Chronology of Sediment Deposition in Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon

A combination of tephrochronology and ¹⁴C, ²¹⁰Pb, and ¹³⁷Cs measurements provides a robust chronology for sedimentation in Upper Klamath Lake during the last 45 000 years. Mixing of surficial sediments and possible mobility of the radio-isotopes limit the usefulness of the ¹³⁷Cs and ²¹⁰Pb data, but ²¹⁰Pb profiles provide reasonable average sediment accumulation rates for the last 100–150 years. Radiocarbon ages near the top of the core are somewhat erratic and are too old, probably as a result of detrital organic carbon, which may have become a more common component in recent times as surrounding marshes were drained. Below the tops of the cores, radiocarbon ages in the center of the basin appear to be about 400 years too old, while those on the margin appear to be accurate, based on comparisons with tephra layers of known age.Taken together, the data can be combined into reasonable age models for each site. Sediments have accumulated at site K1, near the center of the basin, about 2 times faster than at site CM2, on the margin of the lake. The rates are about 0.10 and 0.05 cm/yr, respectively. The chronological data also indicate that accumulation rates were slower during the early to middle Holocene than during the late Holocene, consistent with increasing wetness in the late Holocene.     

The History of Recent Limnological Changes and Human Impact on Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon

Hypereutrophic Upper Klamath Lake has been studied for almost 50 years to evaluate the nature, cause, and effects of its very productive waters. Mitigation of undesirable effects of massive cyanobacterial blooms requires understanding their modern causes as well as their history. Knowledge of the pre-settlement natural limnology of this system can provide guidelines for lake restoration and management of land and water use strategies to maximize the benefits of this aquatic resource. This investigation uses a paleolimnological approach to document the nature and chronology of limnological and biological changes in Upper Klamath Lake for the past 200 years, covering the time when the lake was first described until today. A 45-cm gravity core, dated by ²¹⁰Pb and diatom correlations, was analyzed for diatoms, pollen, akinetes (resting spores) of the cyanobacterium Aphanizomenon flos-aquae, reworked tephra shards, and sediment magnetic characteristics. Pollen profiles show little vegetation change during this time. In contrast, diatoms indicative of increased nutrient fluxes (P and Si) increase moderately, coinciding with the settlement of the region by Euro-Americans. Numerous settlement activities, including draining of lake-margin marshes, upstream agriculture and timber harvest, road construction, and boat traffic, may have affected the lake. Magnetic properties and reworked tephra suggest riparian changes throughout the basin and increased lithogenic sediment delivery to the lake, especially after 1920 when the marshes near the mouth of the Williamson River were drained and converted to agricultural and pasture land. Drainage and channelization also decreased the ability of the marshes to function as traps and filters for upstream water and sediments. Akinetes of Aphanizomenon flos-aquae record progressive eutrophication of Upper Klamath Lake beginning in the 20th century and particularly after 1920 when lake-margin marsh reclamation more than doubled. The coincidence of limnological changes and human activities following European settlement suggests a major impact on the Upper Klamath Lake ecosystem, although ascribing specific limnological changes to specific human activities is difficult.     

Record of Late Pleistocene Glaciation and Deglaciation in the Southern Cascade Range. I. Petrological Evidence from Lacustrine Sediment in Upper Klamath Lake, Southern Oregon

Petrological and textural properties of lacustrine sediments from Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon, reflect changing input volumes of glacial flour and thus reveal a detailed glacial history for the southern Cascade Range between about 37 and 15 ka. Magnetic properties vary as a result of mixing different amounts of the highly magnetic, glacially generated detritus with less magnetic, more weathered detritus derived from unglaciated parts of the large catchment. Evidence that the magnetic properties record glacial flour input is based mainly on the strong correlation between bulk sediment particle size and parameters that measure the magnetite content and magnetic mineral freshness. High magnetization corresponds to relatively fine particle size and lower magnetization to coarser particle size. This relation is not found in the Buck Lake core in a nearby, unglaciated catchment. Angular silt-sized volcanic rock fragments containing unaltered magnetite dominate the magnetic fraction in the late Pleistocene sediments but are absent in younger, low magnetization sediments. The finer grained, highly magnetic sediments contain high proportions of planktic diatoms indicative of cold, oligotrophic limnic conditions. Sediment with lower magnetite content contains populations of diatoms indicative of warmer, eutrophic limnic conditions. During the latter part of oxygen isotope stage 3 (about 37–25 ka), the magnetic properties record millennial-scale variations in glacial-flour content. The input of glacial flour was uniformly high during the Last Glacial Maximum, between about 21 and 16 ka. At about 16 ka, magnetite input, both absolute and relative to hematite, decreased abruptly, reflecting a rapid decline in glacially derived detritus. The decrease in magnetite transport into the lake preceded declines in pollen from both grass and sagebrush. A more gradual decrease in heavy mineral content over this interval records sediment starvation with the growth of marshes at the margins of the lake and dilution of detrital material by biogenic silica and other organic matter.     

