INITIATION AND EVOLUTION OF THE ASIAN MONSOON SYSTEM TIMELY COUPLED WITH THE ICE-SHEET GROWTH AND THE TECTONIC MOVEMENTS IN ASIA
亚洲季风系统的起源和发展及其与两极冰盖和区域构造运动的时代耦合性

A large variety of geological evidences are presented and summarized here tOaddress the links of the different components of the Asian monsoon system, ice-sheetchanges and the regional tectonic movementS in Asia over the Cenozoic Era.Environmental indicators (coal beds, salt and gypsum deposits, paleo-vegetationremains etc.) from the presently monsoonal regions provide the terrestrial evidences ofthe inceptions of the Southeast Asian summer monsoon, the Southwest Asian summermonsoon and the NorthWest Asian winter monsoon. The Paleocene and the Eoceneenvironmental patterns in China were dominated by roughly zonal climates resultedfrom the planetary wind system. The decrease in the aridity for the southeasterncountry in the Oligocene indicates the inception of the southeast summer monsoon.Conspicuous changes have occurred for the Miocene when the originally aridsouth-western pat of the country became much more humid , indicating the initiation of the south-west summer monsoon. The south-east summer monsoon was alsosignificantly strengthened at the same bine. The geographic location of the arid regionin the northern China was further close to the present-day one. Another drastic change occurred around the farest Miocene when extensive aeolian dust began tOdeposit in the northern China, indicating the emergence of the north-east wintermonsoon and an increase in the continental aridity in cental Asia. Since then, twosignificant climate shifts occurred near 2.5Ma B.P. and 0.9Ma B.P., as shown by theIoess-paleosol sequences.These drastic environmental changes were roughly synchronous with the initiation and the evolution of the polar ice-sheet ,as well as the tectonic movementS in Asia.The temporary coupling of the atmosphere-ice -sheet-tectonic movements may beattributed to a number of mechanisms.