The diatom flora in the ultra-oligotrophic Lake EI'gygytgyn, Chukotka

Lake El' gygytgyn, an impact crater lake in northeastern Siberia, was analysed based on water-column characteristics and the modern and sub-recent diatom flora. Vertical temperature, conductivity and oxygen profiles, as well as ionic concentrations in the lake water, reveal that Lake El' gygytgyn is a clear, cold-monomictic, ultra-oligotrophic high-Arctic lake with high light-penetration depth. We identified 113 diatom taxa, of which only 2 species are planktic diatoms. Cy-clotella ocellata is the only quantitatively significant diatom present in the modern phytoplankton community, and is also predominant in a short sediment core, which probably reflects the mid- and late-Holocene environmental history of Lake El' gygytgyn. Pliocaenicus costatus var. sibiricus is also common but of minor importance. This is the first evidence of P. costatus var. sibiricus outside the Lake Baikal region.