Record of Late Pleistocene Glaciation and Deglaciation in the Southern Cascade Range. II. Flux of Glacial Flour in a Sediment Core from Upper Klamath Lake, Oregon

During the late Wisconsin, glacial flour from alpine glaciers along the east side of the Cascade Range in southern Oregon was deposited in Upper Klamath Lake. Quantitative interpretation of magnetic properties and grain-size data of cored sediments from Caledonia Marsh on the west side of the lake provides a continuous record of the flux of glacial flour spanning the last 37 000 calendar years. For modeling purposes, the lake sediments from the 13-m core were divided into three sedimentary components defined from magnetic, geochemical, petrographic, and grain-size data. The components are (1) strongly magnetic, glacial flour made up of extremely fine-grained, fresh volcanic rock particles, (2) less magnetic lithic material made up of coarser, weathered volcanic detritus, and (3) non-magnetic biogenic material (largely biogenic silica). Quantitative interpretation is possible because there has been no significant postdepositional destruction or formation of magnetic minerals, nor alteration affecting grain-size distributions. Major steps involved in the interpretation include: (1) computation of biogenic and lithic components; (2) determination of magnetic properties and grain-size distributions of the non-glacial and glacial flour end-members; (3) computation of the contents of weathered and glacial flour components for each sample; (4) development of an age model based on the mass accumulation of the non-glacial lithic component; and (5) use of the age model and glacial flour contents to compute the flux of glacial flour. Comparison of the glacial flour record from Upper Klamath Lake to mapped glacial features suggests a nearly linear relation between flux of glacial flour and the extent of nearby glaciers. At 22 ka, following an extended period during which glaciers of limited size waxed and waned, late Wisconsin (Waban) glaciers began to grow, reaching their maximum extent at 19 ka. Glaciers remained near their maximum extent for 1000 years. During this period, lake sediments were made up of 80% glacial flour. The content of glacial flour decreased as the glaciers receded, and reached undetectable levels by 14 ka.     

内蒙古嘎顺诺尔湖泊沉积物磁化率与粒度的古环境意义

湖泊沉积物磁化率和粒度已被广泛地应用于古环境和古气候研究,但在不同地区两者的关系不同,一般与磁性矿物来源、种类和赋存粒级有关。查明磁性矿物来源和赋存状态是利用粒度和磁化率恢复古环境的重要基础。通过测定干旱区嘎顺诺尔GXN剖面湖泊沉积物的磁化率与粒度及两者的相关关系,结合代表性样品的岩石磁学特征,揭示此类地区湖泊沉积物磁性矿物来源和赋存状态,探讨它们在干旱区湖泊沉积物中所反映的环境变化信息。结果显示,剖面下部（200~105 cm）和上部（36~0 cm）沉积物磁化率与粗砂含量呈正相关,中部（105~36 cm）与粉砂含量呈正相关,表明磁性矿物主要富集于粗颗粒和较粗颗粒组分中。剖面下部和中部沉积物以顺磁性矿物为主,含少量亚铁磁性矿物（如磁铁矿+磁赤铁矿）,含少量顺磁性矿物;剖面上部沉积物以亚铁磁性矿物为主（如磁赤铁矿+磁铁矿）,含少量顺磁性矿物。根据嘎顺诺尔晚全新世湖泊沉积物剖面的岩性、磁化率和粒度组合特征,可将其划分为河漫滩相沉积（200~105 cm）、浅湖相沉积（105~36 cm）和滨浅湖相沉积（36~0 cm）3个阶段。该湖粒度组分中<4 μm和4~64 μm颗粒主要反映了湖泊水动力的变化,受碎屑物来源和水动力条件的控制;而河漫滩相中>64 μm粗颗粒组分的峰值是风力作用的结果。河漫滩相及滨浅湖相的磁化率高值则指示了湖面较低,水动力较强,有较多的磁性矿物随粗颗粒入湖;浅湖相的磁化率低值则指示该时期湖面较高,水动力较弱,磁性矿物随入湖粗颗粒含量的减少而降低。     

