Tree-ring reconstruction of the level of endorheic lakes in the south of West Siberia

Abstract

The paper presents the dendrochronological method applied in reconstructing the changes in the water level of endorheic lakes from arid areas (on the example of two large endorheic lakes Kulundinskoye and Chany). Chronologies of annual ring width of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), growing in the pine belt forests in the south of West Siberia, were used as indicators of climate change. To obtain the longest reconstructions, we used the lengthen chronologies. For analysis, specimens of living trees and old wooden houses in the Altai Krai villages (adjacent to pine-belt forests) were used. Due to the dendrohydrological analysis, we have determined the relationship between the lake level and the radial pine growth. We have revealed a one-two-year lag in the response of hydrological objects to climate fluctuations. Correlation between the tree-ring chronologies and the average annual water level of Lake Kulundinskoye occurred more often due to proximity of both geosystems, i.e. the lake and pine-belt forests. At the same time, there was the best correlation for Lake Chany and the drysteppe chronology Uglovskoye 42_LL. In the course of investigations, we have extended the series for lakes Chany and Kulundinskoye up to 1584 and 1763, respectively. Spectral analysis of the series of the water level in both lakes allowed us to identify common cycles (i.e. 25-26, 40-46 and 80-100-year ones). For Lake Kulundinskoye, the 8 and 11-year cycles turned out to be the most significant. The analysis of secular cycles of hydrological series enabled to specify the trends in water-level changes of the studied lakes in the future.