ALBERT

Description: Laminated lake sediments from the Dead Sea basin provide high-resolution records of climatic variability in the eastern Mediterranean region, which is especially sensitive to changing climatic conditions. In this study, we aim on detailed reconstruction of climatic fluctuations and related changes in the frequency of flood and dust deposition events at ca. 3300 and especially at 2800 cal. yr BP from high-resolution sediment records of the Dead Sea basin. A ca. 4-m-thick, mostly varved sediment section from the western margin of the Dead Sea (DSEn - Ein Gedi profile) was analysed and correlated to the new International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) Dead Sea Deep Drilling Project core 5017-1 from the deep basin. To detect even single event layers, we applied a multi-proxy approach of high-resolution microscopic thin section analyses, micro-X-ray fluorescence (µ-XRF) element scanning and magnetic susceptibility measurements, supported by grain size data and palynological analyses. Based on radiocarbon and varve dating, two pronounced dry periods were detected at ~3500-3300 and ~3000-2400 cal. yr BP which are differently expressed in the sediment records. In the shallow-water core (DSEn), the older dry period is characterised by a thick sand deposit, whereas the sedimentological change at 2800 cal. yr BP is less pronounced and characterised mainly by an enhanced frequency of coarse detrital layers interpreted as erosion events. In the 5017-1 deep-basin core, both dry periods are depicted by halite deposits. The onset of the younger dry period coincides with the Homeric Grand Solar Minimum at ca. 2800 cal. yr BP. Our results suggest that during this period, the Dead Sea region experienced an overall dry climate, superimposed by an increased occurrence of flash floods caused by a change in synoptic weather patterns.

Description: This dataset provides first results of the ongoing search for cryptotephras in the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) sediment core 5017-1 retrieved from the deep northern DS basin in 2010/11. 56 samples from sediments and rock salts were collected between 89.30 and 94.09 m sediment depth below lake floor from cores 5017-1-A-43 and 5017-1-A-44, focusing on the Lateglacial time period (~15-11.4 cal. ka BP), when Lake Lisan – the precursor of the DS – shrank from its glacial high-stand to the Holocene low levels. Sampling was performed in contiguous 5 cm steps with sample volumes of 5 cm³ and excluding mass-transported deposits thicker than 5 cm. The cryptotephra glass-shard extraction protocol followed established separation procedures (Blockley et al. 2005, doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2004.12.008), and has been further adapted to the extreme salinity and sediment recycling of the DS. Glass shards were picked using a 100 μm-diameter gas-chromatography syringe attached to a micromanipulator (Lane et al. 2014, doi:10.1016/j.jas.2013.10.033), embedded in Araldite 2020 epoxy resin and ground and polished for electron probe microanalyses (EPMA). Major-element composition of individual glass shards was measured using a JEOL JXA-8230 electron microprobe at GFZ Potsdam, Germany (15 kV, 5-10 nA, 5-10 µm beam size). Instrumental calibration used natural mineral standards and the precision and accuracy of measurements during analytical runs were monitored using the glass standards Lipari obsidian (Hunt & Hill 1996, doi:10.1016/1040-6182(95)00088-7; Kuehn et al. 2011,doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2011.08.022) and MPI-Ding glasses ATHO-G, StHs-6-80-G and GOR-132-G (Jochum et al. 2006, doi:10.1029/2005GC001060). From six glass samples at least 10 glass shards per sample were measured by EPMA and for three samples replicate measurements on different glass shards were performed. After removal of glass geochemical measurements with totals 〈90%, 102 glass shard measurements remain in total. In general, cryptotephra is abundant in the Dead Sea record (up to ~100 shards per cm³), but often glasses are physically and/or chemically altered. The glass shard measurements reveal a heterogeneous geochemical composition, with mainly rhyolitic and some trachytic glasses potentially sourced from Italian, Aegean and Anatolian volcanoes. These first results demonstrate the great potential of crypto-tephrochronology in the DS record for improving its chronology and connecting the Levantine region to the Mediterranean tephra framework.

Description: To revise the chronology for the Lake Gościąż record, sediment cores were retrieved during two field campaigns in 2015 and 2018. Four overlapping sections were collected using a UWITEC Piston Corer (Ø 90 mm) in the deepest part of Lake Gościąż, Poland (52.583022 N, 19.339946 E). The chronology was obtained by triple varve counting on petrographic thin sections that was complemented by 137Cs measurements and 14C AMS dating of terrestrial plant remains. Additionally, part of the chronology between 520-758 cm was obtained through age-depth modelling. Pollen analysis was performed for seventy one samples, prepared according to standard procedure, and analyzed in three intervals: i) from 1859.9 cm to 1874.4 cm with 2 cm resolution, ii) from 1880.2 cm to 1896.7 cm with 1-2 cm resolution and iii) from 1741.4 cm to 1798.4 cm with 0.5-3 cm resolution. The record is mostly varved and the bottom of the composite profile coincides with the onset of lacustrine sedimentation in the late Allerød at 12,834 +134/-233 varve yrs BP.