地球化学组成揭示的杜蒙沙地化学风化和沉积再循环特征及其对风尘物质贡献的指示

对杜蒙沙地的河流冲积砂、河漫滩泥质粉砂、沙质古土壤和风成沙等不同类型沉积物进行了采样（27组）,对这些样品的细颗粒组分（<63 μm）进行了常量元素、微量元素、稀土元素（REE）和Sr-Nd同位素比值等地球化学分析,就杜蒙沙地的化学风化、沉积再循环特征及其对风尘物质的贡献等展开了讨论。结果显示,杜蒙沙地的地球化学组成表现出空间的均一性,低的化学蚀变指数CIA（48~56,平均52）及A-CN-K和A-CNK-FM图解均表明了杜蒙沙地仅遭受了低级的化学风化程度。沙地的成分成熟度较低,大部分河流沉积物表现出初次循环沉积特征,系大兴安岭东侧中酸性岩浆母岩风化剥蚀的产物经嫩江搬运堆积形成;古土壤表现出与河流沉积物相同的初次循环特征,表明古土壤的成土母质是河流沉积物,这与野外地层出露情况一致;风成沙表现出再循环沉积特征,系河流沉积物就地起沙搬运堆积形成。不活动元素比值、REE和Sr-Nd同位素比值等物源判别图解,结合植被和地貌状况,一致表明杜蒙沙地与东北平原中东部的风尘物质没有地球化学亲缘关系,其对该地区（甚至下风向更远地区）的大气风尘的贡献很小。     

Strong Magnetic Levels in Lake Chapala Sediments (western Mexico): Their Mineralogy and Stratigraphic Significance

Lake Chapala, located 120 km northeast of Colima Volcano, lies at the north and northeast of the Citala rift in the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. It belongs to the watershed of the Lerma River, which originates from the Mexico City area, 450 km to the east. Sediment cores, 0.5–2 m long, were collected from the lake. Magnetic susceptibility of the lake sediments generally ranges from 400 to 800 × 10⁻⁹ m³ kg⁻¹; but in some layers it exceeds 1000 or 1500 × 10⁻⁹ m³ kg⁻¹. The magnetic susceptibility vertical profiles display a thin peak (2–5 cm) or a double peak with magnetic susceptibility > 2000 × 10⁻⁹ m³ kg⁻¹. Scanning electron microscope analysis shows that the main mineral responsible for the magnetic susceptibility is titano-magnetite, which is relatively abundant in the magnetic layers. In most of the cores, the layer with magnetic susceptibility > 2000 × 10⁻⁹ m³ kg⁻¹ is coarser grained than the directly under and overlying sediments, which are composed of fine silt. But not all coarser levels are magnetic nor are all magnetic levels bound to coarser layers. The high titano-magnetic concentration probably originates from volcanic ash falls. Sedimentation rates, evaluated for several sites by means of the ²¹⁰Pb and ¹³⁷Cs methods, allow a date approximation (between 1535 and 1670) for the strong magnetic layer deposition. Since important eruptions of Colima Volcano, with ash fall, were reported from 1576 to 1623, the main peak of magnetic susceptibility in the sediment profiles is assumed to be related to these events. The main magnetic layer extends to greater depth in the profiles of the eastern part of the lake plain than at the west. It can, therefore, be suggested that a relative subsidence occurs in the eastern part of the lake; the axis of the eastern plain overlaps the area displaying the maximum subsidence rate and seems therefore to correspond to the prolongation of Citala rift.     

