Speleothem-Based Rainfall Records: A Comparison of the Arid Region of  Northwest China to the Monsoon Region of the Eastern Part of China

The monsoon region of the eastern part of China and the arid region of western part of China are the sensitive areas of g1oba1 change, which are separately contro11ed by monsoon and westerly circulation. In the past50 years, due to g1oba1 war- ming, the precipitation of the arid region of Northwest China has significantly increased while the precipitation of the monsoon region of the eastern part of China shows no obvious variation. The future trend of two regiona1 precipitations remains uncertain under the conditions of continuous g1oba1 warming. Based on the speleothem growth rate records from Sanbao Cave, Shennong jia, Hubei, and Kesang Cave, Tekesi County, Xinjiang, we investigate the responses of those records to precipitation and the precipitation variations as we11 as distinctions of the two regions on glacia1-interglacia1 scale, providing a case for precipitation forecasts from climatic models in future warming in China. It is found that the precipitation of the eastern part of China and the northwestern part of China fluctuate during glaciation-interglaciation, with an abundant precipitation in both two regions during interglacia1 period, corresponding to higher temperatures. Nevertheless, the precipitation of Northwest Chinalags behind that of the eastern part of China, implying the correlation between precipitation and temperature of the two regions are probably not completely simultaneous.