Description: These datasets provide data for the lowest part of a new composite profile GOS18 from Lake Gościąż in central Poland. The composite profile was established using sediment cores recovered in 2015 and 2018 with an UWITEC Piston Corer at 19.6-21.5 m water depth (Bonk et al., in press). Our data covers the time interval from the onset of lacustrine sedimentation in the late Allerød to the early Preboreal. Since Lake Gościąż comprises a continuous, seasonally resolved (varved) and exceptionally well-preserved archive of the Younger Dryas (YD) climate variation, it is highly suitable for detailed investigations of lake system responses during periods of rapid climate cooling (YD onset) and warming (YD termination), respectively. Chironomidae head capsules (hc) were utilized to reconstruct the mean July air temperature from the late Allerød to the early Preboreal in Lake Gościąż (central Poland). Sample resolution ranges from 0.5 to 6 cm. Two different training sets were used for the reconstruction - the Swiss-Norwegian-Polish Training Set (SNP TS) (Kotrys et al. 2020) and the East European TS (EE TS) (Luoto et al. 2019). Both use the Weighted Averaging-Partial Least Squares transfer function (WA-PLS).The dataset incorporates the composite depth and age [BP] for the sample midpoint, as well as for both training sets, respectively, the chironomid-inferred mean July air temperature, the standard error and the squared chi-square distance between the fossil sample and its closest modern analogue in the respective training set.

Description: A total organic carbon (TOC) record covering the last 9600 years was measured from freeze-dried and homogenized samples of Lake Kälksjön (central Sweden) sediment core KKJ19 at 1 cm resolution using an EA Isolink elemental analyzer coupled to a DELTA V advantage isotope ratio mass spectrometer. Sediment core KKJ19 was retrieved from the deepest part of Lake Kälksjön in summer 2019 with a Niederreiter piston corer. TOC measurements were performed in August 2021. Main aim of the measurements was the establishment of a time-series of paleoenvironmental variability for the western Baltic region. The TOC data represent measured contents.

Description: A total organic carbon (TOC) record covering the last 9600 years was measured from freeze-dried and homogenized samples of Lake Kälksjön (central Sweden) sediment core KKJ19 at 1 cm resolution using an EA Isolink elemental analyzer coupled to a DELTA V advantage isotope ratio mass spectrometer. Sediment core KKJ19 was retrieved from the deepest part of Lake Kälksjön in summer 2019 with a Niederreiter piston corer. TOC measurements were performed in August 2021. Main aim of the measurements was the establishment of a time-series of paleoenvironmental variability for the western Baltic region. A 2500-year low-pass filtered version of the record was subtracted from the original data. The filtered time-series indicates qualitative changes in NAO polarity.

Description: Despite ongoing discussions on hydroclimatic conditions in the southern Levant during the Last Glacial, detailed knowledge about the Levantine paleovegetation, which is an important indicator for the paleoclimate, is limited. To investigate the paleovegetation in northern Israel, we analyzed the pollen assemblage of a sediment core that was drilled at the Ohalo II archaeological site on the southwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret). We refined the lithology and the age-depth model with the help of five new radiocarbon dates. The core comprises a continuous sediment profile of mainly laminated authigenic calcites and detrital material that deposited between ca. 28,000 and 22,500 years before present, when the Sea of Galilee rose above the modern lake level stand and temporarily merged with Lake Lisan, the precursor of the Dead Sea. The well-dated and high-resolution pollen record suggests that steppe vegetation with grasses, other herbs, and dwarf shrubs predominated in northern Israel during the investigated period. In contrast to the Holocene, there was no continuous vegetation belt of the Mediterranean biome in the vicinity of the Sea of Galilee. Mediterranean elements such as deciduous oaks only occurred in limited amounts and were probably patchily distributed. These results disagree with previous pollen-based hypotheses from the region that assumed the spread of Mediterranean forest during glacial periods. While the pollen data may indicate semiarid conditions in northern Israel and give no evidence of increased effective moisture, previous hydroclimatic studies suggested increased precipitation rates that are consistent with high lake levels (Sea of Galilee/Lake Lisan). Thus, we discuss factors influencing the pollen assemblage and the plant cover.