Northern Eurasian large lakes level changes in the context of late Quaternary climatic and glacial history

Abstract

Abstract. During the last years major progress in the reconstruction of the climatic and environmental history of Northern Eurasia has been made within the scope of the Russian-German project PLOT. The project aimed at investigating the regional responses of the quaternary climate and environment on external forcing and feedback mechanisms along a more than 6000 km long longitudinal transect crossing Northern Eurasia. The well-dated record from Lake El gygytgyn used as reference site for comparison the local climatic and environmental histories. Seismic surveys and sediment coring up to 54 m below lake floor performed on Ladoga Lake (North-West of Russia), Lake Bolshoye Shchuchye (Polar Ural), Lake Levinson-Lessing and Lake Taymyr (Taymyr Peninsula), Lake Emanda (Yana Highlands). Here, we present the major results of the project with a special focus on lake-level fluctuations and forcing mechanisms.