Holocene paleoclimates of India Sushma Prasad a, ⁎ ,1 , Yehouda Enzel b a Climate Dynamics and Sediments, GeoForschungsZentrum, Telegrafenberg, D 14473 Potsdam, Germany b Institute of Earth Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 91904, Israel Received 24 May 2006 Available online 15 September 2006 Abstract We present a comprehensive summary of the available palaeoclimate records from India and compare the results from different proxies. The results indicate (i) fluctuating lake levels during the early Holocene. The period of relatively higher lake levels from increased precipitation efficiency was reached only ∼7.2–6.0 cal kyr BP, possibly due to increased contribution from winter rainfall; (ii) the onset of aridity in NW India could have begun as early as ∼5.3 cal kyr BP. Subsequently, there were multiple wet events but of shorter duration and smaller magnitude than during the mid Holocene; (iii) there is evidence of several short term climate events in the proxy record. However, in the absence of a rigorous chronological framework a detailed regional correlation is not possible at this stage. Finally, a comparison between marine and terrestrial records indicates that episodes of strongest and weakest monsoon winds were not always associated with wettest and driest episodes respectively in the NW Indian lakes. © 2006 University of Washington. All rights reserved. Keywords: India; Lakes; Holocene; Pollens; Dunes; Palaeoclimate; Events; Indus valley civilisation Introduction The monsoon is one of the major weather systems on earth, and variations in its intensity have widespread socio- economic impact. It is therefore valuable to use paleoclimate data to examine the variability of the monsoon on long time scales (e.g., Gasse et al., 1996; Thompson et al., 1997; Fleitmann et al., 2003). India and northeast Africa are affected by the southwest Indian monsoon. The northern fringes of this region also receive some amount of winter rainfall. Here we present a summary of the Holocene palaeoclimate records from India and, (i) identify the episodes of maximum moisture availability; (ii) reconstruct the timing and role of winter rainfall maximum from terrestrial records; (iii) compare marine and terrestrial records; and (iv) discuss the evidence for the short term events (4.2 ka and 8.2 ka) in these continental monsoon records. Present day climate The most important feature in the meteorology of South Asia (Fig. 1a) is the seasonal alternation of atmospheric flow patterns associated with the monsoons. In the summer months of June to September the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) migrates northwards and the surface southwest winds are landward, bringing large amounts of precipitation. During winter the surface winds are mainly northeasterlies that bring predominantly cold, low humidity continental air. Winter is the main rainy season over the southern tip of peninsular India and Sri Lanka. The winter is also cha- racterised by mid-latitude cyclones steered by the westerlies. These cyclones originate over West Asia, the Mediterranean, and even as far as the Atlantic Ocean. They travel eastwards across Southwest Asia at ∼28°–30°N and can bring widespread winter rains to this region. Although winter rainfall accounts for 20% of the annual rain in NW India, its influence on lake hydrology in arid to semi-arid NW India is complemented by lower winter evapotranspiration rates (Rao, Quaternary Research 66 (2006) 442 – 453 www.elsevier.com/locate/yqres ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: sushma@gfz-potsdam.de (S. Prasad), yenzel@vms.huji.ac.il (Y. Enzel). 1 Fax: +49 331 2881349. 0033-5894/$ - see front matter © 2006 University of Washington. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.yqres.2006.05.008