Features of Thermohaline Structure and Circulation in Lake Issyk-Kul

Modern Sedimentation Patterns in Lake Issyk Kul (Kyrgyzstan), Derived From Surface Sediment and Inlet Stream Samples

“…Although the here used alkenone‐derived LST calibrations are based on haptophyte marine algae, that is, the marine coccolithophorid Emiliana huxleyi (Eglinton & Eglinton, 2008), they seem to reflect the measured temperatures quite accurately. One possible explanation may be that the group of alkenone‐producing haptophyte algae in Issyk Kul are similar to those in marine settings (or dominated by a single species), because, after all, Issyk Kul is huge, saline, and oligotrophic much like the sea (Wang et al., 2016; Zavialov et al., 2020).…”

“…Notably, carbonate precipitation in Issyk Kul is also a function of ion supply from the catchment and lake evaporation (Leroy et al., 2021; Morse & Mackenzie, 1990). In the Dzhergalan Bay, for more than 20 km from the river estuary, where surface water dilution by catchment glacial meltwaters leads to lowest salinity (<5.8 g kg −1 ) within the lake (Figure 2 in Zavialov et al., 2020), the formation of authigenic calcites is hindered. The same applies to the western shore, where the lake water is desalinated by the influx of ground waters (Romanovsky, 2002b).…”

“…The intracontinental location of the lake offers an unique opportunity to study midlatitude climate change at a location marginally affected by changes in monsoons or marine conditions (Oberhänsli & Molnar, 2012). Characteristics of Issyk Kul have been investigated within several fields of research providing data on, for example, the tectonic evolution (Roud et al., 2021), earthquake occurrence (Korzhenkov & Deev, 2017), seismic‐stratigraphy (Gebhardt et al., 2017), geomorphology (Burgette et al., 2017; Rosenwinkel et al., 2017), recent climate (Shabunin & Shabunin, 2002), water chemistry (Karmanchuk, 2002), hydrobiology (Rojas‐Jimenez et al., 2021; Romanovsky, 2002b; Savvaitova & Petr, 1992), hydrophysical characteristics (Romanovsky & Shabunin, 2002; Zavialov et al., 2020), and pollutants (Li et al., 2020, 2022; Liu et al., 2020).…”

“…These cores yielded detailed insights into, for example, the paleolimnology and Holocene climate evolution (Ricketts et al, 2001), environmental and vegetation history (Giralt et al, 2002(Giralt et al, , 2004Leroy et al, 2021;Zhang et al, 2021), hydrological regime (Wang et al, 2021), the sedimentary environment (De Batist et al, 2002), and paleomagnetic properties of the sediments (Gómez-Paccard et al, 2012;Larrasoaña et al, 2011). The potential of scientific deep-drilling in Issyk Kul has been widely discussed to obtain cores that provide a means to accurately reconstruct climate over several glacial cycles at a decadal to centennial resolution (Oberhänsli & Molnar, 2012;Zavialov et al, 2020). Deep-drilling will help to identify temporal variations in atmospheric circulation, moisture advection and insolation, evaluate the impact of tectonics and climate on erosion rates, test effects of abrupt climate changes and marine influences such as caused by Dansgaard-Oeschger stadials.…”