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Understanding the role of natural climate variability under the pressure of human induced changes of climate and landscapes, is crucial to improve future projections and adaption strategies. This doctoral thesis aims to reconstruct Holocene climate and environmental changes in NE Germany based on annually laminated lake sediments. The work contributes to the ICLEA project (Integrated CLimate and Landscape Evolution Analyses). ICLEA intends to compare multiple high-resolution proxy records with independent chronologies from the N central European lowlands, in order to disentangle the impact of climate change and human land use on landscape development during the Lateglacial and Holocene. In this respect, two study sites in NE Germany are investigated in this doctoral project, Lake Tiefer See and palaeolake Wukenfurche. While both sediment records are studied with a combination of high-resolution sediment microfacies and geochemical analyses (e.g. µ-XRF, carbon geochemistry and stable isotopes), detailed proxy understanding mainly focused on the continuous 7.7 m long sediment core from Lake Tiefer See covering the last ~6000 years. Three main objectives are pursued at Lake Tiefer See: (1) to perform a reliable and independent chronology, (2) to establish microfacies and geochemical proxies as indicators for climate and environmental changes, and (3) to trace the effects of climate variability and human activity on sediment deposition.
Addressing the first aim, a reliable chronology of Lake Tiefer See is compiled by using a multiple-dating concept. Varve counting and tephra findings form the chronological framework for the last ~6000 years. The good agreement with independent radiocarbon dates of terrestrial plant remains verifies the robustness of the age model. The resulting reliable and independent chronology of Lake Tiefer See and, additionally, the identification of nine tephras provide a valuable base for detailed comparison and synchronization of the Lake Tiefer See data set with other climate records. The sediment profile of Lake Tiefer See exhibits striking alternations between well-varved and non-varved sediment intervals. The combination of microfacies, geochemical and microfossil (i.e. Cladocera and diatom) analyses indicates that these changes of varve preservation are caused by variations of lake circulation in Lake Tiefer See. An exception is the well-varved sediment deposited since AD 1924, which is mainly influenced by human-induced lake eutrophication. Well-varved intervals before the 20th century are considered to reflect phases of reduced lake circulation and, consequently, stronger anoxic conditions. Instead, non-varved intervals indicate increased lake circulation in Lake Tiefer See, leading to more oxygenated conditions at the lake ground. Furthermore, lake circulation is not only influencing sediment deposition, but also geochemical processes in the lake. As, for example, the proxy meaning of δ13COM varies in time in response to changes of the oxygen regime in the lake hypolinion. During reduced lake circulation and stronger anoxic conditions δ13COM is influenced by microbial carbon cycling. In contrast, organic matter degradation controls δ13COM during phases of intensified lake circulation and more oxygenated conditions. The varve preservation indicates an increasing trend of lake circulation at Lake Tiefer See after ~4000 cal a BP. This trend is superimposed by decadal to centennial scale variability of lake circulation intensity. Comparison to other records in Central Europe suggests that the long-term trend is probably related to gradual changes in Northern Hemisphere orbital forcing, which induced colder and windier conditions in Central Europe and, therefore, reinforced lake circulation. Decadal to centennial scale periods of increased lake circulation coincide with settlement phases at Lake Tiefer See, as inferred from pollen data of the same sediment record. Deforestation reduced the wind shelter of the lake, which probably increased the sensitivity of lake circulation to wind stress. However, results of this thesis also suggest that several of these phases of increased lake circulation are additionally reinforced by climate changes. A first indication is provided by the comparison to the Baltic Sea record, which shows striking correspondence between major non-varved intervals at Lake Tiefer See and bioturbated sediments in the Baltic Sea. Furthermore, a preliminary comparison to the ICLEA study site Lake Czechowskie (N central Poland) shows a coincidence of at least three phases of increased lake circulation in both lakes, which concur with periods of known climate changes (2.8 ka event, ’Migration Period’ and ’Little Ice Age’). These results suggest an additional over-regional climate forcing also on short term increased of lake circulation in Lake Tiefer See.
