Current Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Late Pleistocene–Holocene Vegetation and Climate Change From the Western and Eastern Himalaya (India): Palynological Perspective


Affiliations
1 Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow 226 007, India
 

A palynological assay of the studies carried out from the Western and the Eastern Himalaya (India) during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene is presented here. The Western Himalaya is affected by both the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) and Western Disturbances, whereas the Eastern Himalaya receives precipitation only from the ISM. During the Late Pleistocene (~77 ka), a cold and arid climate supported steppe vegetation in the Western Himalaya. In the Eastern Himalaya, around 66 ka, a cool and dry climate supported the savannah vegetation with few scattered trees of Pinus and Tsuga. A number of warm-moist fluctuations are also perceptible during the Late Pleistocene. The impacts of Last Glacial Maximum, Holocene Climatic Optimum, Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age are well discernible in the vegetation in both the regions. Within a broad similarity, the climate change and associated vegetation succession varied from region to region; as the palynological records are characterized by the evidences of prolonged humid phases in the eastern sector, whereas the arid events are better marked in the western part. The similarities and incompatibilities in the climate and vegetation between the Western and Eastern Himalaya during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene are discussed in the present paper.

Keywords

Climate Change, Himalaya, India, Palaeopalynology, Vegetation Dynamics.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Cane, M. A., Climate change: a role for the Tropical Pacific. Science, 1998, 282, 59–61.

  • Clement, A. C., Seager, R. and Cane, M. A., Orbital controls on the El Nino/southern oscillation and the tropical climate. Paleoceanography, 1999, 14, 441–456.

  • Jouzel, J. et al., Vostok ice core: a continuous isotope temperature record over the last climatic cycle (160,000 years). Nature, 1987, 329, 403–408.

  • Von Grafenstein, U. et al., Amid-European decadal isotopeclimate record from 15,500 to 5000 years BP. Science, 1999, 284, 1654–1657.

  • Dansgaard, W. et al., Evidence for general instability of past climate from a 250-k yr ice core record. Nature, 1993, 364, 218–220.

  • O’Brien, S. R., Mayewski, P. A., Meeker, L. D., Meese, D. A., Twickler, M. S. and Whitlow, S. I., Complexity of Holocene climate as reconstructed from a Greenland ice core. Science, 1995, 270, 1962–1964.

  • Bond, G. et al., A pervasive millennial-scale cycle in North Atlantic Holocene and glacial climates. Science, 1997, 278, 1257–1266.

  • Stager, J. C. and Mayewski, P. A., Abrupt early to middle Holocene climate transition registered at the equator and the poles. Science, 1997, 276, 1834–1836.

  • Wohlfarth, B. et al., Unstable early-Holocene climatic and environmental conditions in northwestern Russia derived from a multidisciplinary study of a lake-sediment sequence from Pichozero, southeastern Russian Karelia. The Holocene, 2004, 14, 732–746.

  • Mayewski, P. A. et al., Holocene climate variability. Quaternary Res., 2004, 62, 243–255.

  • Singhvi, A. K. et al., Instrumental, terrestrial and marine records of the climate of south Asia during the Holocene: present status, unresolved problems and societal aspects. In Global Environmental Changes in South Asia, Springer, The Netherlands, 2010, 54–124.

  • Wang, B., The Asian Monsoon, Springer, Chichester, 2006.

  • Gayantha, K., Routh, J. and Chandrajith, R., A mult-proxy reconstruction of the late Holocene climate evolution in Lake Bolgoda, Sri Lanka. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol., 2017, 473, 16–25.

  • Overpeck, J., Anderson, D., Trumborem S. and Prell, W., The southwest Indian monsoon over the last 18,000 years. Climate Dyn., 1996, 12, 213–225.

  • Webster, P. J., Magana, V. O., Palmer, T. N., Shukla, J., Tomas, R. A., Yanai, M. U. and Yasunari, T., Monsoons: processes, predictability, and the prospects for prediction. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans, 1998, 103(C7), 14451–14510.

  • Gadgill, S., The Indian monsoon and its variability. Am. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci., 2003, 31, 429–467.

  • Gadgil, S. and Gadgil, S., The Indian monsoon, GDP and agriculture. Econ. Polit. Wkly, 2006, 41(47), 4887–4895.

