Range change in Metasequoia: relationship to palaeoclimate

IEECAS SKLLQG

山东山旺中新世古气候的定量研究

本论文研究的创新之处是在高分辨率的地层层序上选定3米X3米的工作剖面，逐层采集标本，定量研究山旺中新世古气候的变化过程。主要有以下新的认识和结论： 植物化石的数量和种类在地层层序上的变化很大。第5层、第6层、第7层、第13层、第15层和第16层的标本丰富，可以进行CLAMP分析。 第5层、第6层和第7层的泥岩中保存有丰富的植物化石，运用荧光显微分析技术可以清晰地观察到泥岩中植物的气孔和表皮细胞形态。 山旺地区中新世年均温（MAT）在9.5℃和11.3℃之间。较热月份平均温度（WMMT）在19.9 ℃和22.4 ℃之间。生长季月数（GSL）为5.9－－6.9个月。生长季节平均降水量（MGSP）为860－－1770 mm。生长季月平均降水量（MMGSP）为152－－253mm，生长季三个连续最湿的月份降水量（3－WET）为530－－920mm，三个连续最旱的月份的降水量（3－DRY）为286－－687mm。相对湿度（Rel. Hum）在73％以上，高达80％。特殊湿度（q-Specific Humidity）在5.9－－6.7之间，热熵值（H－Enthalpy）为298.5－－304.5。 气候参数在地层层序上存在变化。CLAMP分析的结论与最近亲缘种分析（NLR）的结论相似。CLAMP分析的年均温比现在山旺的年均温12.5℃低，比同层的线性分析结果低3℃。与海底有孔虫氧同位素的研究结论一致。山东山旺中新世古气候的研究可以作为中中新世全球气候变化研究的一个标尺。

山东山旺中新世孢粉植物及古气候和古生态研究

本文对山旺中新世孢粉植物群进行了详细的研究。在22，95米厚的山旺硅藻土剖面上系统地采集了130块孢粉样品，样品之间的采样距离为10-30厘米。鉴定出孢粉类型111种。以此为基础，对山旺碰藻土沉积期间的古气候和古生态进行了高分辨率定量的恢复和重建。 根据每种孢粉类型的生物地层信息，山旺中新世孢粉植物群形成的时代为中中新世。这个年龄值也与同位素测年的结果16.78-14.11 Ma，以及根据哺乳动物划分的生物地层带MN4-MN5相一致。 运用共存分析法定量重建了山旺中新世孢粉植物群形成时的各项气候参数的定量值。所包括的10个古气候参数值分别为： 年平均温度(MAT) 15.6-17.2ºC，最冷月平均温度(TCM)5.0-6.6 0 C，最热月平均温度(TWM) 24.6-27.8 ºC，温度的年较差( TD) 20. 0-25.5 0 C，年平均降雨量(MAP) 1162-1308mm，最热月份的平均降雨量( PwarmM)108-lllmm，最湿月份的平均降雨量(PwetM) 148-180mm，最干月份的平均降雨量(PDM) 16-59mm，最干及最 湿月份降雨量的差值(DP) 81-153mm，平均相对湿度(RH) 72-74%，共存分析的结果表明，在整个22.95米厚的研究剖面上，从底部到顶部的古植物群形成期间的古气候有一个轻微的波动，其中年平均温度的波动范围大约在3度左右，最热月平均温度的波动范围在l度左右， 最冷月平均温度的波动范围在4度左右， 年平均降雨量的波动范围在100毫米左右。 山旺中新世时的气候应属于Koppen's的“Cfa”气候类型，与现今武汉与芜湖地区的气候相似。 与现代山旺地区气候上的区别主要在于年平均降雨量、降雨量的分配，以及最冷月份的平均温度。 通过应用多元分析的方法，对山旺中新世时期的植被进行了重建。山旺中新世时期的古植被为“混交中生林”，在研究剖面从底部到顶部的时间轴上，“混交中生林”经历了“湿润环境下的混交中生林”，“干旱环境下的混交中生林”，“湿润湖岸环境下的混交中生林”，“山地、湿润及碱性环境下的混交中生林”，和“碱性环境下的混交中生林”等5个阶段的变化。山旺剖面所代表的山旺湖周围的地形在断裂构造运动的控制下，也经历了一系列的变化。

