Publication Date:
2023-06-21
Description:
Lake Karakul in the eastern Pamirs is a large and closed-basin lake in a partly glaciated catchment. Two parallel sediment cores were collected from 12 m water depth. The cores were correlated using XRF analysis and the composite core of 12.26 m length represents continuous accumulation of sediments in the lake basin since 31 ka. To establish an age-model, radiocarbon dating of 24 samples (aquatic plant remains and bulk sediments) derived from all cores, and OSL dating of 10 sediment slices (8 - 12 cm) derived from core KK12-2 has been conducted. The age results of the two methods are generally in agreement. The lake reservoir effect (1386 years) was determined by dating of living aquatic plants and remained relatively constant over the length of the record. High sediment accumulation rates (SARs) were recorded before 23 ka and after 6.5 ka and interpreted to indicate relatively low lake levels. In contrast, low SARs between 23 and 6.5 ka suggest higher lake levels. The sediment cores from Lake Karakul represent an important climate archive with robust chronology for the last glacial-interglacial cycle from Central Asia.
Keywords:
AWI_Envi; Central Asia; Holocene; lake sediments; Late Pleistocene; OSL; Paleoclimate; Pamirs; Polar Terrestrial Environmental Systems @ AWI; radiocarbon
Type:
Dataset
Format:
application/zip, 2 datasets
