Fig. 4: Chronology and extent of MIS 5 and mid-Holocene paleolakes.

a Paleolake age estimated by different dating methods. The blue/purple circles show the quartz (OSL)/K-feldspar (post-infra-red infrared stimulated luminescence, pIRIR) luminescence ages of shoreline deposits in the SB and NB, with the 1-sigma uncertainty represented by the vertical bars; quartz OSL ages for aeolian deposits from shorelines are represented by orange circles (Supplementary Tables 3 and 4). The arrows to the right of the blue circle indicate that these quartz OSL dates are considered to be minimum ages because D_e values ≥150 Gy are measured. Dark blue and yellow diamonds represent U-Th ages of shells and pedogenic carbonate coatings, respectively (2-sigma errors indicated by left side vertical bars, Supplementary Table 2). The open diamonds indicate overestimated U-Th ages of the shells due to carbonate re-crystallization, whereas the arrows at carbonate coatings U-Th ages represent the minimum age estimation of the shoreline formation. The green circles show the age of a shell and its carbonate coating (Fig. 3h). b Map showing sampling sites and lake extents in the study area during MIS 5 and the mid-Holocene. The blue arrows indicate flow directions between the different basins.