云南元谋和山西太谷上新世化石木群研究

首次报道了云南元谋盆地（虎跳滩土林、湾堡土林和新华土林）晚上新世的硅化木材植物群和山西太谷盆地晚上新世的炭屑木材植物群，分析了这两个盆地当时的植被、环境和气候，为认识我国西南地区和北方中部地区晚上新世气候变化提供了生物学证据。 1。云南元谋盆地晚上新世沙沟组（相当于钱方等1991元谋组下部一、二段）化石木植物群包括：裸子植物1种，归属于三尖杉科(Cephalotaxaceae)三尖杉属(Cephalotaxus)或红豆杉科(Taxaceae)穗花杉属(Amentotaxus);被子植物11种，分别归属于楝科(Meliaceae)香椿属(Toona)、大戟科(Euphorbiaceae)秋枫属(Bischofia)、榆科(Ulmaceae)榉属(Zelkova)、豆科(Fabaceae)黄檀属(Dalbergia)、壳斗科(Fagaceae)锥属(Castanopsis)、青冈属(Cyclobalanopsis)、 千屈菜科(Lythraceae)紫薇属(Lagerstroemia)、桑科(Moraceae)桑属(Morus)、胡桃科(Juglandaceae)、豆科和壳斗科。其中三尖杉属或穗花杉属、楝科香椿属、豆科黄檀属、壳斗科锥属、青冈属、千屈菜科紫薇属、桑科桑属、胡桃科和壳斗科的化石木在我国为首次报道。依据植物群的组成，当时该盆地周围山地上的森林是以锥属、青冈属和三尖杉属或穗花杉属为主要分子的常绿针阔混交林，盆地内的树木包括楝科香椿属、大戟科秋枫属、豆科和千屈菜科紫薇属等植物;当时的气候为亚热带气候，温暖湿润。与印度同时代植物群相比，元谋植物群不具有典型的热带雨林分子如龙脑香科植物，而在印度晚第三纪则常见热带雨林分子。这种差异可能是因为中印植物区系起源不同，以及地质历史时期青藏高原的隆升造成区域气候分异，从而导致中印古植物区系不同。 2．山西太谷盆地晚上新世小白组化石木植物群包括榆科(Ulmaceae)榆属(Ulmus)、蔷薇科(Rosaceae)李属(Prunus)和桑科柘属(Cudrania)，它们的标本保存为炭屑木材。该化石木群的发现，以及综合通过孢粉学研究得出的古气候研究结果，表明当时当地属于典型的温带气候。化石木清晰的生长轮表明当时气候具明显的季节性。现代生态木材解剖学研究发现温带干旱地区植物群中导管分子壁的螺纹加厚比例较高、且明显。化石木标本导管分子壁具明显的螺纹加厚也表明盆地内为温带的气候类型。孢粉学研究和地层中丰富的石膏层也表明当时气候具有明显的干湿波动，地层中多层炭屑的存在证明了当时气候条件下森林火频繁发生。这些炭屑木材的发现丰富了太谷盆地晚上新世植物群，为古植被重建和古环境恢复提供了新的证据