  • Cook, E. R., Anchukaitis, K. J., Buckley, B. M., D’Arrigo, R. D., Jacoby, G. C. and Wright, W. E., Asian monsoon failure and mega drought during the last millennium. Science, 2010, 328, 486–489.

  • Cai, Y. et al., The variation of summer monsoon precipitation in central China since the last deglaciation. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 2010, 291, 21–31.

  • Dimri, A. P. et al., Western disturbances: a review. Rev. Geophys., 2015, 53; doi:1o.1002/2014RG000460.

  • Boos, W. R. and Kuang, Z., Dominant control of the South Asian Monsoon by orographic insulation versus plateauheating. Nature, 2010, 463, 218–222.

  • Hyde, H. A. and Williams, D. A., The right word. Pollen Anal. Circular, 1944, 8, 6.

  • Erdtman, G., Pollen Morphology and Plant Taxonomy Angiosperms, Almqvist and Wiksell, Stockholm, 1952.

  • Huntington, E., Pangong: a glacial lake in the Tibetan Plateau. J. Geol., 1906, 15, 599–617.

  • Wodehouse, R. P. and de Terra, H., The Pleistocene pollen of Kashmir. Mem. Connecticut. Acad. Arts Sci., 1935, 9(4), 1–18.

  • Deevy, E. S., Pollen from Interglacial beds of Pangong valley and its climatic interpretations. Am. J. Sci., 1937, 33, 44–56.

  • Champion, H. G. and Seth, S. K., A Revised Survey of the Forest types of India, Manager of Publications, New Delhi, 1968.

  • Quamar, M. F. and Kar, R., Modern pollen dispersal studies in India: a detailed synthesis and review. Palynology, 2020, 44(2), 217–236.

  • Köppen, W., Das geographische System der Klimate. In Handbuch der Klimatologie (eds Köppen, W. and Geiger, R), Gebrüder Borntraeger, Berlin, 1936, p. 1–44.

  • Harris, I., Jones, P. D., Osborn, T. J. and Lister, D. H., Updated high-resolution grids of monthly climatic observations – the CRU TS 3.10. Int. J. Climatol., 2014, 34, 623–642.

  • Andersen, S. T., The relative pollen productivity and pollen representation of North European trees, and correction factors for tree pollen spectra: determined by surface pollen analyses from forests. Geol. Surv. Denmark II Ser., 1970, 96, 1–99.

  • Vishnu-Mittre and Robert, D. R., Studies of pollen content of moss cushions in relation to forest composition in the Kashmir valley. Geophytology, 1971, 1, 84–96.

  • Bhattacharayya, A., Modern pollen spectra from Rohtang range, Himachal Pradesh. J. Palynol., 1989, 25, 121–131.

  • Pidek, I. A., Piotrowska, K. and Kasprzyk, I., Pollen-vegetation relationships for pine and spruce in southeast Poland on the basis of volumetric and Tauber trap records. Grana, 2010, 49, 215–226.

  • Ertl, C., Pessi, A. M., Huusko, A., Hicks, S., Kubin, E. and Heino, S., Assessing the proportion of ‘extra local’ pollen by means of modern aerobiological and phonological records – an example from Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) in northern Finland. Rev. Palaeobotany Palynol., 2012, 185, 1–12; 2018, 8, 4573; doi:10.1038/s41598-018-23055-5.

  • Kar, R., Bajpai, R. and Singh, A. D., Modern pollen assemblages from Hamtah and Chhatru glaciers, Lahaul-Spiti, India: Implications for pollen-vegetation relationship in an alpine arid region of western Himalaya. Quarter. Int., 2015, 371, 102–110.

  • Kar, R., Bajpai, R. and Mishra, K., Modern pollen-rain in Kedarnath: implications for past vegetation and climate. Curr. Sci., 2016, 110(3), 296–298.

  • Bajpai, R. and Kar, R., Modern pollen deposition in glacial settings in theHimalaya (India): abundance of Pinus pollen and its significance. Palynology, 2018, 42(4), 475–482; https://doi.org/ 10.1080/01916122.2017.1407835.

  • Quamar, M. F., Ali, S. N., Pandita, S. K. and Singh, Y., Modern pollen-rain from Udhampur, Jammu and Kashmir, India: insights into pollen production, dispersal, transport and preservation. Palynology, 2018, 42(1), 55–65.

