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Ostracod shells in surface sediments from Ulungur Lake (Xinjiang, China) belong mainly to Limnocythere inopinata as the dominant species, and Candona neglecta and Darwinula stevensoni as accompanying, less abundant taxa. Shells of an additional nine species were recorded only sporadically. The three most abundant ostracods have wide tolerance ranges in terms of salinity, substrate and water depth. The similarly recorded bivalve Pisidium subtruncatum, and the gastropods Gyraulus chinensis and Radix auricularia belong to the most tolerant representatives of the genera. The bivalve and gastropods, in addition to the ostracod assemblage, reflect the fact that Ulungur Lake has experienced strong lake level and salinity variations due to water withdrawal in the catchment and the counteracting diversion of river waters to the lake in recent decades. The substrate in Ulungur Lake is typically fine-grained, apart from the delta region of the Ulungur River channel, which is marked by relatively coarse-grained detrital sediments barren of ostracod shells. This channel was created 40 years ago to divert water to Ulungur Lake and support its local fisheries and recreational facilities. A reassessed Holocene ostracod record from the lake shows that a significantly higher salinity and lower lake level existed in the early Holocene before 6.0 ka in response to the regional climate. In contrast, a higher lake level and lowest salinity is inferred for the late Holocene period between ca. 3.6 and 1.3 ka before present. Afterwards, the lake level declined and salinity increased in response to regional moisture reduction, although conditions similar to the early Holocene lake status were not re-established. Our surface-sediment-derived data provide a baseline for analysis of future environmental variations due to global climate change and regional water management.
Ostracodes (Ostracoda, Crustacea) are aquatic micro-crustaceans with a significant representation in the fossil record. If the environmental influence on the species composition of their communities is robustly quantified, past changes in ostracode communities reflected in fossil assemblages can be used for paleo-environmental reconstruction. We analyzed ostracode assemblages in recently deposited surface sediments from 56 lakes in western and central Mongolia, and simultaneously recorded local water chemistry and solute concentration in order to elucidate the distribution of individual ostracode species in relation to these broad environmental gradients. Multivariate analysis indicated that the species variation in ostracode assemblages could be mainly attributed to variations in percent calcium (%Ca) relative to total cation content, mean annual precipitation, calcium concentration, alkalinity, percent bicarbonate relative to total anion content, and mean July temperature. This matches well with the results of a similar analysis on presence/absence data of living ostracodes in nearshore samples, even though some differences exist between the faunal composition of both datasets. The documented response of ostracode species to environmental variation tracks the typical solute evolutionary pathway for surface waters in this region, characterized by calcite precipitation and consequent depletion in dissolved calcium. Hence, the best quantitative inference model (WA-PLS model with R-jack(2) = 0.70, RMSEP = 0.40) for paleolimnological application was obtained for %Ca. Comparison between this model and a specific conductance (SC) inference model based on the same dataset, and based on ostracode datasets from different regions, indicated that the %Ca inference model suffers less than the SC inference model from a step-change in reconstructed values. The statistical power of different inference models based on Mongolian ostracodes are variously affected by the common dominance of a single euryhaline species (Limnocythere inopinata), limited faunal turnover in the freshwater portion of the salinity gradient, and the bimodal frequency distribution of SC among regional lakes. The latter probably represents true scarcity of lakes with intermediate salinity rather than a biased representation in our dataset. In a broader context of ostracode ecology, and with respect to regional paleolimnological applications, we highlight the potential of fossil Mongolian ostracode assemblages to trace past hydrological shifts associated with changes in groundwater inflow.