海南岛长昌盆地始新世孢粉植物群及其古植被和古气候研究

植物作为气候环境变化的敏感指示物，能够提供许多有价值的气候环境变化信息，通过保存在地层中的植物化石和孢粉研究第三纪气候和环境变化已成为当今国际上的重要研究领域。 近年来，随着许多定量化的古气候分析方法(如：叶相分析法、树木年轮气候学法、共存分析法和特有种气候分析法）的不断出现，研究精度愈来愈高，已从定性描述过渡到定量化重建的阶段。 在本研究论文中，我们利用德国科学家Mosbrugger和Utescher在1997年倡导的共存分析法对海南岛长昌盆地始新世气候进行定量研究，并对盆地当时的古植被进行了重建。 长昌盆地始新世孢粉植物群以被子植物花粉占绝对优势(94.5%)，主要以壳斗科个体极小的三沟、三孔沟花粉为主(88.9%)，其他热带一亚热带分子有枫粉、山矾粉、棕榈粉和桃金娘粉等;裸子植物花粉含量较低(<3%)，以松粉为主，铁杉粉、杉粉和麻黄粉零星出现;蕨类植物孢子含量低(<2.7%)。孢粉组合表明始新世时盆地中央的平原或丘陵地带生长着亚热带常绿落叶阔叶林，在盆地周围的山地生长着温带常绿落叶阔叶林和针叶林植被。 通过共存分析获得的长昌盆地始新世气候参数如下：年均温为14.2 - 19.4oC;最热月均温为24.1-29.1 0C;最冷月均温为1.7-8.6 0C;年较差为18.6-24.6oC;年均降雨量为797.5 -1113.3 mm;最大月降雨量为141.5 -268.1 mm;最小月降雨量为8.9- 14.1 mm。 我们将长昌盆地始新世孢粉植物群和古气候与吉林珲春始新世孢粉植物群和古气候进行比较，结果表明始新世时两地虽然相距23个纬度，但南北气候差异不大，均比较温暖湿润。其可能原因是：一方面，当时我国位于欧亚大陆的东南缘，受大气环流和洋流的影响比较均一;另一方面，始新世时青藏高原抬升并不剧烈，我国大部分地区的地势较为平缓，地面大气层的密度比较均匀，气温保持匀和状态。

杉科植物的表皮结构研究及古环境重建

全球古近纪和新近纪气候波动明显，很多科学家对古近纪和新近纪生物演化和气候演变规律的定量研究给予了相当的重视。杉科植物有长期发展的历史、少数的现存种和丰富的化石记录，成为指示古环境的理想植物之一。利用杉科植物重建古环境，首先要对化石植物进行正确的分类鉴定。杉科各属枝叶形态特征变异幅度较大，且枝叶排列和形态特征近似，有时各属之间存在交叉特征。杉科化石标本通常仅保存枝叶形式，且多个属的化石标本经常发现于同一地层，因而分类鉴定比较困难。植物的叶表皮结构是压型植物化石细胞信息的重要来源，是属种分类鉴定重要依据之一。本文在以往研究的基础上，完整分析了杉科9属现生植物的表皮特征，建立了杉科化石植物分类鉴定的现生植物的表皮特征参照系。 杉科植物的叶多为条形、钻形、鳞形或披针形，同种植物有1种、2种甚至3种叶型。其中水杉属的叶交互对生，其它属的叶螺旋状互生。水杉属的多数表皮细胞垂周壁明显弯曲，落羽杉属和杉木属有时微呈波状，其他属的表皮细胞垂周壁直。多数植物的叶片近轴面和远轴面的气孔数量和分布不同。一般来说，条形叶和披针形叶的远轴面气孔分布状况和气孔数量稳定，远轴面的中部最稳定。条形叶远轴面的气孔分布于中脉两侧，形成纵向的气孔带。条形叶近轴面气孔分布状况和气孔数量变化大，近轴面的气孔数量有时与远轴面近似，但多数情况下比远轴面少，有时整个叶片的近轴面仅少数几个气孔或没有气孔分布。钻形叶的近轴面和远轴面的气孔数量近似，或叶片近轴面的气孔数量比远轴面的气孔数量多，气孔分布范围也比远轴面气孔分布范围广。气孔椭圆形，落羽杉属植物和水松鳞形叶的气孔长轴方向与叶片长轴垂直或斜向排列，柳杉属植物的气孔多斜向排列，水松的条形叶和条状钻形叶的气孔多平行向排列。落羽杉属和柳杉属以外的杉科植物的气孔长轴多数与叶片长轴平行。在扫描电子显微镜下的密叶杉属植物叶片角质层的内表面，副卫细胞和表皮细胞的垂周壁与叶表面的角度一致，且副卫细胞的形态与表皮细胞类似，这种特殊气孔器被称为A-型气孔器。杉科植物中水杉属、落羽杉属和杉木属的气孔器近似密叶杉的这种A-型气孔器。台湾杉属、柳杉属、水松属、红杉属和巨杉属植物的气孔器与这种A-型气孔器不同，这几属的副卫细胞垂周壁表皮细胞的垂周壁方向不同，且副卫细胞的形态与表皮细胞的形态明显不同。因而气孔所有副卫细胞组成呈明显的圆盘状，保卫细胞在盘子的中央。综合分析植物的枝叶形态和表皮特征可以区分杉科各属。 本文研究了采自抚顺始新世的杉科植物标本，经枝叶特征、表皮结构和球果鳞片等特征分析为水松属的欧洲水松。论文分析了中国东北地区古温度定量研究结果与杉科植物的相关性。抚顺植物群发现有化石水杉M. occidentalis、中华红杉和欧洲水松，根据这三种化石植物的年均温度和年降水量，通过共存分析，推测抚顺始新世的年均温为12.1-17℃，年降水量为1199.6-2231mm。

