Quantitative reconstruction of early Holocene and last glacial climate on the Balkan Peninsula using coupled hydrological and isotope mass balance modelling

Abstract

We investigate the modern hydrology of Lake Ohrid (Macedonia/Albania) using a combined hydrological and isotope-based modelling approach and present a new evaluation of contemporary water balance and palaeoclimate estimates. The combined model is able to estimate hydrological components that cannot be directly measured, and indicates that sublacustrine spring inflow is in the order of 50% higher than previous estimates and groundwater outflow comprises approximately a third of overall water outflow. In combination with sediment core oxygen isotope data, we used the combined model to quantitatively reconstruct past climate, in particular precipitation, during the early Holocene and last glacial period. Calculated precipitation in the early Holocene was higher than the value for present day and was approximately 44% lower than present during the last glacial, assuming the majority of precipitation fell as snow. The estimated amount of precipitation in the last glacial would have been high enough to provide refugial conditions at Lake Ohrid and to support the continuous existence of arboreal vegetation in the catchment. The improved understanding of the modern isotope hydrology of Lake Ohrid is fundamental for explaining the systematics of past isotope variation and providing context for extended sediment records from the lake, which will provide longer-term palaeoclimate reconstructions covering multiple glacial-interglacial cycles.