A paleoclimate record for the past 250,000 years from Summer Lake, Oregon, USA: II. Sedimentology, paleontology and geochemistry

We have obtained a detailed paleoenvironmental record in the Summer Lake Basin, Oregon (northwestern Great Basin, US) spanning from 250ka-5 ka. This record is derived from core and outcrop sites extending from a proximal deltaic setting to near the modern depocenter. Lithostratigraphic, paleontologic (ostracodes and pollen) and geochemical indicators all provide evidence for hydroclimate and climate change over the study interval.Lithostratigraphic analysis of the Summer Lake deposits allows subdivision into a series of unconformity - or paraconformity-bound lithosomes. The unconformity and facies histories indicate that the lake underwent several major lake-level excursions through the Middle and Late Pleistocene. High stands occurred between ~200 and ~165 ka, between ~89 and 50 ka and between ~25 and 13 ka. Uppermost Pleistocene and Holocene sediments have been removed by deflation of the basin, with the exception of a thin veneer of late Holocene sediment. These high stands correspond closely with Marine Oxygen Isotope Stages 6, 4 and 2, within the margin of error associated with the Summer Lake age model. A major unconformity from ~158 ka until ~102 ka (duration varies between sites) interrupts the record at both core and outcrop sites.Lake level fluctuations, in turn are closely linked with TOC and salinity fluctuations, such that periods of lake high stands correlate with periods of relatively low productivity, fresher water and increased water inflow/evaporation ratios. Paleotemperature estimates based on palynology and geochemistry (Mg/Ca ratios in ostracodes) indicate an overall decrease in temperature from ~236 ka-165 ka, with a brief interlude of warming and drying immediately after this (prior to the major unconformity). This temperature decrease was superimposed on higher frequency variations in temperature that are not evident in the sediments deposited during the past 100 ka. Indicators disagree about temperatures immediately following the unconformity (~102-95 ka), but most suggest warmer temperatures between ~100-89 ka, followed by a rapid and dramatic cooling event. Cooler conditions persisted throughout most of the remainder of the Pleistocene at Summer Lake, with the possible exception of brief warm intervals about 27-23 ka. Paleotemperature estimates for the proximal deltaic site are more erratic than for more distal sites, indicative of short term air temperature excursions that are buffered in deeper water.Estimates of paleotemperature from Mg/Ca ratios are generally in good agreement with evidence from upland palynology. However, there is a significant discordance between the upland pollen record and lake indicators with respect to paleoprecipitation for some parts of the record. Several possibilities may explain this discordance. We favor a direct link between lake level and salinity fluctuations and climate change, but we also recognize the possibility that some of these hydroclimate changes in the Summer Lake record may have resulted from episodic drainage captures of the Chewaucan River between the Summer Lake and Lake Abert basins.     

Sediment geochemistry of Lake Daihai,north-central China: implications for catchment weathering and climate change during the Holocene

A 12.87-m-long sediment core was retrieved from closed-basin Lake Daihai in the monsoon–arid transition zone of north-central China. Oxides of major elements and their ratios normalized to Al in the AMS-¹⁴C-dated core were employed to evaluate chemical weathering intensity (CWI) in the lake drainage basin, which reflects hydrothermal conditions in the study area. Lower CWI periods occurred prior to 14.5 ka BP, and during the intervals ca. 11.7–10.3, 3.5–3.2, 2.6–1.7 ka BP, and 1.2–0 ka BP, indicating relatively low temperatures and moisture availability. Greater CWI during the intervening periods ca. 14.5–11.7, 10.3–9.0, 3.2–2.6, and 1.7–1.2 ka BP, with the maximum CWI at ca. 6.7–3.5 ka BP, imply ameliorated hydrothermal conditions in the lake basin, i.e. higher temperatures and precipitation. Exceptionally low CWI, associated with high CaO/MgO ratio during ca. 9.0–6.7 ka BP, suggests higher evaporation rates in the area under warmer temperature. Overall, CWI displays in-phase variations with changes in organic matter (TOC, TN), carbonate (CaCO₃) and pollen assemblages, all of which are related to variations in monsoon effective precipitation. High CWI indicates strong monsoon-induced precipitation, whereas low CWI reflects a weak precipitation regime. The optimum hydrothermal status, recorded by the strongest CWI and maximum monsoon effective precipitation during ca. 6.7–3.5 ka BP defines the Holocene climate optimum (HCO) in the Lake Daihai region. These results indicate that the HCO prevails after the early Holocene in the monsoon–arid transition zone of north-central China. Temperature and precipitation variations during most of the Holocene, inferred from the lake sediments, are due largely to insolation forcing. Dry but warm conditions ca. 9.0–6.7 ka BP, however, probably reflect the complex interactions between insolation and geography (e.g. altitude and local topography).     