  • Quamar, M. F., Ali, S. N., Pandita, S. K. and Singh, Y., Modern pollen assemblages from Reasi (Jammu and Kashmir), India: a tool for interpreting fossil pollen records. Grana, 2018, 57(5), 364–376.

  • Quamar, M. F., Surface pollen distribution from Akhnoor of Jammu District (Jammu and Kashmir), India: implications for the interpretation of fossil pollen records. Palynology, 2020, 44(2), 270–279.

  • Quamar, M. F. and Stivrins, N., Pollen and NPS along an altitudinal transect of the Baramulla District, Jammu and Kashmir, India implications for palaeoherbivory and palaeocology. Communicated in Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol., 2020 (in press).

  • Mykleby, P. M., Snyder, P. K. and Twine, T. E., Quantifying the trade-off between carbon sequestration and albedo in mid latitude and high-latitude North American forests. Geophys. Res. Lett., 2017, 44, 2493–2501.

  • Jin, Q. and Wang, C., The greening of Northwest Indian subcontinent and reduction of dust abundance resulting from Indian summer monsoon revival. Sci. Rep., 2018, 8, 4573.

  • Piao, S. et al., The carbon balance of terrestrial ecosystems in China. Nature, 2009, 458, 1009–1013.

  • Chauhan, M. S. and Sharma, C., Late Holocene vegetation and climate in Dewar Tal area, Inner Lesser Garhwal Himalaya. Palaeobotanist, 2000, 49, 509–514.

  • Trivedi, A. and Chauhan, M. S., Pollen proxy records of Holocene vegetation and climate change from Mansar Lake, Jammu, Jammu region, India. Curr. Sci., 2008, 95(9), 1347–1354.

  • Trivedi, A. and Chauhan, M. S., Holocene vegetation and climatic fluctuations in northwest Himalaya, based on pollen evidence from Surinsar Lake, Jammu region, India. J. Geol. Soc. India, 2009, 74, 402–412.

  • Quamar, M. F., Vegetation dynamics in response to climate change from the wetlands of Western Himalaya, India: Holocene Indian Summer Monsoon variability. The Holocene, 2019, 29(2), 345–362; doi:10.1177/0959683618810401.

  • Quamar, M. F., Late Holocene vegetation vis-á-vis climate change influenced by the ISM variability from the Western Himalaya, India. J. Palaeontol. Soc. India, 2019 (under review).

  • Bhattacharayya, A. and Chauhan, M. S., Vegetational and climatic changes during recent past around Tipra bank glacier, Garhwal Himalaya. Curr. Sci., 1997, 72, 408–412.

  • Chauhan, M. S., Sharma, C. and Rajagopalan, G., Vegetation and climate during the Late Holocene in Garhwal Himalaya. The Palaeobotanist, 1997, 46(1, 2), 211–216.

  • Phadtare, N. R., Sharp decrease in summer monsoon strength 4000–3500 cal BP in the central higher Himalayas of India based on pollen evidences from alpine peat. Quaternary Res., 2000, 53, 122–129.

  • Ranhotra, P. S., Bhattacharyya, A., Kar, R. and Sekar, B., Vegetation and climatic changes around Gangotri glacier during Holocene. In Proceedings of National Symposium on Role of Earth Science – Integrated Development and Related Societal Issues. Geol. Surv. India Spl. Publ., 2001, 65(III), 67–71.

  • Kar, R., Ranhotra, P. S., Bhattacharayya, A. and Sekar, B., Vegetation vis-à-vis climate and glacial fluctuations of the Gangotri glacier since last 2000 years. Curr. Sci., 2002, 82, 347–351.

  • Ranhotra, P. S. and Bhattacharyya, A., Holocene palaeoclimate and Glacier fluctuations within Baspa Valley, Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh. J. Geol. Soc. India, 2010, 75, 527–532.

  • Bhattacharayya, A., Ranhotra, P. S. and Gergan, J. T., Vegetation vis-à-vis climate and glacier history during 12,400 to 5,400 year BP from Dokriani valley, Garhwal Himalaya, India. J. Geol. Soc. India, 2011, 77, 401–408.

  • Ranhotra, P. S., Sharma, J., Bhattacharyya, A., Basavaiah, N. and Dutta, K., Late Pleistocene – Holocene vegetation and climate from the palaeolake sediments, Rukti valley, Kinnaur, Himachal Himalaya. Quaternary Int., 2018; http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/ j.quaint.2017.08.025.

