Climates and Environments of the Holocene Mega thermal Maximum in China

Based on data from palynology, paleosols, paleolimnology, ice core, archeology, sea levels, etc. , we reconstructed climates and environments of the Holocene Megathermal maximum (7. 2-6. 0 ka B. P. ), particularly vegetation zones, temperatures, precipitation and sea-level fluctuations. Annual mean temperature during that period was estimated at 1 ℃ higher than today for South China, 2 ℃ higher for the Changjiang River Valley, about 3℃ higher for North China, Northeast China and Northwest China and up to 4 - 5 ℃ higher for southern Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. Relative winter temperatures increased much more than average annual temperatures. The centennial-scale warming was accompanied by the expansion of summer monsoon and recession of winter cold currents as well as northward and westward shift of vegetation zones. Higher lake levels registered in all inland lakes of Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Qinghai and Xizang indicated that precipitation increased to a certain extent. The Holocene highest sea level

Climatic evolution in the Yangtze Delta region in the late Holocene epoch

Neolithic site sections, natural sections and other proxy indicators like paleotrees and peat are collected for further understanding the environmental changes during the past 10,000 years in the Yangtze Delta region. The results indicate that cultural interruption in the Yangtze Delta was the result of water expansion induced by climatic changes like more precipitation. For fi＇agile human mitigation to the natural hazards in the Neolithic cultural period, environmental changes usually exerted tremendous influences on human activities, havocking the human civilization, which is meaningful for human mitigation to natural hazards under the present global warming. At the same time, some uncertainties in reconstruction ofoaleo-environmental changes were discussed in the text.