Calibration of alkenone unsaturation index with growth temperature for a lacustrine species, Chrysotila lamellosa (Haptophyceae)

Although long chain alkenones (LCKs) occur widely in lacustrine sediments, their origin is not clear. Here, we report a lacustrine source, the non-calcifying species Chrysotila lamellosa Anand (Haptophyceae), collected and isolated from an inland saline water body, Lake Xiarinur (Inner Mongolia, China). Its alketione pattern is similar to those of coastal marine strains of C lamellosa,but the relationship between U-37(K') index and culture temperature for the lacustrine species is quite different from that of the coastal species. A significant feature of the alkenones in this strain of C lamellosa is a lack of C-38 methyl alkenones, which might be used to distinguish the species from the marine haptophyte species Emiliania huxleyi and Gephyrocapsa oceanica. The higher C-38 tetraunsaturated compound abundance might be another important feature for distinguishing the C lamellosa alkenone producer from the coastal species Isochrysis galbana. This alkenone distribution pattern has been detected in many lakes, which suggests that C lamellosa or a closely related species might be a very common alkenone precursor in lacustrine systems. We examined U-37(K') and U-37(K) values for C lamellosa as a function of culture temperature in a batch culture experiment. The calibration for U-37(K') vs. culture temperature (T) was U-37(K') = 0.0011 x T-2 - 0.0157 x T + 0.1057(n = 14, r(2) = 0.99) from 10 degrees C to 22 degrees C or U-37(K') = 0.0257 x T - 0.2608(n = 9, r(2) = 0.97) from 14 degrees C to 22 degrees C. U-37(K) vs. culture temperature was U-37(K) = 0 0377 x T - 0.5992(n = 14, r(2) = 0.98) from 10 degrees C to 22 degrees C. Our experiments show that the alkenone unsaturation index (U-37(K')) is strongly controlled by culture temperature and can be used for palaeoclimate reconstruction. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pervasive autocorrelation of the chemical index of alteration in sedimentary profiles and its palaeoenvironmental implications