云南中甸纳帕海湖泊沉积物的磁化率及环境意义

研究区母岩特性，搬运距离和搬运营力决定了磁性矿物主要赋存在砂砾级颗粒中，纳帕海潮泊沉积物的磁化率与颗粒粒径，沉积相和有机质含量存在密切的相关关系，滨浅湖环境中砂砾级颗粒含量增加以及波浪淘洗对磁性矿物的富集作用，磁化率较高；浅湖环境中粉砂增多，砂减少，磁化率较之滨浅湖有所降低，在低能的半深湖／深湖环境中，由于缺乏磁性矿物的输入，磁化率再次降低，有机质含量很高的湖岸湖环境由于有机质的稀释作用磁化率值最低，磁化率等环境替代指标以及和北半球气候变化阶段，深海氧同位素阶段的对比，将纳帕海近6ka年来划分成6个主要的环境演化阶段，32kaB.P.(14.99m)和15kaB.P.(6.06m)分别是环境和气候变化的重要转折点，32－15ka B.P.期间出现的高湖面表明，虽然大气温度下降但有效湿度增加，全新世湖泊的急剧萎缩预示在大气温度增加的同时有效湿度降低，暖偏于构成了研究区全新世气候演化的特色。     

Palaeoecological tools for improving the management of coastal ecosystems: a case study from Lake King (Gippsland Lakes) Australia

Since European settlement began over 200 years ago, many southeast Australian coastal lakes and lagoons have experienced substantial human impacts, including nutrient enrichment. Present day management and conservation efforts are often hampered by a lack of data on pre-impact conditions. We used a palaeoecological approach at Lake King, Gippsland Lakes, southeast Australia in order to determine its pre-impact condition and to establish the nature and direction of subsequent environmental changes, including responses to the construction of a permanent entrance to the sea in 1889. A 120 cm sediment core was analysed for diatoms, chlorophyll a, total carbon, nitrogen and sulphur, and dated using ²¹⁰Pb. Past phosphate and salinity concentrations were reconstructed using diatom-phosphate and diatom-salinity transfer functions developed from a calibration set based on 53 sites from 14 southeast Australian coastal lakes and lagoons. Results show changes in the diatom assemblage that record a shift from a brackish-water to marine diatom flora since construction of the permanent entrance. Phosphate concentrations increased at the same time and experienced major peaks in the 1940s and 1950s to >100 μg/l. Chlorophyll a concentrations were generally below 24 μg/l/gTOC in the core, but there has been a clear increase since the 1980s, peaking at 120 μg/l/gTOC, likely associated with a recorded increase in the frequency of nuisance algal blooms. These results indicate that the Lake King environment is now very different to that present during early European settlement. We conclude that by identifying the nature and direction of environmental change, palaeoecological studies can contribute towards developing realistic and well-informed management, conservation and restoration strategies in Australian coastal ecosystems.     

Recent water quality trends and a comparison to sediment-core records for two riverine lakes of the Upper Mississippi River basin: Lake St. Croix and Lake Pepin