In summary, the results of this thesis suggest that lake circulation at Lake Tiefer See is driven by a combination of long-term and short-term climate changes as well as of anthropogenic deforestation phases. Furthermore, the lake circulation drives geochemical cycles in the lake affecting the meaning of proxy data. Therefore, the work presented here expands the knowledge of climate and environmental variability in NE Germany. Furthermore, the integration of the Lake Tiefer See multi-proxy record in a regional comparison with another ICLEA side, Lake Czechowskie, enabled to better decipher climate changes and human impact on the lake system. These first results suggest a huge potential for further detailed regional comparisons to better understand palaeoclimate dynamics in N central Europe.
We present varve chronologies for sediments from two maar lakes in the Valle de Santiago region (Central Mexico): Hoya La Alberca (AD 1852-1973) and Hoya Rincn de Parangueo (AD 1839-1943). These are the first varve chronologies for Mexican lakes. The varved sections were anchored with tephras from Colima (1913) and Paricutin (1943/1944) and (210)Pb ages. We compare the sequences using the thickness of seasonal laminae and element counts (Al, Si, S, Cl, K, Ti, Mn, Fe, and Sr) determined by micro X-ray fluorescence spectrometry. The formation of the varve sublaminae is attributed to the strongly seasonal climate regime. Limited rainfall and high evaporation rates in winter and spring induce precipitation of carbonates (high Ca, Sr) enriched in (13)C and (18)O, whereas rainfall in summer increases organic and clastic input (plagioclase, quartz) with high counts of lithogenic elements (K, Al, Ti, and Si). Eolian input of Ti occurs also in the dry season. Moving correlations (5-yr windows) of the Ca and Ti counts show similar development in both sequences until the 1930s. Positive correlations indicate mixing of allochthonous Ti and autochthonous Ca, while negative correlations indicate their separation in sublaminae. Negative excursions in the correlations correspond with historic and reconstructed droughts, El Nio events, and positive SST anomalies. Based on our data, droughts (3-7 year duration) were severe and centred around the following years: the early 1850s, 1865, 1880, 1895, 1905, 1915 and the late 1920s with continuation into the 1930s. The latter dry period brought both lake systems into a critical state making them susceptible to further drying. Groundwater overexploitation due to the expansion of irrigation agriculture in the region after 1940 induced the transition from calcite to aragonite precipitation in Alberca and halite infiltration in Rincn. The proxy data indicate a faster response to increased evaporation for Rincn, the lake with the larger maar dimensions, solar radiation receipt and higher conductivity, whereas the smaller, steeper Alberca maar responded rapidly to increased precipitation.
This study examines the course and driving forces of recent vegetation change in the Mongolian steppe. A sediment core covering the last 55years from a small closed-basin lake in central Mongolia was analyzed for its multi-proxy record at annual resolution. Pollen analysis shows that highest abundances of planted Poaceae and highest vegetation diversity occurred during 1977-1992, reflecting agricultural development in the lake area. A decrease in diversity and an increase in Artemisia abundance after 1992 indicate enhanced vegetation degradation in recent times, most probably because of overgrazing and farmland abandonment. Human impact is the main factor for the vegetation degradation within the past decades as revealed by a series of redundancy analyses, while climate change and soil erosion play subordinate roles. High Pediastrum (a green algae) influx, high atomic total organic carbon/total nitrogen (TOC/TN) ratios, abundant coarse detrital grains, and the decrease of C-13(org) and N-15 since about 1977 but particularly after 1992 indicate that abundant terrestrial organic matter and nutrients were transported into the lake and caused lake eutrophication, presumably because of intensified land use. Thus, we infer that the transition to a market economy in Mongolia since the early 1990s not only caused dramatic vegetation degradation but also affected the lake ecosystem through anthropogenic changes in the catchment area.