Climate and environmental history at Lake Levinson‐Lessing, Taymyr Peninsula, during the last 62 kyr

Abstract

The 45.95 m‐long sediment succession shown in core Co1401 from Lake Levinson‐Lessing allows the reconstruction of the largely unexplored environmental and climatic history of the Taymyr Peninsula of the past 62 kyr. The core was analysed with a multidisciplinary approach including lithological, granulometric, geochemical and pollen analyses. The proxy data indicate a relatively stable, herb‐dominated environment with only subtle changes between a cold/wet late Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4 and early MIS 3, mild/dry middle and late MIS 3 and a cold/dry MIS 2. The absence of pronounced climate fluctuations demonstrates that the Lake Levinson‐Lessing catchment was not covered by an ice sheet during this period. Changes in precipitation were likely caused by waxing and waning of the large Eurasian ice sheets outside of the Taymyr Peninsula, which changed the eastward moisture transport and atmospheric circulation patterns. MIS 1 at Lake Levinson‐Lessing was associated with overall warmer and wetter conditions and short‐term climate fluctuations during the Bølling–Allerød warming, Younger Dryas cooling and Preboreal transition, which indicates the influence of North Atlantic air masses.

Quaternary environmental and climatic history of the northern high latitudes – recent contributions and perspectives from lake sediment records

“…Lake Levinson‐Lessing is a narrow, 15 km long and more than 100 m deep lake that fills a glacially scoured depression. From this lake, a 46 m long sediment core was recovered, which represents the upper part of the up to 135 m thick sedimentary infill detected by seismic data (Lenz et al ., 2022c). Sedimentological and chronostratigraphical data, involving pollen chronology as well as radiocarbon, luminescence and palaeomagnetic dating (Table 1), suggest that the upper 38 m of the core are undisturbed and represent continuous sedimentation since 62 ka bp.…”

A 1300-year multi-proxy palaeoecological record from the northwest Putorana Plateau (Russian Subarctic): environmental changes, vegetation dynamics and fire history

“…Previous studies of Holocene climate, vegetation and fire history in the polar regions of Russia are largely focused on arctic A 1300-year multi-proxy palaeoecological record from the northwest Putorana Plateau (Russian Subarctic): environmental changes, vegetation dynamics and fire history deserts, tundra and open woodland environments, such as Taimyr peninsula (Andreev and Klimanov, 2000;Andreev et al, 2003Andreev et al, , 2004Lenz et al, 2022) and the northern Siberian lowlands (Klemm et al, 2013(Klemm et al, , 2016Nazarova et al, 2013). In the Lena Delta area, vegetation and climate reconstructions were previously inferred from biological and geological proxies from tundra lakes (Andreev et al, 2011;Biskaborn et al, 2013Biskaborn et al, , 2016Opel et al, 2017;Wetterich et al, 2008).…”