Intensified fire activity induced by aridification facilitated late Miocene C4 plant expansion in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau, China

Abstract There have been a number of suggested driving factors for Late Miocene expansion of C4 plant coverage, including a decline in atmospheric CO2 concentrations, enhanced aridity and seasonality, shifts in fire regimes, and tectonic uplift. In order to identify and discriminate the driving factors of vegetation changes, continuous records from the same section or basin are required. We present micro-charcoal-based fire history and C4 vegetation abundance records spanning the Miocene from the Yanwan Section in the Tianshui Basin, on the northeastern Tibetan Plateau (NE TP). Based on statistical analyses, the micro-charcoal concentrations were relatively low before ~10 Ma, and after that time, there was an exponential increase. The C4 plant abundance shows a strong increase after 8 Ma, about 2 million years after the micro-charcoal concentrations started increasing. We compare our records with published CO2, pollen, seasonality, herbivorous mammalian fossil and tectonic records from the same section and basin. We find that C4 vegetation, fire intensities, and opening landscapes increased simultaneously after 8 Ma. This indicates that a fire-grassland feedback, initially driven by aridification, was the trigger for the Late Miocene expansion of C4 plants. We speculate that herbivorous mammalian species may also have played a minor role. During the Miocene, there is a trend towards enhanced seasonality and a decline in atmospheric CO2 concentrations, which were also necessary preconditions for the expansion.