@article{AichnerMakhmudovRajabovetal.2019, author = {Aichner, Bernhard and Makhmudov, Zafar and Rajabov, Iljomjon and Zhang, Qiong and Pausata, Francesco Salvatore R. and Werner, Martin and Heinecke, Liv and Kuessner, Marie L. and Feakins, Sarah J. and Sachse, Dirk and Mischke, Steffen}, title = {Hydroclimate in the Pamirs Was Driven by Changes in Precipitation-Evaporation Seasonality Since theLast Glacial Period}, series = {Geophysical research letters}, volume = {46}, journal = {Geophysical research letters}, number = {23}, publisher = {American Geophysical Union}, address = {Washington}, issn = {0094-8276}, doi = {10.1029/2019GL085202}, pages = {13972 -- 13983}, year = {2019}, abstract = {The Central Asian Pamir Mountains (Pamirs) are a high-altitude region sensitive to climatic change, with only few paleoclimatic records available. To examine the glacial-interglacial hydrological changes in the region, we analyzed the geochemical parameters of a 31-kyr record from Lake Karakul and performed a set of experiments with climate models to interpret the results. delta D values of terrestrial biomarkers showed insolation-driven trends reflecting major shifts of water vapor sources. For aquatic biomarkers, positive delta D shifts driven by changes in precipitation seasonality were observed at ca. 31-30, 28-26, and 17-14 kyr BP. Multiproxy paleoecological data and modelling results suggest that increased water availability, induced by decreased summer evaporation, triggered higher lake levels during those episodes, possibly synchronous to northern hemispheric rapid climate events. We conclude that seasonal changes in precipitation-evaporation balance significantly influenced the hydrological state of a large waterbody such as Lake Karakul, while annual precipitation amount and inflows remained fairly constant.}, language = {en} } @article{HeineckeMischkeAdleretal.2017, author = {Heinecke, Liv and Mischke, Steffen and Adler, Karsten and Barth, Anja and Biskaborn, Boris and Plessen, Birgit and Nitze, Ingmar and Kuhn, Gerhard and Rajabov, Ilhomjon and Herzschuh, Ulrike}, title = {Climatic and limnological changes at Lake Karakul (Tajikistan) during the last similar to 29 cal ka}, series = {Journal of paleolimnolog}, volume = {58}, journal = {Journal of paleolimnolog}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Dordrecht}, issn = {0921-2728}, doi = {10.1007/s10933-017-9980-0}, pages = {317 -- 334}, year = {2017}, abstract = {We present results of analyses on a sediment core from Lake Karakul, located in the eastern Pamir Mountains, Tajikistan. The core spans the last similar to 29 cal ka. We investigated and assessed processes internal and external to the lake to infer changes in past moisture availability. Among the variables used to infer lake-external processes, high values of grain-size end-member (EM) 3 (wide grain-size distribution that reflects fluvial input) and high Sr/Rb and Zr/Rb ratios (coinciding with coarse grain sizes), are indicative of moister conditions. High values in EM1, EM2 (peaks of small grain sizes that reflect long-distance dust transport or fine, glacially derived clastic input) and TiO2 (terrigenous input) are thought to reflect greater influence of dry air masses, most likely of Westerly origin. High input of dust from distant sources, beginning before the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and continuing to the late glacial, reflects the influence of dry Westerlies, whereas peaks in fluvial input suggest increased moisture availability. The early to early-middle Holocene is characterised by coarse mean grain sizes, indicating constant, high fluvial input and moister conditions in the region. A steady increase in terrigenous dust and a decrease in fluvial input from 6.6 cal ka BP onwards points to the Westerlies as the predominant atmospheric circulation through to present, and marks a return to drier and even arid conditions in the area. Proxies for productivity (TOC, TOC/TN, TOCBr), redox potential (Fe/Mn) and changes in the endogenic carbonate precipitation (TIC, delta(18) OCarb) indicate changes within the lake. Low productivity characterised the lake from the late Pleistocene until 6.6 cal ka BP, and increased rapidly afterwards. Lake level remained low until the LGM, but water depth increased to a maximum during the late glacial and remained high into the early Holocene. Subsequently, the water level decreased to its present stage. Today the lake system is mainly climatically controlled, but the depositional regime is also driven by internal limnogeological processes.