Dating Late Glacial abrupt climate changes in the 14,570 yr long continuous varve record of Lake Van, Turkey

Abstract

In summer 1990, during the third international expedition to Lake Van, eastern Anatolia, 10 sediment cores were retrieved from depths up to 446 m. As reported earlier, the sediments of the lake are finely laminated. The seven cores, recovered up to 30 km apart in the main lake basin, presented sediment sequences which correlate well with respect to ash layers and prominent colour changes, but also lamina for lamina. Here we report on the detailed evaluation of this record, which is varved continuously back to 14,570 yr B.P. (calendar years before 1950 AD). It is independent of 14C calibration, i.e. it is not a floating record, and it is the only detailed varve chronology known from the semi-arid Mediterranean region. Important Late Glacial events, such as the termination of the Oldest and Younger Dryas are clearly recorded in the sediments. Chronozones were defined on the basis of changes of the deposition rate and of chemical composition caused by environmental changes. Analysis of the annual deposition rates revealed abrupt changes within only a few years, declining for example by approximately 30% in the transition period between the Oldest Dryas and the Bølling. In most cases, alterations observed in the sedimentation rates are reflected in changes of the geochemical parameters, such as organic and inorganic carbon, opal, and the major elements Si, Ca, Mg, Al. Our results and palynological studies, performed on material recovered in an earlier expedition, are used to reconstruct palaeoenvironmental conditions. In this study, the termination of the Younger Dryas is dated to 10,920±132 yr B.P. This is younger than the recently published Greenland ice core dates but in accordance with, for example, the central European dendrochronology. We suspect, that higher sediment deposition rates during the cold periods are due to rapid melting and intense wash out of soil, which was fairly loose because of sparse vegetation. This would lead to higher river discharges. Based on the observed increase of the deposition rate in the record, melting of glaciers can only be detected after the termination of the Younger Dryas.