The chemical index of alteration has been used widely for reconstruction of the palaeoclimate. However, the mechanisms and environmental factors controlling the chemical index of alteration of sediments are not yet fully understood. In this study, autocorrelations of the chemical index of alteration in nine sedimentary profiles, from both the land and the sea, spanning different geological times, are discussed. The sediments of these profiles have different origins (dust, fluvial or ocean sediments) and are from various climate situations and sedimentary environments. Autocorrelations of chemical index of alteration series are ubiquitously evident in all profiles. It is suggested here that autocorrelations may be caused by post-depositional changes such as persistent weathering and diagenesis. As a result, the chemical index of alteration may not reflect climatic conditions during the time of sediment deposition. This study strongly recommends the confirmation of the reliability and veracity of the chemical index of alteration before it is adopted to evaluate the weathering degree of parent rocks and to reconstruct the past climate. Significant autocorrelations in loess profiles were specifically observed, suggesting that the existing understanding of loess deposition in terms of climate conditions requires re-examination, and that previous reconstructions of rapid climate changes (for example, in centennial-millennial scales) should be treated with caution.

扬子地区上奥陶－下志留统黑色岩系形成机理

The black rock series of the Upper Ordovician - Lower Silurian in Yangtze area are important source rocks and have exceptional characteristics of sediment, biology, element geochemistry, carbon and oxygen isotope, organic geochemistry and etc. These characteristics are the reflection of important geology events. Due to scarce system research, many problems that relate to the development mechanism of source rocks are not solved. And this restricts the exploration of Oil and gas in South China. In this paper, author studied the palaeo-climate, palaeo-structure and palaeo-environment of the Upper Ordovician - Lower Silurian in Yangtze area by sedimentology, palaeobiology and geochemistry, especially the element geochemistry and isotope geochemistry. The environment model of source rocks is established and some conclusions are drawn. The Upper Ordovician - Lower Silurian sediment types in Yangtze area are mostly black shales, next, mudstone, shell limestone and siltystone. During the Late Ordovician and Earily Silurian periods, a series of big upheaval and depressed are distributed in Yangtze area, and the strata pattern of interphase upheaval and depressed led to Yangtze palaeosea isolated with outside sea. So the stagnant and anoxic environment that are the favorable factor of rich organic black shales sediment is formed in Yangtze area. That Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA) values of the lower Wufeng formation and Longmaxi formation exhibits moderate chemistry weathering suggests they were deposited under the circumstances of the warm and humid climate. However, the large difference of the CIA values of N.extraordinarius-N.ojsuensis biozone suggests that climate is changeful. Therefore, there were two different kinds of climates in the course of the deposition of the Wufeng formation and Longmaxi formation. During the Late Ordovician - Earily Silurian periods, in Yangtze palaeosea, the surface water which is full of rich nutriment and abundant bacterium - algae has high palaeo-productivity that is obvious difference in the different space – time. The content of sulphate changes gradually from the surface water columns to the deep water columns. That is, salinity in the surface water columns is serious low and the salinity in deep water columns is normal. Salinity delamination is favor of the forming of deep anoxic environment. During Wufeng period, the oxidated and low sulfate environment exists in the upper Yangtze palaeosea, while the anoxic and normal salinity environment occurs in the lower Yangtze palaeosea. During the Late Wufeng and Guanyinqiao periods, the steady anoxic environment is replaced by oxidated environment. During the Longmaxi period, layered and anoxic environment recur. In Yangtze area, studies of δ13C of sedimentary organic carbon show a positive δ13C excursion up to 4‰ in the Guanyinqiao stage and then, acute negative excursion in the earily Longmaxi stage. These organic carbon isotopes curve are not only efficient measure of carving up strata borderline, but also reflected the change of originality productivity. These organic carbon isotopes curves showed the process of the enhanced embedding of the global organic carbon. Anoxic event is the main factor of increasing organic carbon embedding speed. And the reduced organic carbon embedding in Hirnantian stage is due to the water column with abundant oxygen. The δ34S values are gradually positive excursion from P.pacificus biozone to N.extraordinarius biozone, and reach the maximum in the Upper Hirnantian stage. Then, the δ34S values are negative excursion. The excursions of δ13C and δ34S reflect the acute change of environment. The formation of source rocks is largely dependent on the nature of organisms from which kerogen is derived and the preservation conditions of organic matter, which are fundamentally dependent on a favourable combination of various elements in which organisms live and are subsequently buried. These elements include palaeoclimate, palaeostructure and palaeoenvironmental conditions. Based on above mentioned circumstance, the coupling connection of source rock and the palaeoclimate, and of palaeostructure and palaeoenvironmental conditions are confirmed, and the “anoxic-marginal depression-photosynthesis” environemental model is established. It is indicated that anoxic played important role in production of organic matter. The produced organic matter was accumulated in marginal depression of the Yangtze area. The photosynthesis is favor of the high productivity. Source rocks have a good perspective, like that of “hot shale” deposited in North Africa.

晚中新世以来中国北方风成沉积的磁性地层学和沉积学研究

The past two decades have witnessed an unprecedented growth of interest in the palaeoenvironmental significance of the Pleistocene loess deposits in northern China. However, it is only several years ago that the Tertiary red clay sequence underlying Pleistocene loess attracted much attention. One of the major advances in recent studies of eolian deposits on the Loess Plateau is the verification of the eolian origin for the Tertiary red clay sediments. The evidence of the eolian origin for the red clay is mainly from geochemical and sedimentological studies. However, sedimentological studies of the red clay deposits are still few compared with those of the overlying loess sediments. To date, the red clay sections located near Xifeng, Baoji, Lantian, Jiaxian, and Lingtai have been studied, with an emphasis on magnetostratigraphy. These sections have a basal age ranging from ～4.3 Ma to ～7.0 Ma. The thickness of the sections varies significantly, depending perhaps on the development of local geomorphological conditions and the drainage system. Although the stratigraphy of the red clay sections has been recorded in some detail, correlation of the red clay sequences has not yet been undertaken. Geological records (Sun J. et al., 1998) have shown that during glacial periods of the Quaternary the deserts in northem China were greatly expanded compared with modern desert distribution. During interglacial periods, desert areas contracted and retreated mostly to northwestern China because of the increase in inland penetration of monsoonal precipitation. According to pedogenic characteristics of the red clay deposits, the climatic conditions of the Loess Plateau is warmer and wetter generally in the Neogene than in the late Pleistocene. Panicle analyses show that grain size distribution of the red clay sequence is similar to that of the paleosols in the Pleistocene loess record, thus implying a relatively remote provenance of the red clay materials. However, the quantitative or semiquantitative estimates of the distance from the source region to the Loess Plateau during the red clay development remains to be investigated. In this study, magnetostratigraphic and sedimentological studies are conducted at two thick red clay sequences-Jingchuan and Lingtai section. The objectives of these studies are focused on further sedimentological evidence for the eolian origin of the red clay, correlation of red clay sequences, provenance of the red clay, and the palaeoclimate reconstruction in the Neogene. Paleomagnetic studies show that the Jingchuan red clay has a basal age of 8.0 Ma, which is 1 million years older than the previously studied Lingtai section. The Lingtai red clay sequence was divided into five units on the basis of pedogenica characteristics (Ding et al., 1999a). The Jingchuan red clay sequence, however, can be lithologically divided into six units according to field observations. The upper five units of the Jingchuan red clay can generally correlate well with the five units of the Lingtai red clay. Comparison of magnetic susceptibility and color reflectance records of four red clay sections suggests that the Lingtai red clay sequence can be the type-section of the Neogene red clay deposits in northern China. Pleistocene loess and modem dust deposits have a unimodal grain-size distribution. The red clay sediments at Jingchuan and Lingtai also have a unimodal grain-size distribution especially similar to the paleosols in the Pleistocene loess record. Sedimentological studies of a north-south transect of loess deposits above S2 on the Loess Plateau show that loess deposits had distinct temporal and spatial sedimentary differentiation. The characteristics of such sedimentary differentiation can be well presented in a triangular diagram of normalized median grain size, normalized skewness, and normalized kurtosis. The triangular diagrams of the red clay-loess sequence at Lingtai and Jingchuan indicate that loess-paleosol-red clay may be transported and sorted by the same agent wind, thus extending the eolian record in the Loess Plateau from 2.6 Ma back to about 8.0 Ma. It has been recognized that during the last glacial maximum (LGM) the deserts in northern China had a distribution similar to the present, whereas during the Holocene Optimum the deserts retreated to the area west of the Helan Mountains. Advance-retreat cycles of the deserts will lead to changes in the distance of the Loess Plateau to the dust source regions, thereby controlling changes in grain size of the loess deposited in a specific site. To observe spatial changes in sedimentological characteristics of loess during the last glacial-interglacial cycle, the texture of loess was measured along the north-south transect of the Loess Plateau. Since the southern margin of the Mu Us desert during the LGM is already known, several models of grain size parameters versus the minimum distance from the source region to depositional areas were developed. According to these semiquantitative models, the minimum distance from the source region to Lingtai and Jingchuan areas is about 600 km during the Neogene. Therefore the estimated provenance of the Tertiary red clay deposits is the areas now occupied by the Badain Jaran desert and arid regions west of it. The ratio of the free iron to total iron concentration attests to being a good proxy indicator for the summer monsoon evolution. The Lingtai Fe_20_3 ratio record shows high values over three time intervals: 4.8-4.1 Ma, 3.4-2.6 Ma, and during the interglacial periods of the past 0.5 Ma. The increase in summer monsoon intensity over the three intervals also coincides with the well-developed soil characteristics. It is therefore concluded that the East-Asia summer monsoon has experienced a non-linear evolution since the late Miocene. In general, the East Asia summer monsoon was stronger in Neogene than in Quaternary and the strongest East Asia summer monsoon may occur between 4.1 and 4.8 Ma. The relatively small ice volume and high global temperature may be responsible for the strong summer monsoon during the early Pliocene.

