scholarly journals Ostracods as ecological and isotopic indicators of lake water salinity changes: The Lake Van example

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy McCormack ◽  
Finn Viehberg ◽  
Derya Akdemir ◽  
Adrian Immenhauser ◽  
Ola Kwiecien

Abstract. Ostracods are common lacustrine calcitic microfossils. Their faunal assemblage and morphological characteristics are important ecological proxies, while their valves are archives of geochemical information related to palaeoclimatic and palaeohydrological changes. In an attempt to assess ostracod ecology (taxonomic diversity and valve morphology) combined with valve geochemistry (δ18O and δ13C) as palaeosalinity indicators, we analysed material from terminal and alkaline Lake Van (Turkey) covering the last 150 kyr. Despite a low species diversity, the ostracod faunal assemblage reacted sensitive to changes in the concentration of total dissolved salts in their aquatic environment. Limnocythere inopinata is present throughout the studied interval, while Limnocythere sp. A is restricted to the Last Glacial period and related to increased lake water salinity and alkalinity. The presence of species belonging to the genus Candona is limited to periods of lower salinity. Valves of limnocytherinae species (incl. L. inopinata) display nodes (hollow protrusions) during intervals of increased salinity. Both the amount of noded valves and the number of nodes per valve appear to increase with rising salinity, suggesting that node formation is related to hydrological changes (salinity and/or alkalinity). In contrast to Lake Van's inorganic δ18O record, the δ18O values of ostracod valves do record relative changes of the lake volume, with lower values during high lake level periods. The δ13C values of different species reflect ostracod habitat preferences (i.e., infaunal versus epifaunal) but are less sensitive to hydrological changes. However, combined with other proxies, decreasing Holocene δ13C values may indicate a freshening of the lake water compared to the low lake level during the Last Glacial period. The Lake Van example underscores the significance and value of coupling ostracod ecology and valve geochemistry in palaeoenvironmental studies of endorheic lakes basins.

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (10) ◽  
pp. 2095-2114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy McCormack ◽  
Finn Viehberg ◽  
Derya Akdemir ◽  
Adrian Immenhauser ◽  
Ola Kwiecien

Abstract. Ostracods are common lacustrine calcitic microfossils. Their faunal assemblage and morphological characteristics are important ecological proxies, and their valves are archives of geochemical information related to palaeoclimatic and palaeohydrological changes. In an attempt to assess ostracod ecology (taxonomic diversity and valve morphology) combined with valve geochemistry (δ18O and δ13C) as palaeosalinity indicators, we analysed sedimentary material from the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) Ahlat Ridge site from a terminal and alkaline lake, Lake Van (Turkey), covering the last 150 kyr. Despite a low species diversity, the ostracod faunal assemblage reacted sensitively to changes in the concentration of total dissolved salts in their aquatic environment. Limnocythere inopinata is present throughout the studied interval, while Limnocythere sp. A is restricted to the Last Glacial period and related to increased lake water salinity and alkalinity. The presence of species belonging to the genus Candona is limited to periods of lower salinity. Valves of Limnocytherinae species (incl. L. inopinata) display nodes (hollow protrusions) during intervals of increased salinity. Both the number of noded valves and the number of nodes per valve appear to increase with rising salinity, suggesting that node formation is related to hydrological changes (salinity and/or alkalinity). In contrast to Lake Van's bulk δ18O record, the δ18O values of ostracod valves do record relative changes of the lake volume, with lower values during high lake level periods. The δ13C values of different species reflect ostracod habitat preferences (i.e. infaunal vs. epifaunal) but are less sensitive to hydrological changes. However, combined with other proxies, decreasing Holocene δ13C values may indicate a freshening of the lake water compared to the low lake level during the Last Glacial period. The Lake Van example underscores the significance and value of coupling ostracod ecology and valve geochemistry in palaeoenvironmental studies of endorheic lake basins.


