@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}
}
@article{HeineckeMischkeAdleretal.2017,
  author    = {Heinecke, Liv and Mischke, Steffen and Adler, Karsten and Barth, Anja and Biskaborn, Boris K. 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}
}