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    The geodynamic and limnological evolution of Balkan Lake Ohrid, possibly the oldest extant lake in Europe
    (Oxford : Wiley-Blackwell, 2022) Wagner, Bernd; Tauber, Paul; Francke, Alexander; Leicher, Niklas; Binnie, Steven A.; Cvetkoska, Aleksandra; Jovanovska, Elena; Just, Janna; Lacey, Jack H.; Levkov, Zlatko; Lindhorst, Katja; Kouli, Katerina; Krastel, Sebastian; Panagiotopoulos, Konstantinos; Ulfers, Arne; Zaova, Dušica; Donders, Timme H.; Grazhdani, Andon; Koutsodendris, Andreas; Leng, Melanie J.; Sadori, Laura; Scheinert, Mirko; Vogel, Hendrik; Wonik, Thomas; Zanchetta, Giovanni; Wilke, Thomas
    Studies of the upper 447 m of the DEEP site sediment succession from central Lake Ohrid, Balkan Peninsula, North Macedonia and Albania provided important insights into the regional climate history and evolutionary dynamics since permanent lacustrine conditions established at 1.36 million years ago (Ma). This paper focuses on the entire 584-m-long DEEP sediment succession and a comparison to a 197-m-long sediment succession from the Pestani site ~5 km to the east in the lake, where drilling ended close to the bedrock, to unravel the earliest history of Lake Ohrid and its basin development. 26Al/10Be dating of clasts from the base of the DEEP sediment succession implies that the sedimentation in the modern basin started at c. 2 Ma. Geophysical, sedimentological and micropalaeontological data allow for chronological information to be transposed from the DEEP to the Pestani succession. Fluvial conditions, slack water conditions, peat formation and/or complete desiccation prevailed at the DEEP and Pestani sites until 1.36 and 1.21 Ma, respectively, before a larger lake extended over both sites. Activation of karst aquifers to the east probably by tectonic activity and a potential existence of neighbouring Lake Prespa supported filling of Lake Ohrid. The lake deepened gradually, with a relatively constant vertical displacement rate of ~0.2 mm a−1 between the central and the eastern lateral basin and with greater water depth presumably during interglacial periods. Although the dynamic environment characterized by local processes and the fragmentary chronology of the basal sediment successions from both sites hamper palaeoclimatic significance prior to the existence of a larger lake, the new data provide an unprecedented and detailed picture of the geodynamic evolution of the basin and lake that is Europe’s presumed oldest extant freshwater lake.
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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.