Minerals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 963
Author(s):  
Yougui Song ◽  
Xiulan Zong ◽  
Linbo Qian ◽  
Huifang Liu ◽  
Jibao Dong ◽  
...  

Lake Qinghai is sensitive to climatic changes because of its pivotal location between mid-latitude Westerlies and the low-latitude East Asian monsoon. An 18.6 m long drilling core (1Fs) from Lake Qinghai provides new information on the hydroclimatic dynamics since the last glacial period. Here, we present the results of bulk mineral assemblages of this core. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed that the bulk minerals of the core sediments consist of major clastic minerals (e.g., quartz, feldspar, muscovite), carbonates (e.g., calcite, aragonite, dolomite), and minor clay minerals (e.g., chlorite). Quartz as an exogenous detrital mineral in lake sediments, its abundance is related to lake level changes resulting from regional climate changes via fluvial/aeolian transportation. Aragonite was precipitated from water solutions or chemical alteration of pre-existing minerals or biogenic mediation, closely related to lake hydroclimate change. Mineral assemblages revealed remarkable stepwise hydroclimatic changes. High quartz content and low calcite without aragonite suggested a cold-wet climate condition under predominant westerlies during the last glacial period from 35 to 25.3 ka. Afterward, quartz decreased and aragonite occasionally appeared, indicating an unstable hydroclimatic condition during the last deglaciation. Since the Early Holocene (11.9–8.2 ka), predominant minerals shifted from terrigenous quartz to authigenic carbonates, suggesting an increasing lake level, possibly due to intensified Asian summer monsoon with increased effective moisture. Aragonite became the primary carbonate mineral, implying a warming and humid hydroclimate environment with a relatively higher lake-level. During the Middle Holocene (8.2–4.2 ka), aragonite showed a decreasing trend indicating a higher lake level with weak evaporation. During the Late Holocene since 4.2 ka, there were lower quartz and aragonite, suggesting a deep lake with a weak summer monsoon. Our quartz and carbonate minerals record provided essential clues to reconstruct hydroclimate change in Lake Qinghai since the last glacial period.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Hartung ◽  
Jane M. Reed ◽  
Thomas Litt

<p>The Eastern Mediterranean, and the southern Levant in particular, is a key region for palaeoclimatological and palaeoenvironmental research due to its highly complex topography and climatic variability. Our understanding of environmental variability and its possible drivers, and the interaction with migration processes of modern <em>Homo sapiens</em> from a source area in Africa to Europe, is still limited. This is partly because continuous sediment records of sufficient age are rare across the Mediterranean Basin. The deposits of the Dead Sea represent an ideal archive to investigate palaeoenvironmental conditions during human migration phases in the Last Glacial period (MIS 4-2). </p><p>Diatoms (single-celled siliceous algae, Bacillariophyceae) have well-recognised potential to generate high-quality palaeolimnological data, especially in closed-basin saline lakes, but they remain one of the least-exploited proxies in Eastern Mediterranean palaeoclimate research. Here, we present preliminary results of a low-resolution diatom study derived from analysis of sediment deposits of Lake Lisan, the last glacial precursor of the Dead Sea. Sediment cores were recovered during an ICDP campaign in 2010/2011 from the centre of the modern Dead Sea. 18 sediment samples were analysed to investigate (a) the preservation of diatom valves in various evaporitic deposits (b) possible shifts in diatom species composition of Lake Lisan during the Last Glacial period, and (c) if diatoms can be used as proxy indicator for lake-level and, thus, palaeoclimate reconstruction. We focus on a prominent lake-level high stand of Lake Lisan at around 28-22 ka BP, which resulted in the merging Lake Lisan and freshwater Lake Kinneret.</p><p>First results show that the diatom preservation is exceptionally good in evaporitic deposits of the sediment cores from Lake Lisan, which is contradictory to the available literature. In contrast to Holocene deposits from the Dead Sea, diatoms are abundant in all analysed samples from laminated deposits from Lake Lisan: the diatom flora is dominated by halophilous benthic diatoms, such as <em>Amphora</em> spp., <em>Halamphora</em> spp. and <em>Nitzschia</em> spp. In phases of lake-level high stands of Lake Lisan, the diatom flora shifts towards a more plankton-dominated freshwater flora containing <em>Aulacoseira</em> spp. and taxa from the <em>Cyclotella-ocellata-</em>species complex.</p>


