A new age model for the sediment cores from Academician ridge (Lake Baikal) based on high-time-resolution AMS 14C data sets over the last 30 kyr: Paleoclimatic and environmental implications

Radiocarbon and Stable Carbon Isotope Ratio Data from a 4.7-Mlong Sediment Core of Lake Baikal (Southern Siberia, Russia)

“…The estimated reservoir and old carbon effects (500 yr) for the VER99G12 sediment core from the Bugulgdeika Saddle was smaller than that of sediments from Academician Ridge (2100 yr, Watanabe et al 2009b). This result could be caused by the large input of modern organic materials from the Selenga River.…”

“…Rapid increases in the abundance of TOC, biogenic silica, and chlorophyll-derivative compounds after ~15 cal ka BP have also been reported for other Lake Baikal sediment cores (Prokopenko et al 1999;Prokopenko and Williams 2004;Watanabe et al 2005;Soma et al 2007; see also Figure 5b). A temporary decrease in TOC content occurred at ~12 cal ka BP (Figure 5a), perhaps reflecting a depression of productivity at ~12 cal ka BP caused by the Younger Dryas cooling event (Hughen et al 2000;Watanabe et al 2004Watanabe et al , 2009b.…”

“…14 C ages of TOC are generally influenced by the reservoir effect in the lake and changes in organic matter sources (old carbon effect), such as materials from lake terraces, paleosols, or other strata with dead 14 C (Lang and Hönscheidt 1999;Fuchs and Buerkert 2008;Watanabe et al 2009c). On the Academician Ridge of Lake Baikal (Figure 1), Watanabe et al (2009b) estimated the correction factor for these effects to be 2100 ± 90 yr. In this study, the differences of calibrated ages between the pollen samples and TOC from the Bugulgdeika Saddle sediment core (VER99G12) were less than 500 yr ( Figure 4a and Table 1).…”

“… 13 C values have proved to be useful for deducing the carbon sources in lake and sea sediments (Meyers 1997;Huon et al 2002;Watanabe et al 2009b). In this study, changes in the carbon sources in Lake Baikal were evaluated in detail on the basis of high-time-resolution  13 C TOC measurements and 14 C data sets from a Lake Baikal sediment core (VER99G12).…”

Environmental change and cultural dynamics of Holocene hunter–gatherers in Northeast Asia: Comparative analyses and research potentials in Cis-Baikal (Siberia, Russia) and Hokkaido (Japan)

“…Although it has been recognized that the reservoir effect, i.e., accumulation of old carbon in large bodies of water, could also apply to Lake Baikal (Colman et al, 1996;Prokopenko et al, 1999), efforts to develop methods of correcting the offset have been inconclusive (Watanabe et al, 2009a(Watanabe et al, , 2009b. Our own recent extensive radiocarbon dating of seal bones, which represent purely aquatic diet of Lake Baikal origin, and bones of ungulates, which represent purely terrestrial diet, from the archaeological habitation site Sagan-Zaba on Lake Baikal, clearly demonstrates that the offset could be as much as 700-1000 years (Nomokonova et al, this issue), a value often surpassing that seen in marine environments (Reimer and Reimer, 2001).…”