Reference
Chen, J.H., Chen, F.H., Zhang, E.L., Brooks, S.J., Zhou, A.F. and Zhang, J.W. 2009. A 1000-year chironomid-based salinity reconstruction from varved sediments of Sugan Lake, Qaidam Basin, arid Northwest China, and its palaeoclimatic significance. Chinese Science Bulletin 54: 3749-3759.
Description
Studying varved sediments retrieved from cores extracted from Sugan Lake (38°51'N, 93°54'E) on the northern Tibetan Plateau, the authors developed a 1000-year high-resolution (~10 years) salinity history of the lake, based on the relative abundances of different chironomid species they identified via microscopic examination of head capsules found in the sediments. This work suggested, in their words, that "over the last millennium, the Sugan Lake catchment has alternated between contrasting climatic conditions, having a dry climate during the period AD 990-1550, a relative humid climate during the Little Ice Age (AD 1550-1840), and a dry climate again from AD 1840 onwards," and they associate the first of the three periods with "the Medieval Warm Period in China," which they describe as being "warm and dry."