Publication Date:
2019-09-23
Description:
International Continental Scientific Drilling Program
(ICDP) drilled a complete succession of the lacustrine sediment
sequence deposited during the last ~500,000 years in
Lake Van, Eastern Anatolia (Turkey). Based on a detailed
seismic site survey, two sites at a water depth of up to 360 m
were drilled in summer 2010, and cores were retrieved from
sub-lake-floor depths of 140 m (Northern Basin) and 220 m
(Ahlat Ridge). To obtain a complete sedimentary section, the
two sites were multiple-cored in order to investigate the paleoclimate
history of a sensitive semi-arid region between the
Black, Caspian, and Mediterranean seas. Further scientific
goals of the PALEOVAN project are the reconstruction of
earthquake activity, as well as the temporal, spatial, and
compositional evolution of volcanism as reflected in the deposition
of tephra layers. The sediments host organic matter
from different sources and hence composition, which will be
unravelled using biomarkers. Pathways for migration of continental
and mantle-derived noble gases will be analyzed in
pore waters. Preliminary 40Ar/39Ar single crystal dating of
tephra layers and pollen analyses suggest that the Ahlat
Ridge record encompasses more than half a million years of
paleoclimate and volcanic/geodynamic history, providing
the longest continental record in the entire Near East to
date.
Type:
Article
,
NonPeerReviewed
Format:
text
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