  • Bali, R., Ali, S. N., Bera, S. K., Patil, S. K., Agarwal, K. K. and Nautiyal, C. M., Impact of Anthropocene vis-à-vis Holocene climatic changes on Central Indian Himalayan glaciers. In Engineering Geology for Society and Territory (eds Lollino, G. et al.), Springer International Publishing, Switzerland, 2015, vol. 1; doi:10.1007/978-3-319-09300-0-89.

  • Bhattacharayya, A., Studies in the vegetational history of the alpine region of North-West Himalaya (unpubl. Ph D thesis), Lucknow University, Lucknow, 1983, p. 278.

  • Demske, D., Tarasov, P. E., Wünnemann, B. and Riedel, F., Late glacial and Holocene vegetation, Indian monsoon and westerlycirculation in the Trans-Himalaya recorded in the lacustrine pollen sequence from Tso Kar, Ladakh, NW India. Palaeogeogr., Palaeoclimatol., Palaeoecol., 2009, 279(3–4), 172–185.

  • Ranhotra, P. S., Bhattacharyya, A. and Kotlia, B. S., Vegetation and climatic changes around Lamayuru, Trans Himalaya during the last 35 kyr BP. Palaeobotanist, 2007, 56, 117–126.

  • Leipe, C., Demske, D. and Tarasov, P. E., Fossil pollen record of composite sediment core TMD from Tso Moriri, analysis of modern surface pollen samples, mean annual precipitation reconstruction, and digitisation and recalibration of different discussed palaeo climate proxy records, 2013; doi:10.1594/PANGAEA. 808958.

  • Bhattacharyya, A., Vegetation and climate during post-glacial period in the vicinity of Rohtang Pass, Great Himalayan Range. Pollen et Spores, 1988, 30(3&4), 417–427.

  • Mazari, R. K., Bagati, T. N., Chauhan, M. S. and Rajagopalan, G., Palaeoclimatic record of last 2000 years in Trans Himalayan Lahaul-Spiti Region. In Nagoya IGBP-PAGES/PEP-II Symposium, 1995, pp. 262–269.

  • Chauhan, M. S., Mazari, R. K. and Rajagopalan, G., Vegetation and climate in upper Spiti region, Himachal Pradesh during late Holocene. Curr. Sci., 2000, 79(3), 373–377.

  • Chauhan, M. S., Late Holocene vegetation and climate change in the alpine belt of Himachal Pradesh. Curr. Sci., 2006, 91, 1562–1567.

  • Rawat, S., Gupta, A. K., Sangode, S. J., Srivastava, P. and Nainwal, H. C., Late Pleistocene–Holocene vegetation and Indian summer monsoon record from the Lahaul, Northwest Himalaya, India. Quaternary Sci. Rev., 2013, 114, 167–181.

  • Rawat, S., Phadtare, N. R. and Sangode, S. J., The Younger Dryas cold event in NW Himalayas based on pollen record from the Chandra Tal area in Himachal Pradesh. Curr. Sci., 2012, 102, 1192–1198.

  • Bali, R. et al., Vegetation and climate change in the temperatesubalpine belt of Himachal Pradesh since 6300 cal. yrs BP, inferred from pollen evidence of Triloknath palaeolake. Quaternary Int., 2016; http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.07.057.

  • Sharma, C. and Chauhan, M. S., Vegetation and climate since Last Glacial Maxima in Darjeeling (Mirik Lake), Eastern Himalaya. In Proceedings of 29th International Geological Congress Part B, 1994, pp. 279–288.

  • Chauhan, M. S. and Sharma, C., Late-Holocene vegetation of Darjeeling (Joree Pokhari), Eastern Himalaya. Paleobotanist, 1996, 45, 125–129.

  • Sharma, C. and Chauhan, M. S., Palaeoclimatic inferences from quaternary palynostratigraphy of the Himalayas. In The Himalayan Environment (eds Dash, S. K. and Bahadur, J.), New Age International, New Delhi, 1999, pp. 193–207.

  • Sharma, C. and Chauhan, M. S., Late Holocenevegetation and climate from Kupup Lake, Sikkim Himalaya, India. J. Palaeontol. Soc. India, 2001, 46, 51–58.

