Branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers and paleoenvironmental reconstruction in Zoigê peat sediments during the last 150 years

Branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) were analyzed in peat samples taken from the Zoigê grassland, located on the eastern margin of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The mean annual air temperature (MAAT) and pH in the 210 Pb-dating peat core were reconstructed based on the cyclization of branched tetraethers (CBT) and methylation of branched tetraethers (MBT) indices for the last 150 years. The results showed that the MAAT and pH values involved three stages of variation over the last 150 years. The pH was stable and the MAAT decreased slowly by about 1°C from 1851 to 1927. The pH decreased rapidly by 0.6 and the MAAT decreased significantly by 2.5°C between 1927 and 1979. The pH and MAAT increased by 0.8 and 5°C, respectively, since the 1980s. The reconstructed temperatures correspond well to the mean winter temperatures reconstructed using tree-rings from the Jiuzhaigou Valley, situated at the boundary between the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and the Sichuan Basin. The estimated MAAT was similar to the temperatures reconstructed using tree-rings, indicating an increasing trend, as shown by local instrumental records from 1957 to 2001. These results provide further confidence in the application of proxies based on glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers in peat records for continental paleoclimate reconstruction.