Abrupt environmental changes during the last 30 kyr in the southern margin of the Taklimakan Desert, a record from an oasis Peixian Shu a, b, c , Baosheng Li a, d, * , Hong Wang a, e , Peng Cheng a , Zhisheng An a , Weijian Zhou a , David Dian Zhang f, g , John Dodson a, h , Dongfeng Niu i , Yuejun Si j , Xiaohao Wen d , Yahui Qiu k a State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, 710061, China b University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China c Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA d School of Geography, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, 510631, China e Illinois State Geological Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, IL, 61820, USA f Department of Geography, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China g School of Geography, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, 510631, China h School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia i School of Physics Science and Technology, Lingnan Normal University, Zhanjiang, 524048, China j School of Geography and Planning, Guangxi Teachers Education University, Nanning, 530001, China k Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi'an, 710069, China article info Article history: Received 21 August 2018 Accepted 26 September 2018 Keywords: Oasis Radiocarbon dating Abrupt environmental change Last glaciation Holocene Taklimakan desert abstract The Taklimakan Desert, the largest sand sea in China, is one of the most important sources of dust in the world. Millennial-scale abrupt climate changes during the last glacial and Holocene periods occurred in the region. However, these records remain poorly understood because dating eolian, lacustrine, and fluvial sediments and establishing reliable environmental proxies are challenging in this setting. Here, we use accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS), grain size, and Rb/Sr ratios of bulk sediments from an oasis sequence in the Taklimakan Desert. While some 14 C dates results are not in the stratigraphic order, most of them can be grouped in four age groups during the Last Glacial. We infer that reversals of radiocarbon age based on total organic carbon (TOC) was controlled by organic carbon (OC) input from the regional carbon pool. We selected 14 C dates from the four age groups, to develop an age-depth model for a basin- wide chronology. Peaks in a cumulative probability curve of radiocarbon dates, with high Rb/Sr ratios and fine mean grain sizes, reveal four wet periods during the Last Glaciation, and one wetter/warmer period during the Holocene. The regional moisture variability appears to be influenced by the Asian summer monsoon and mid-latitude Westerlies. The Holocene wetter/warmer period facilitated human occupa- tion of the oasis. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The Taklimakan (Taklamakan) Desert, the largest sand sea in the China (Zhu et al., 1980; Wu, 1981), is one of the most important global sources of dust (Pye, 1987; Prospero et al., 2002; Zhang et al., 2003; Wang et al., 2004b; Jickells et al., 2005; Uno et al., 2009; Shao et al., 2011). It is located in the Tarim Basin of western China (37e42  N, 74e95  E), and is bordered by the Tian Shan in the north, Pamir Mountains to the west, and the Kunlun Mountains along its southern margins (Fig. 1A and B). The Taklimakan Sand Sea is located between the Asian summer monsoon and Westerlies dominated regions (Chen et al., 2008; An et al., 2012; Zhao et al., 2014; Huang et al., 2015; Thompson et al., 2018)(Fig. 1A). Its sed- iments contain information relevant for reconstructing variability in the Asian summer monsoon and Westerly climate relationship (Fang et al., 2002; Yang and Scuderi, 2010; Zhao et al., 2012), and for understanding dust emission rates at various time scales (Sun et al., 2007; Tada et al., 2010; Nagashima et al., 2011 , 2013). The eolian- * Corresponding author. State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, 710061, China. E-mail address: libsh@scnu.edu (B. Li). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Quaternary Science Reviews journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quascirev https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.09.036 0277-3791/© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Quaternary Science Reviews 201 (2018) 29e43