  • Bhattacharyya, A., Sharma, J., Shah, S. K. and Chaudhary, V., Climatic changes during the last 1800 yrs BP from Paradise Lake, Sela Pass, Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast Himalaya. Curr. Sci., 2007, 93(7), 983–987.

  • Ghosh, R., Paruya, D. K., Khan, M. A., Chakarborty, S., Sarkar, A. and Bera, S., Late Quaternary climate variability and vegetation response in Ziro Lake Basin, Eastern Himalaya: a multiproxy approach. Quaternary Int., 2014, 213, 120–140.

  • Achyuthan, H., Farooqui, A., Eastoe, C., Ramesh, R., Devi, M. and Ganesh, P. P., A five-century long limnological and environmental record from northeastern India. In Holocene (Edit). Bahadur Singh Kotlia. Nova Science Publisher, Inc, 2013, pp. 129–143, ISBN: 978-1-62257-722-4.

  • Bhattacharyya, A., Mehrotra, N., Shah, S. K., Basavaiah, N., Chaudhary, V. and Singh, I. B., Analysis of vegetation and climate change during Late Pleistocene from Ziro Valley, Arunachal Pradesh, Eastern Himalaya region. Quaternary Sci. Rev., 2014, 101, 111–123.

  • Ghosh, R., Bera, S., Sarkar, A., Paruya, D. K., Yao, Y. F. and Li, C. S., A ~50 ka record of monsoonal variability in the Darjeeling foothill region, eastern Himalayas. Quaternary Sci. Rev., 2015, 114, 100–115.

  • Ghosh, R., Biswas, O., Paruya, D. K., Agrawal, S. and Sharma, A., Hydroclimatic variability and corresponding vegetation response in the Darjeeling Himalaya, India over the past ~2400 years. Catena, 2018, 170, 84–99.

  • Mehrotra, N., Shah, S. K., Basavaiah, N., Laskar, A. H. and Yadava, M. G., Resonance of the ‘4.2 ka event’ and terminations of global civilizations during the Holocene, in the palaeoclimate records around PT Tso Lake, Eastern Himalaya. Quaternary Int., 2018; doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2018.09.027.

  • Dixit, S. and Bera, S. K., Mid-Holocene vegetation and climatic variability in tropical deciduous sal (Shorea robusta) forest of lower Brahmaputra Valley, Assam. J. Geol. Soc. India, 2011, 77, 419–432.

  • Dixit, S. and Bera, S. K., Pollen-inferred vegetation vis-à-vis climate dynamics since Late Quaternary from Western Assam, Northeast India: signal of global climatic events. Quaternary Int., 2013, 286, 56–68.

  • Mehrotra, N., Shah, S. K. and Bhattacharyya, A., Review of palaeoclimate records from northeast India based on pollen proxy data of Late Pleistocene–Holocene. Quaternary Int., 2014, 325, 41–54.


Abstract Views: 430

PDF Views: 145




  • Late Pleistocene–Holocene Vegetation and Climate Change From the Western and Eastern Himalaya (India): Palynological Perspective

Abstract Views: 430  |  PDF Views: 145

Authors

Ratan Kar
Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow 226 007, India
M. Firoze Quamar
Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences, Lucknow 226 007, India

Abstract


A palynological assay of the studies carried out from the Western and the Eastern Himalaya (India) during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene is presented here. The Western Himalaya is affected by both the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) and Western Disturbances, whereas the Eastern Himalaya receives precipitation only from the ISM. During the Late Pleistocene (~77 ka), a cold and arid climate supported steppe vegetation in the Western Himalaya. In the Eastern Himalaya, around 66 ka, a cool and dry climate supported the savannah vegetation with few scattered trees of Pinus and Tsuga. A number of warm-moist fluctuations are also perceptible during the Late Pleistocene. The impacts of Last Glacial Maximum, Holocene Climatic Optimum, Medieval Warm Period and Little Ice Age are well discernible in the vegetation in both the regions. Within a broad similarity, the climate change and associated vegetation succession varied from region to region; as the palynological records are characterized by the evidences of prolonged humid phases in the eastern sector, whereas the arid events are better marked in the western part. The similarities and incompatibilities in the climate and vegetation between the Western and Eastern Himalaya during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene are discussed in the present paper.

Keywords


Climate Change, Himalaya, India, Palaeopalynology, Vegetation Dynamics.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv119%2Fi2%2F195-218