}, language = {en} } @article{MischkeLaiAichneretal.2017, author = {Mischke, Steffen and Lai, Zhongping and Aichner, Bernhard and Heinecke, Liv and Mahmoudov, Zafar and Kuessner, Marie and Herzschuh, Ulrike}, title = {Radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating of sediments from Lake Karakul, Tajikistan}, series = {Quaternary geochronology : the international research and review journal on advances in quaternary dating techniques}, volume = {41}, journal = {Quaternary geochronology : the international research and review journal on advances in quaternary dating techniques}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Oxford}, issn = {1871-1014}, doi = {10.1016/j.quageo.2017.05.008}, pages = {51 -- 61}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Lake Karakul in the eastern Pamirs is a large and closed-basin lake in a partly glaciated catchment. Two parallel sediment cores were collected from 12 m water depth. The cores were correlated using XRF analysis and dated using radiocarbon and OSL techniques. The age results of the two dating methods are generally in agreement. The correlated composite core of 12.26 m length represents continuous accumulation of sediments in the lake basin since 31 ka. The lake reservoir effect (LRE) remained relatively constant over this period. High sediment accumulation rates (SedARs) were recorded before 23 ka and after 6.5 ka. The relatively close position of the coring location near the eastern shore of the lake implies that high SedARs resulted from low lake levels. Thus, high SedARs and lower lake levels before 23 ka probably reflect cold and dry climate conditions that inhibited the arrival of moist air at high elevation in the eastern Pamirs. Low lake levels after 6.5 ka were probably caused by declining temperatures after the warmer early Holocene, which had caused a reduction in water resources stored as snow, ice and frozen ground in the catchment. Low SedARs during 23-6.5 ka suggest increased lake levels in Lake Karakul. A short-lived increase of SedARs at 15 ka probably corresponds to the rapid melting of glaciers in the Karakul catchment during the Greenland Interstadial le, shortly after glaciers in the catchment had reached their maximum extents. The sediment cores from Lake Karakul represent an important climate archive with robust chronology for the last glacial interglacial cycle from Central Asia. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.}, language = {en} } @article{HeineckeEppReschkeetal.2017, author = {Heinecke, Liv and Epp, Laura Saskia and Reschke, Maria and Stoof-Leichsenring, Kathleen Rosemarie and Mischke, Steffen and Plessen, Birgit and Herzschuh, Ulrike}, title = {Aquatic macrophyte dynamics in Lake Karakul (Eastern Pamir) over the last 29 cal ka revealed by sedimentary ancient DNA and geochemical analyses of macrofossil remains}, series = {Journal of paleolimnolog}, volume = {58}, journal = {Journal of paleolimnolog}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Dordrecht}, issn = {0921-2728}, doi = {10.1007/s10933-017-9986-7}, pages = {403 -- 417}, year = {2017}, language = {en} } @article{HeineckeFletcherMischkeetal.2018, author = {Heinecke, Liv and Fletcher, W. J. and Mischke, Steffen and Tian, Fang and Herzschuh, Ulrike}, title = {Vegetation change in the eastern Pamir Mountains, Tajikistan, inferred from Lake Karakul pollen spectra of the last 28 kyr}, series = {Palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology : an international journal for the geo-sciences}, volume = {511}, journal = {Palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, palaeoecology : an international journal for the geo-sciences}, publisher = {Elsevier}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0031-0182}, doi = {10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.08.010}, pages = {232 -- 242}, year = {2018}, abstract = {We present a pollen record for last 28 cal kyr BP from the eastern basin of Lake Karakul, the largest lake in Tajikistan, located in the eastern Pamir Mountains at 3915 m asl, a geographically complex region. The pollen record is dominated by Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae, while other taxa, apart from Poaceae, are present in low quantities and rarely exceed 5\% in total. Arboreal pollen occur predominantly from similar to 28 to similar to 13 cal kyr BP, but as likely no trees occurred in the high mountain regions of the eastern Pamir during this time due to the high altitude and cold climate, arboreal taxa are attributed to long distance transport, probably by the Westerlies, the dominant atmospheric circulation. Tree pollen influx decreases strongly after similar to 13 cal kyr BP, allowing the pollen spectra to be interpreted as a regional vegetation signal. We infer that from 27.6 to 19.4 cal kyr BP the eastern Pamir was dominated by dry mountain steppe with low vegetation cover, while from 19.0 to 13.6 cal kyr BP Artemisia values increase and Chenopodiaceae, most herb taxa, and inferred far distant input from arboreal taxa decrease. Between 12.9 and 6.7 cal kyr BP open steppe vegetation dominated with maximum values in Ephedra, and while steppe taxa still dominated the spectra from 5.4 to 1 cal kyr BP, meadow taxa start to increase. During the last millennium, alpine steppe and alpine meadows expanded and a weak human influence can be ascertained from the increase of Asteraceae and the occurrence of Plantago pollen in the spectra.}, language = {en} }