ORCID Profile
0000-0002-9902-8120
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University of Bern
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Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 02-10-2020
Abstract: A volatile assemblage of short-lived endemic species developed into a stable community of long-lived species in Lake Ohrid.
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 07-06-2013
Abstract: Abstract. A 318 m long sedimentary profile drilled by the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) at Site 5011-1 in Lake El'gygytgyn, Far East Russian Arctic, has been analysed for its sedimentologic response to global climate modes by chrono-stratigraphic methods. The 12 km wide lake is sited in an 18 km large crater that was created by the impact of a meteorite 3.58 Ma ago. Since then sediments have been continuously deposited. For establishing their chronology, major reversals of the Earth's magnetic field provided initial tie points for the age model, confirming that the impact occurred in the earliest Gauss chron. Various stratigraphic parameters, reflecting redox conditions at the lake floor and climatic conditions in the catchment were tuned synchronously to Northern Hemisphere insolation variations and the marine oxygen isotope stack, respectively. Thus, a robust age model comprising more than 600 tie points could be defined. It could be shown that deposition of sediments in Lake El'gygytgyn occurred in concert with global climatic cycles. The upper ~160 m of sediments represent the past 3.3 Ma, equivalent to sedimentation rates of 4 to 5 cm ka−1, whereas the lower 160 m represent just the first 0.3 Ma after the impact, equivalent to sedimentation rates in the order of 45 cm ka−1.
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 27-07-2016
Abstract: Abstract. The Towuti Drilling Project (TDP) is an international research program, whose goal is to understand long-term environmental and climatic change in the tropical western Pacific, the impacts of geological and environmental changes on the biological evolution of aquatic taxa, and the geomicrobiology and biogeochemistry of metal-rich, ultramafic-hosted lake sediments through the scientific drilling of Lake Towuti, southern Sulawesi, Indonesia. Lake Towuti is a large tectonic lake at the downstream end of the Malili lake system, a chain of five highly bio erse lakes that are among the oldest lakes in Southeast Asia. In 2015 we carried out a scientific drilling program on Lake Towuti using the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) