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    Cyclostratigraphic studies of sediments from Lake Van (Turkey) based on their uranium contents obtained from downhole logging and paleoclimatic implications
    (Berlin ; Heidelberg : Springer, 2015) Baumgarten, H.; Wonik, T.
    A deep drilling campaign was performed at Lake Van (Turkey) to enhance the understanding of the paleoenvironmental conditions of the Middle East. Cores were collected, and the sediments are mainly composed of clayey silts and tephra deposits. Spectral gamma ray data were acquired (0–210 m below lake floor), and the uranium data were used for cyclostratigraphic studies to estimate the sedimentation rates and the time of deposition. Detection and analysis of climate cycles require continuous sedimentation and cannot be applied to these sediments which include numerous tephra layers. Therefore, these layers were removed, and a synthetic log was created (cumulative thickness of the tephra ≈50 m; remaining lacustrine sediments ≈160 m). High amplitudes were detected and correlated to Milanković cycles. Their evolution was analyzed using the sliding window technique. The sedimentation rates varied from 22 to 33 cm/ka in the upper section. The sediments between the lake floor and a depth of 210 m were deposited over a period of 587 ka. Our results agree with core interpretations (e.g., correlation of total organic carbon with marine isotope stages) which suggest a time span of deposition of 600 ka. High-frequency cycles were detected and correlated with interstadials from the North Greenland δ18O record for the past 75 ka. The two datasets agreed closely. We conclude that climate signals, even on sub-Milanković scale, are imprinted in uranium of these sediments, and cyclostratigraphic methods are applicable if event layers are subtracted from the sediment record.
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    Age–depth model of the past 630 kyr for Lake Ohrid (FYROM/Albania) based on cyclostratigraphic analysis of downhole gamma ray data
    (Katlenburg-Lindau : European Geosciences Union, 2015) Baumgarten, H.; Wonik, T.; Tanner, D.C.; Francke, A.; Wagner, B.; Zanchetta, G.; Sulpizio, R.; Giaccio, B.; Nomade, S.
    Gamma ray (GR) fluctuations and potassium (K) values from downhole logging data obtained in the sediments of Lake Ohrid from 0 to 240 m below lake floor (b.l.f). correlate with fluctuations in δ18O values from the global benthic isotope stack LR04 (Lisiecki and Raymo, 2005). GR and K values are considered a reliable proxy to depict glacial-interglacial cycles, with high clastic input during cold and/or drier periods and high carbonate precipitation during warm and/or humid periods at Lake Ohrid. Spectral analysis was applied to investigate the climate signal and evolution over the length of the borehole. Linking downhole logging data with orbital cycles was used to estimate sedimentation rates and the effect of compaction was compensated for. Sedimentation rates increase on average by 14 % after decompaction of the sediment layers and the mean sedimentation rates shift from 45 cm kyr-1 between 0 and 110 m to 30 cm kyr-1 from 110 to 240 m b.l.f. Tuning of minima and maxima of gamma ray and potassium values versus LR04 extrema, in combination with eight independent tephrostratigraphical tie points, allows establishing of a robust age model for the downhole logging data over the past 630 kyr. © Author(s) 2015.
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    Mediterranean climate since the Middle Pleistocene: A 640 ka stable isotope record from Lake Ohrid (Albania/Macedonia)
    (Katlenburg-Lindau : European Geosciences Union, 2015) Lacey, J.H.; Leng, M.J.; Francke, A.; Sloane, H.J.; Milodowski, A.; Vogel, H.; Baumgarten, H.; Wagner, B.
    Lake Ohrid (Macedonia/Albania) is an ancient lake with a unique biodiversity and a site of global significance for investigating the influence of climate, geological and tectonic events on the generation of endemic populations. Here, we present oxygen (δ18O) and carbon (δ13C) isotope data on carbonate from the upper ca. 248 m of sediment cores recovered as part of the Scientific Collaboration on Past Speciation Conditions in Lake Ohrid (SCOPSCO) project, covering the past 640 ka. Previous studies on short cores from the lake (up to 15 m, < 140 ka) have indicated the Total Inorganic Carbon (TIC) content of sediments to be highly sensitive to climate change over the last glacial-interglacial cycle, comprising abundant endogenic calcite through interglacials and being almost absent in glacials, apart from discrete bands of early diagenetic authigenic siderite. Isotope measurements on endogenic calcite(δ18Oc and δ13Cc) reveal variations both between and within interglacials that suggest the lake has been subject to hydroclimate fluctuations on orbital and millennial timescales. We also measured isotopes on authigenic siderite (δ18Os and δ13Cs) and, with the δ18OCc and δ18Os, reconstruct δ18O of lakewater (δ18Olw) through the 640 ka. Overall, glacials have lower δ18Olw when compared to interglacials, most likely due to cooler summer temperatures, a higher proportion of winter precipitation (snowfall), and a reduced inflow from adjacent Lake Prespa. The isotope stratigraphy suggests Lake Ohrid experienced a period of general stability through Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 15 to MIS 13, highlighting MIS 14 as a particularly warm glacial, and was isotopically freshest during MIS 9. After MIS 9, the variability between glacial and interglacial δ18Olw is enhanced and the lake became increasingly evaporated through to present day with MIS 5 having the highest average δ18Olw. Our results provide new evidence for long-term climate change in the northern Mediterranean region, which will form the basis to better understand the influence of major environmental events on biological evolution within the lake.
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    500,000 Years of Environmental History in Eastern Anatolia: The PALEOVAN Drilling Project
    (Sapporo : IODP, 2012) Litt, T.; Anselmetti, F.S.; Baumgarten, H.; Beer, J.; Cagatay, N.; Cukur, D.; Damci, E.; Glombitza, C.; Haug, G.; Heumann, G.; Kallmeyer, H.; Kipfer, R.; Krastel, S.; Kwiecien, O.; Meydan, A.F.; Orcen, S.; Pickarski, N.; Randlett, M.-E.; Schmincke, H.-U.; Schubert, C.J.; Sturm, M.; Sumita, M.; Stockhecke, M.; Tomonaga, Y.; Vigliotti, L.; Wonik, T.
    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.
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    The SCOPSCO drilling project recovers more than 1.2 million years of history from Lake Ohrid
    (Sapporo : IODP, 2014) Wagner, B.; Wilke, T.; Krastel, S.; Zanchetta, G.; Sulpizio, R.; Reicherter, K.; Leng, M.J.; Grazhdani, A.; Trajanovski, S.; Francke, A.; Lindhorst, K.; Levkov, Z.; Cvetkoska, A.; Reed, J.M.; Zhang, X.; Lacey, J.H.; Wonik, T.; Baumgarten, H.; Vogel, H.
    The Scientific Collaboration on Past Speciation Conditions in Lake Ohrid (SCOPSCO) project is an international research initiative to study the influence of major geological and environmental events on the biological evolution of lake taxa. SCOPSCO drilling campaigns were carried out in 2011 and 2013. In 2011 we used gravity and piston coring at one of the five proposed drill sites, and in 2013 we undertook deep drilling with the Deep Lake Drilling System (DLDS) of Drilling, Observation and Sampling of the Earth's Continental Crust (DOSECC). In April and May 2013, a total of 2100 m sediments were recovered from four drill sites with water depths ranging from 125 to 260 m. The maximum drill depth was 569 m below the lake floor in the centre of the lake. By retrieving overlapping sediment sequences, 95% of the sediment succession was recovered. Initial data from borehole logging, core logging and geochemical measurements indicate that the sediment succession covers >1.2 million years (Ma) in a quasi-continuous sequence. These early findings suggest that the record from Lake Ohrid will substantially improve the knowledge of long-term environmental change and short-term geological events in the northeastern Mediterranean region, which forms the basis for improving understanding of the influence of major geological and environmental events on the biological evolution of endemic species.