Long-term water quality monitoring data from two riverine lakes in the Upper Mississippi River basin, Lakes St. Croix and Pepin, were analyzed to compare the long-term average water quality conditions and land use distributions, water quality trends and loads at lake inlets and outlets, trends from long-term versus short-term monitoring records, and the ability of paleolimnological cores to accurately infer lake water quality conditions. During the 1976–2004 period, the long-term average concentrations of nutrients, suspended solids, and chlorophyll-a were consistently lower at the Lake St. Croix inlet versus the Lake Pepin inlet, which drains a greater proportion of urban and agricultural runoff. Despite these differences, nutrient trends were similar at the inlets to both lakes; reductions in total phosphorus and ammonium concentrations were attributed to improvements in point source technologies, whereas increasing nitrate concentrations were attributed to both point source changes and nonpoint source increases. Despite improvements in several water quality variables, nitrate concentrations are increasing in both lakes, sediment trends indicate persistent nonpoint source inputs to Lake Pepin, and current total phosphorus concentrations remain well above pre-1950s levels in both lakes. Since urban development and agriculture are increasing in the Lake St. Croix and Lake Pepin Watersheds, continued point source regulation and additional nonpoint source control efforts will be needed to further improve water quality in these lakes. The 1976–2004 trends for most water quality variables were similar at inlet versus outlet sites on Lake St. Croix. Trends at Lake Pepin inlet versus outlet sites were less similar, but data availability limited the comparison to the 1993–2003 period. While the truncated data record highlighted short-term trends in both lakes, the full data record was most useful for exploring general patterns in water quality. Length of monitoring record affected our ability to detect trends at the inlets to both lakes, and altered the magnitude of detected trends. During the two decades of the 1980s and 1990s, paleolimnological estimates of retained phosphorus loads were similar to those estimated from recent water quality monitoring. These similarities support the use of paleolimnological approaches to infer past water quality conditions in Lakes St. Croix and Pepin. This is one of eight papers dedicated to the “Recent Environmental History of the Upper Mississippi River” published in this special issue of the Journal of Paleolimnology. D. R. Engstrom served as guest editor of the special issue.     

A 40,000-year record of environmental change from ancient Lake Ohrid (Albania and Macedonia)

Lake Ohrid is considered to be of Pliocene origin and is the oldest extant lake in Europe. A 1,075-cm-long sediment core was recovered from the southeastern part of the lake, from a water depth of 105 m. The core was investigated using geophysical, granulometric, biogeochemical, diatom, ostracod, and pollen analyses. Tephrochronology and AMS radiocarbon dating of plant macrofossils reveals that the sediment sequence spans the past ca. 39,500 years and features a hiatus between ca. 14,600 and 9,400 cal. year BP. The Pleistocene sequence indicates relatively stable and cold conditions, with steppe vegetation in the catchment, at least partial winter ice-cover of the lake, and oxygenated bottom waters at the coring site. The Holocene sequence indicates that the catchment vegetation had changed to forest dominated by pine and summer-green oak. Several of the proxies suggest the impact of abrupt climate oscillations such as the 8.2 or 4.0 ka event. The observed changes, however, cannot be related clearly to a change in temperature or humidity. Human impact started about 5,000 cal. year BP and increased significantly during the past 2,400 years. Water column mixing conditions, inflow from subaquatic springs, and human impact are the most important parameters influencing internal lake processes, notably affecting the composition and characteristics of the sediments.     

Magnetic anisotropy produced by magma flow: theoretical model and experimental data from Ferrar dolerite sills (Antarctica)

Volcanic rocks forming sills, dykes or lava flows may display a magnetic anisotropy derived from the viscous flow during their emplacement. We model a sill as a steady-state flow of a Bingham fluid, driven by a pressure gradient in a horizontal conduit. The magma velocity as a function of depth is calculated from the motion and constitutive equations. Vorticity and strain rate are determined for a reference system moving with the fluid. The angular velocity and the orientation of an ellipsoidal magnetic grain immersed in the fluid are calculated as functions of time or strain. Magnetic susceptibility is then calculated for a large number of grains with a uniform distribution of initial orientations. It is shown that the magnetic lineation oscillates in the vertical plane through the magma flow direction, and that the magnetic foliation plane changes periodically from horizontal to vertical. The results are compared with the magnetic fabric of Ferrar dolerite sills (Victoria Land, East Antarctica) derived from low-field susceptibility measurements.     

