The role of paleogeography in Asian monsoon evolution: a review and new insights from climate modelling

The Asian monsoons are triggered by complex interactions between the atmosphere, Asian and African orography, and the surrounding oceans, resulting in highly seasonal climate and specific regional features. It was thought that the Asian monsoon was established during the Neogene, but recent evidence for monsoon-like precipitation seasonality occurring as early as the Paleogene greenhouse period challenges this paradigm. The possible occurrence of monsoons in a climatic and paleogeographic context very different from the present-day questions our understanding of the drivers underpinning this atmospheric phenomenon, in particular with regard to its dependence on geography. In this study, we first take advantage of the wealth of new studies to tentatively draw an up-to-date picture of Asian tectonic and paleoenvironmental evolution throughout the Cenozoic. We then analyze a set of 20 paleoclimate simulations spanning the late Eocene to latest Miocene (∼ 40–8 Ma) in order to better understand the evolution of the distinct Asian monsoon subsystems. At odds with the traditional view of a monsoonal evolution driven mainly by Himalayan-Tibetan uplift, our work emphasizes the importance of peripheral mountain ranges in driving the evolution of Asian climate. In particular, the uplift of East African and Anatolian-Iranian mountain ranges, as well as the emergence of the Arabian Peninsula, contribute to shaping the modern South Asian summer monsoon. We also suggest that East Asian monsoon establishment and the aridification of inland Asia are driven by a combination of factors including increasing continentality, the orographic evolution of the Tibetan Plateau, Mongolia, Tian Shan and Pamir, and pCO2 decrease during the Cenozoic.