे प्रभावित करने वाली कई मानसून प्रणालियां कैसे बदली हैं, और इसने क्षेत्रीय, यहां तक कि वैश्विक, जैव विविधता विकास को कैसे प्रभावित किया है। सटीक रूप से दिनांकित पादप जीवाश्मों ने इन अग्रिमों में महत्वपूर्ण भूमिका निभाई है। यहां हम टीएचएच परिदृश्य के जटिल विकास, पेलियोजीन में बायोटा के आधुनिकीकरण, और आधुनिक परिदृश्य और नियोजीन में मानसून प्रणालियों के संक्रमण की समीक्षा करते हैं। हम दिखाते हैं कि समझ में ये बदलाव हाल के जीवाश्म खोजों और पहले से ज्ञात संयोजनों के नए रेडियोमेट्रिक डेटिंग, बेहतर प्रॉक्सी डेटा को एकीकृत करने से उत्पन्न होने वाली पद्धतिगत प्रगति, और संख्यात्मक पुराजलवायु मॉडलिंग द्वारा कैसे लाए गए हैं। हालांकि, महत्वपूर्ण ज्ञान अंतराल बने हुए हैं, जो प्रॉक्सी और संख्यात्मक पद्धतियों में अग्रिम आधुनिकीकरण के साथ-साथ विशिष्ट समय अंतराल के लिए प्रमुख स्थानों में नई जीवाश्म खोजों की मांग करते हैं।

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