ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE IN THE POYANG LAKE AREA DURING LATE-PLEISTOCENE

During Late-Pleistocene, a stratigraphic sequence of alternating wind-drift sand, loess and limnetic facies developed in the northern Poyang Lake area. In this paper, environmental change and course of monsoon chage during Late-Pleistocene have been studied based on the analysis of the environmental proxies collected from five exposure pro files in Jiujiang, Hukou and Pengze. As a result, we have found that there was a cold and dry climate controlled by stronger winter monsoon during 147-129.06 kaBP. Therer was an obvious periodicity of climate during 129.6-76 kaBP:it was warm and wet in the early and middle stage and became attenuated in the late stage with some intervening cold events. Moreover this period began with a n increasingly strong summer monsoon until 120 kaBP. when it beg an to decline, and became strong again after a weak period of 103-92ka BP. In the stage of 76-55ka BP, it was cold and dry, as a result of severe winter monsoon. The summer monsoon became strong again during 55-25 ka BP, leading to a warm and wet climate with cold fluctuations. The climate tended to become dry after 13ka BP.