2013 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 502-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frauke Rostek ◽  
Edouard Bard

The Black Sea is connected to a large drainage area including the European Russian Plain, part of the Alps and southeastern Europe. To study the hydrological changes in this basin over the last 40,000 years, we measured specific terrigenous biomarkers for wetland vegetation in well-dated sediments from the northwestern Black Sea, spanning the last glacial period (lacustrine phase) and the Holocene (marine phase). Low abundances of these biomarkers are observed during the North Atlantic ice melting and cooling events known as Heinrich Events 4 to 2, the Last Glacial Maximum and the Younger Dryas Event. Increased biomarker inputs characterize the mild climate phases known as Dansgaard–Oeschger Interstadials, the Bølling/Allerød and Preboreal Warmings indicating increased erosion due to permafrost degradation, higher primary productivity and/or wetland extension in the drainage basin. The final retreat of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet from the Russian Plain occurs during the early part of Heinrich Event 1 and is characterized by increased biomarker concentrations in a typical series of four deglacial clay layers. For the last glacial period, the correspondence in timing between the biomarker records and the atmospheric CH4 record from ice cores, suggests an important CH4 contribution due to boreal permafrost thawing and wetland emission.


2020 ◽  
Vol 532 ◽  
pp. 116012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica B. Volz ◽  
Bo Liu ◽  
Male Köster ◽  
Susann Henkel ◽  
Andrea Koschinsky ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 345-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marília C. Campos ◽  
Cristiano M. Chiessi ◽  
Ines Voigt ◽  
Alberto R. Piola ◽  
Henning Kuhnert ◽  
...  

Abstract. Abrupt millennial-scale climate change events of the last deglaciation (i.e. Heinrich Stadial 1 and the Younger Dryas) were accompanied by marked increases in atmospheric CO2 (CO2atm) and decreases in its stable carbon isotopic ratios (δ13C), i.e. δ13CO2atm, presumably due to outgassing from the ocean. However, information on the preceding Heinrich Stadials during the last glacial period is scarce. Here we present δ13C records from two species of planktonic foraminifera from the western South Atlantic that reveal major decreases (up to 1 ‰) during Heinrich Stadials 3 and 2. These δ13C decreases are most likely related to millennial-scale periods of weakening of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and the consequent increase (decrease) in CO2atm (δ13CO2atm). We hypothesise two mechanisms that could account for the decreases observed in our records, namely strengthening of Southern Ocean deep-water ventilation and weakening of the biological pump. Additionally, we suggest that air–sea gas exchange could have contributed to the observed δ13C decreases. Together with other lines of evidence, our data are consistent with the hypothesis that the CO2 added to the atmosphere during abrupt millennial-scale climate change events of the last glacial period also originated in the ocean and reached the atmosphere by outgassing. The temporal evolution of δ13C during Heinrich Stadials 3 and 2 in our records is characterized by two relative minima separated by a relative maximum. This w structure is also found in North Atlantic and South American records, further suggesting that such a structure is a pervasive feature of Heinrich Stadial 2 and, possibly, also Heinrich Stadial 3.


2013 ◽  
Vol 160 (5) ◽  
pp. 1285-1296 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. W. Foltz ◽  
S. D. Fatland ◽  
M. Eléaume ◽  
K. Markello ◽  
K. L. Howell ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed M. Ezat ◽  
Tine L. Rasmussen ◽  
Mathis P. Hain ◽  
Mervyn Greaves ◽  
James W B Rae ◽  
...  

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