Weakened dust activity in southern Central Asia during Heinrich events

Central Asia is one of the dustiest regions of the world, although our understanding of its dust activity over time is limited due to the paucity of continuous, high-resolution, geological records with robust chronologies. In this study, we explore the particle size characteristics of an age-constrained high-resolution last glacial loess record in Tajikistan, southern Central Asia, with a view to reconstructing associated climate dynamics. In contrast to the situation in northern Central Asia and northern China, our results indicate that dust activity declined during Heinrich events and increased during interstadials. It is proposed that dust emission and transportation conditions played an important part in determining regional dust activity and that the role of reactivated paleo-dust has been underestimated. Not only annual humidity but also seasonal humidity should be considered in the paleo-dust activity investigation.