Westerlies

Middle latitudes

Loess

Global cooling

Geology

Climate change

Atmospheric sciences

Climate model

Geography

Geomorphology

Climatology

Physical geography

Environmental science

Oceanography

Arid

Paleontology

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Significance We recovered the world’s thickest continuous loess record from the southern margin of the Taklimakan desert, a global-scale dust source area. The continuous high-resolution grain size and flux records of dust emission, reflecting histories of aridity and westerlies climate, indicate an extant dry climate, desert area, and stable land surface supporting continuous loess deposition at least since ∼3.6 Ma, and that global cooling, rather than Tibet uplift, modulated the histories of aridity and westerlies climate changes in inland Asia since ∼3.6 Ma. Moreover, our study may suggest potential positive linkages and feedback among dust emission, marine biogeochemical activity, atmospheric CO 2 , and global cooling, which might provide insights into dynamics of Earth’s climate system and improve predictions for the future.

The 3.6-Ma aridity and westerlies history over midlatitude Asia linked with global climatic cooling