The intracontinental endorheic Aral Sea, remote from oceanic influences, represents an excellent sedimentary archive in Central Asia that can be used for high-resolution palaeoclimate studies. We performed palynological, microfacies and geochemical analyses on sediment cores retrieved from Chernyshov Bay, in the NW part of the modern Large Aral Sea. The most complete sedimentary sequence, whose total length is 11 m, covers approximately the past 2000 years of the late Holocene. High-resolution palynological analyses, conducted on both dinoflagellate cysts assemblages and pollen grains, evidenced prominent environmental change in the Aral Sea and in the catchment area. The diversity and the distribution of dinoflagellate cysts within the assemblages characterized the sequence of salinity and lake-level changes during the past 2000 years. Due to the strong dependence of the Aral Sea hydrology to inputs from its tributaries, the lake levels are ultimately linked to fluctuations in meltwater discharges during spring. As the amplitude of glacial meltwater inputs is largely controlled by temperature variations in the Tien Shan and Pamir Mountains during the melting season, salinity and lake-level changes of the Aral Sea reflect temperature fluctuations in the high catchment area during the past 2000 years. Dinoflagellate cyst assemblages document lake lowstands and hypersaline conditions during ca. 0–425 AD, 920–1230 AD, 1500 AD, 1600–1650 AD, 1800 AD and since the 1960s, whereas oligosaline conditions and higher lake levels prevailed during the intervening periods. Besides, reworked dinoflagellate cysts from Palaeogene and Neogene deposits happened to be a valuable proxy for extreme sheet-wash events, when precipitation is enhanced over the Aral Sea Basin as during 1230–1450 AD. We propose that the recorded environmental changes are related primarily to climate, but may have been possibly amplified during extreme conditions by human-controlled irrigation activities or military conflicts. Additionally, salinity levels and variations in solar activity show striking similarities over the past millennium, as during 1000–1300 AD, 1450–1550 and 1600–1700 AD when low lake levels match well with an increase in solar activity thus suggesting that an increase in the net radiative forcing reinforced past Aral Sea’s regressions. On the other hand, we used pollen analyses to quantify changes in moisture conditions in the Aral Sea Basin. High-resolution reconstruction of precipitation (mean annual) and temperature (mean annual, coldest versus warmest month) parameters are performed using the “probability mutual climatic spheres” method, providing the sequence of climate change for the past 2000 years in western Central Asia. Cold and arid conditions prevailed during ca. 0–400 AD, 900–1150 AD and 1500–1650 AD with the extension of xeric vegetation dominated by steppe elements. Conversely, warmer and less arid conditions occurred during ca. 400–900 AD and 1150–1450 AD, where steppe vegetation was enriched in plants requiring moister conditions. Change in the precipitation pattern over the Aral Sea Basin is shown to be predominantly controlled by the Eastern Mediterranean (EM) cyclonic system, which provides humidity to the Middle East and western Central Asia during winter and early spring. As the EM is significantly regulated by pressure modulations of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) when the system is in a negative phase, a relationship between humidity over western Central Asia and the NAO is proposed. Besides, laminated sediments record shifts in sedimentary processes during the late Holocene that reflect pronounced changes in taphonomic dynamics. In Central Asia, the frequency of dust storms occurring during spring when the continent is heating up is mostly controlled by the intensity and the position of the Siberian High (SH) Pressure System. Using titanium (Ti) content in laminated sediments as a proxy for aeolian detrital inputs, changes in wind dynamics over Central Asia is documented for the past 1500 years, offering the longest reconstruction of SH variability to date. Based on high Ti content, stronger wind dynamics are reported from 450–700 AD, 1210–1265 AD, 1350–1750 AD and 1800–1975 AD, reporting a stronger SH during spring. In contrast, lower Ti content from 1750–1800 AD and 1980–1985 AD reflect a diminished influence of the SH and a reduced atmospheric circulation. During 1180–1210 AD and 1265–1310 AD, considerably weakened atmospheric circulation is evidenced. As a whole, though climate dynamics controlled environmental changes and ultimately modulated changes in the western Central Asia’s climate system, it is likely that changes in solar activity also had an impact by influencing to some extent the Aral Sea’s hydrology balance and also regional temperature patterns in the past. <hr> The appendix of the thesis is provided via the HTML document as ZIP download.