A late Pliocene to early Pleistocene (3.3-2.1 Ma) orbital chronology for the Qaidam Basin paleolake (NE Tibetan Plateau) based on the SG-1b drillcore record

To contribute to a better understanding of Neogene climate evolution in Central Asia, we here present the first orbitally tuned time scale for a drillcore record from the Qaidam Basin (NE Tibetan Plateau) that consists of lacustrine sediments and spans the late Pliocene to early Pleistocene (similar to 3.3 to 2.1 Ma). Our tuning of Core SG-lb is based on the ln(Rb/Sr) ratio derived from XRF core scanning and grain-size distribution data that trace wet-dry climate alternations predominantly paced by orbital obliquity. Based on our ln(Rb/Sr) record, obliquity-precession interferences persisted during the mid-Pliocene warm period, but disappeared during the early Pleistocene. This could indicate that over the course of the late Pliocene a low-latitude-derived climate modulator gained an increasingly prominent role in shaping the environment of the Qaidam paleolake. At the same time, the consistent presence of the precession signal during the early Pleistocene hampers a refinement of the entire tuning on precession time scales. The inferred changes in sedimentation rate from the late Pliocene to the early Pleistocene indicate a long-term decrease in sediment supply into the Qaidam paleolake. This finding is in line with the previously proposed notion of a long-term aridification trend across the Plio-Pleistocene transition in Central Asia.