Climatic variability in the Late Copper Age: stable isotope fluctuation of prehistoric Unio pictorum (Unionidae) shells from Lake Balaton (Hungary)

Geochemical records of bivalve shells have been increasingly studied in the last decade to obtain information on climate conditions. In this paper we present stable isotope compositions of living and prehistoric shells of freshwater mussels (Unionidae) and their relationships with climate conditions in a shallow lake environment of Lake Balaton, West-Central Hungary. Physical conditions and stable oxygen isotope compositions of lake water samples were monitored where living bivalves were collected. Comparisons between seasonal variations in ambient temperature, water composition and within-shell isotopic variations indicate that the shells of Unio pictorum do reflect local changes at high resolution and thus can be used to study past conditions. Additionally, shells covering the last two decades were gathered at several locations along the lake in order to determine spatial and temporal variations in the shells’ isotopic compositions as a function of weather conditions. As an application, prehistoric shells collected in archaeological excavations were analysed in order to study past environmental variations. Climate variations during the Late Copper Age (5460–4870 cal. yr BP) have been assumed on the basis of geomorphological and archaeozoological observations at the site Balatonkeresztúr-Réti-dűlő (south of Lake Balaton), that suggested increasing humidity as a cause of changes in settlement location and domestic livestock husbandry. Stable carbon and oxygen isotope compositions of prehistoric bivalve shells were analyzed from excavations representing five archaeological subphases (Boleráz subphase, 5460–5310 cal. yr BP; two transitional subphases around 5310 cal. yr BP; Early Classic subphase, 5310–5060 cal. yr BP; Late Classic subphase, 5040–4870 cal. yr BP). The analyses revealed significant negative C and O isotope shifts in the transitional subphases relative to the earlier and later subphases. The isotopic variations indicate that the local climate became relatively wet and possibly cold around 5310 cal. yr BP, then it returned to drier (and likely warmer) conditions during the Classic subphases. This interpretation is in agreement with previous studies on climate changes related to the “5.3 ky event” in the European continental area and the North Atlantic Region, indicating an Atlantic influence in the Carpathian Basin.     

Integration of reflection seismic and sediment grain-size data from Lake Khubsugul (Northern Mongolia): a reply to Prokopenko and Kendall

Prokopenko and Kendall (J Paleolimnol doi:, 2008) criticise the work presented in Fedotov et al. (J Paleolimnol 39:335–348, 2008), and instead propose an alternative interpretation for the grain-size evolution recorded in the KDP-01 core, retrieved from the central part of Lake Khubsugul. Their interpretation is based (i) on a seismic-stratigraphic re-interpretation of sparker seismic profile khub012 (which they copied from Fedotov et al. (EOS Trans 87:246–250, 2006)), (ii) on the presupposition that changes in lake level are the dominant control on facies distribution in Lake Khubsugul, and (iii) on the invalidation of our age-depth model. In this reply to their comment, we demonstrate that they interpreted seismic artefacts and geometries caused by changes in profile orientation as true stratigraphic features and that the lake-level reconstruction they derive from this interpretation is therefore incorrect. We also demonstrate that their grain-size predictions, which they consider to be predominantly driven by changes in lake level, are inconsistent with the measured sulphate concentration, which is a demonstrated proxy of lake level in Lake Khubsugul, and with the measured grain-size record. Finally, we point out that even if there would be a problem with the age-depth model, this problem would not affect the part of the sedimentary sequence discussed in Fedotov et al. (J Paleolimnol 39:335–348, 2008).     

The late Quaternary sedimentary infill of Lake Annecy (northwestern Alps): an overview from two seismic-reflection surveys

The sedimentary fill of Lake Annecy (northwestern Alps) - related to the last glacial/post-glacial episode - was investigated through high resolution (sparker) and very high resolution (2.5 kHz) seismic-reflection surveys. A seismostratigraphic approach led to subdivision of a 150 m-thick pile (maximum thickness in axial part) into five units. Basal units (1 and 2) represent an imbrication of subglacial and glacio-lacustrine deposits, close to the grounding line of the glaciers' fronts (respectively at the northern and southern terminations of the lake). The first acoustically well-stratified unit (3) developed during a fast retreat of the glaciers fronts far from the lake basin, and a progradational alluvial regime, with abundant underflows, in a lake larger than the present one. Unit 4 represents the progressive decrease of this clastic input mixed with the progressive development of in situ bio-induced production. As in many other alpine lakes, a topmost unit (5), relatively thin (about 8-10 m) and with a conspicuous drape configuration, is the signature of the Holocene interglacial climatic conditions with a sedimentation rate of about 1 mm/yr. On the lacustrine basin slopes, slumps and debris flow occurred mainly within Unit 3; they may be due to, either climate-induced high rate terrigenous sedimentation, or/and to a period of increased seismo-tectonic activity.