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Clim. Past Discuss., 8, 1169-1207, 2012
www.clim-past-discuss.net/8/1169/2012/ doi:10.5194/cpd-8-1169-2012 © Author(s) 2012. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. |
A 250 ka oxygen isotope record from diatoms at Lake El'gygytgyn, far east Russian Arctic
1Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Research Unit Potsdam, Telegrafenberg A43, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
2School of Geography, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK
3Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, 90187 Umeå, Sweden
Abstract. In 2003 sediment core Lz1024 was drilled at Lake El'gygytgyn, far east Russian Arctic, in an area of the Northern Hemisphere which has not been glaciated for the last 3.6 Ma. Biogenic silica was used for analysing the oxygen isotope composition (δ18Odiatom) in the upper 13 m long section dating back about 250 ka with samples dominated by one taxa in the <10 μm fraction (Cyclotella ocellata). Downcore variations in δ18O values show that glacial-interglacial cycles are present throughout the core and δ18Odiatom values are mainly controlled by δ18Oprecipitation. Changes reflect the Holocene Thermal Maximum, the Last Glacial Maximum and the interglacial periods corresponding to MIS 5e and MIS 7 with a peak-to-peak amplitude of δ18O = 5.3 ‰. Our record is the first continuous δ18Odiatom record from an Arctic lake sediment core directly responding to precipitation and dating back more than 250 ka and correlates well with the stacked marine δ18O LR04 (r = 0.58) and δD EPICA Dome-C record (r = 0.69). With δ18O results indicating strong links to both marine and ice-core records, records from Lake El'gygytgyn can be used to further investigate the sensitivity of the Arctic climate to both past and future global climatic changes.
Citation: Chapligin, B., Meyer, H., Swann, G. E. A., Meyer-Jacob, C., and Hubberten, H.-W.: A 250 ka oxygen isotope record from diatoms at Lake El'gygytgyn, far east Russian Arctic, Clim. Past Discuss., 8, 1169-1207, doi:10.5194/cpd-8-1169-2012, 2012.