宁夏固原寺口子剖面磁性地层与孢粉植物群初步研究

In Asia continent, several significant environmental events happened during the Cenozoic era, such as uplift of the Tibet Plateau, formation of the Asian Monsoon system, aridification of the temperate inland region in Central Asia. To investigate the history of long-term palaeoclimate evolution during the late Cenozoic, a lacustrine sequence located at Sikouzi, Guyuan county, Ningxia-Hui Autonomous Region, was studied. The Sikouzi section is about 2880 m in thickness and has a general continuous nature according to field observation. Thus this thick lacustrine record is an important archive to further understand those environmental events. In this study, detailed field measurement, layer-after-layer description and sampling, and magnetostratigraphy and palynoflora investigations are conducted at the Sikouzi section and some preliminary results have been achieved as follows. Based on Hipparion fauna, pollen data and long distinctive patterns of the local magnetozones, the confident correlation of the Sikouzi magnetostratigraphic polarity to the GPTS (CK95) is best established, indicating that the top boundary of the Sikouzi formation is dated back to -19.8 Ma B.P. and consequently no Oligocene sediments deposited locally. On the other hand, both the field observation and the correlation to GPTS indicate a nearly continuous nature for the whole sequence. The palynological results show that the grassland has been a dominant vegetation in the Sikouzi area since ~19.8 Ma B.P, although some trees/shrubs were present sparsely during the intervals of relatively warm and wet climatic conditions. This implies that the onset of the aridification in northwestern China is dated back to at least 19.8 Ma B.P. ago. The Neogene Global Climatic Optimum (-16.0 Ma B.P.) occurring between the late Early Miocene and the early Middle Miocene is well documented in the Shanwang formation, Shandong Province. However, such event was not found in the Sikouzi record, and neither in the Guide and the Hualong basins, Qinghai province. This may lead us to the conclusion that the East-Asian Summer Monsoon system remained weak during the period of the Miocene Climatic Optimum although the onset of it was traced back to the Early Oligocene. In the Sikouzi area, it was warm between the latest Miocene and the early Pliocene and then became cool in the late Pliocene. This pattern is consistent with the palaeoclimate record of the Pliocene from other areas in the world.