Yilong lake level record documents coherent regional-scale changes in Holocene water balance in Yunnan, southwestern China

Although Holocene-scale trends in Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) variability have been well-established, manifestations and drivers of centennial-and multi-decadal-scale variability are still debated. Additionally, the extent to which proxies reflect abrupt climatic changes rather than proxy-specific thresholds is unclear. To address these questions, we summarize a 9200-year record from Yilong Lake in Yunnan China using multiple proxies including oxygen and carbon isotopes of authigenic calcite as well as Ti/Al ratio to characterize lake hydrologic balance and catchment erosion, respectively. We compare these results to two other well-studied nearby lakes on the Yunnan Plateau. At all three lakes, the Holocene-scale waning of the ISM is evident, but punctuated by abrupt shifts indicative of lower precipitation and/or greater evaporation at 7900, 5500, and 4500 cal yr B.P. We suggest that a shift to a positive mean-state of the Indian Ocean Dipole lasting multiple centuries can account for these events, with possible moderating influence from El Nin tilde o Southern Oscillation. After 1500 cal yr B.P., Yilong oxygen isotopes shift to less negative values as a result of human manipulation of hydrologic balance, coincident with the deposition of a red clay layer from catchment erosion. These results are similar to other Yunnan lakes although the intensity of anthropogenic management of Yilong's hydrologic bal-ance is substantially smaller than at the other regional lakes. These results underscore the diversity of anthro-pogenic impacts to lakes, even ones that are only a few kilometers apart, and demonstrate spatiotemporal differences in freshwater resource use.