Geochemical Records of the Late Glacial and Holocene Paleoenvironmental Changes from the Lake Kaskadnoe-1 Sediments (East Sayan Mountains, South Siberia)

Long-term and continuous lake sedimentary records offer enormous potential for interpreting paleoenvironmental histories and for understanding how terrestrial environments might respond to current global warming conditions. However, sedimentary records that contain the Late Glacial and Holocene epochs are scarce in deep continental high-mountain regions. A 150 cm sediment core was obtained from Lake Kaskadnoe-1 in the East Sayan Mountains (South Siberia, Russia, 2080 m above sea level), containing a unique record of the last 13,200 calibrated years (cal yr). Chronological control was obtained by AMS 14C dating. Here, we show the first detailed X-ray fluorescence (XRF) geochemical record, with the goal of broadening our knowledge of the paleoenvironmental history of the East Sayan Mountains in the past. The determination of major compounds and trace elements (Sr, Zr) was performed from each centimeter of the Lake Kaskadnoe-1 sediment core. The inorganic geochemistry indicates significant variations in elemental composition between two major lithological units of the sediment core: the Late Glacial dense grey silty clay (150-144 cm), and the upper interval (0-143 cm) mostly consisted of dark biogenic-terrigenous silt, accumulated during the Holocene. The Late Glacial sediments accumulated 13,200-12,800 cal yr BP are characterized by high values of CIA, Mg/Al, K/Al, and Mn/Fe, and are depleted in Si/Al, Fe/Al, and Ca/Al. During the Younger Dryas cold episode, LOI enrichment was probably caused by the presence of less oxic conditions, as seen in lower Mn/Fe values, due to a longer period of lake ice-cover. The Early Holocene (12,000-7500 cal yr BP) is associated with a decreasing trend of mineral matter with fluvial transport to Lake Kaskadnoe-1 (low K/Al, Mg/Al) and stronger chemical weathering in the lake basin. The increase in Ti/Al, K/Al and CIA values over the last 7500 years suggests an increase in the terrigenous input into the lake. Low LOI values can be possibly explained by the presence of less dense vegetation cover in the basin. In summary, our data indicate that the geochemical indices and selected elemental ratios mirror the sedimentation conditions that were triggered by environmental and climate changes during the Late Glacial and Holocene.

Automated summary

Long-term and continuous lake sedimentary records are valuable in interpreting paleoenvironmental histories and understanding terrestrial environmental responses to global warming. However, deep continental high-mountain regions lack sedimentary records from the Late Glacial and Holocene epochs. In this study, a 150 cm sediment core from Lake Kaskadnoe-1 was analyzed using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) geochemistry to provide insights into the paleoenvironmental history of the East Sayan Mountains.