Early Cretaceous Paleoclimate Characteristics of China: Clues from Continental Climate‐indicative Sediments

AbstractThe Cretaceous was one of the most remarkable ‘greenhouse’ climate periods in geological history. Most of the reported studies of the Cretaceous paleoclimate are based upon marine sedimentary records. Large spatial scale paleoclimatic reconstruction, which has a higher time resolution based upon continental sediments in China, is rarely found. This study presents paleoclimate reconstruction for the six time periods of the Early Cretaceous in China by employing continental climate‐indicative sediments, including calcareous deposits, coal, oil shale, gypsum, halite, desert sedimentary systems, ferruginous deposits and laterite, copper‐bearing deposits, limestone and dolomite. Based on the distribution of the association of climate‐indicative sediments and the influences of paleotopography and orogenic belts (or important structural belts) on climate, seven climatic zones have been identified: 1) a warm and humid zone; 2) a warm and humid‐warm and arid zone; 3) a warm and arid zone; 4) an arid and hot zone; 5) the Tibet hot and humid zone; 6) a hot and arid‐semiarid zone; and 7) a hot and humid‐hot and arid one. It is found that the Early Cretaceous climatic zones of China were nearly latitudinally distributed from northwest to southeast. The arid‐hot climatic zone expanded in the Aptian, suggesting that a hotter and drier climate prevailed in later period of the Early Cretaceous. Conversely, the humid climatic zone expanded in the Albian, indicating that a wetter climate appeared at the end of the Early Cretaceous. The overall distribution pattern of the seven climatic zones indicates that a hot‐warm and arid climate was predominant in China; this coincides with a global ‘greenhouse climate’ background. However, palaeogeographic features and specific geologic events, such as the existence and disappearance of the eastern high plateau, and the uplift and denudation of Yinshan, Yanshan, Tianshan, Qinling and Dabie Mountains, led to distinctive regional climatic features of the Cretaceous in China.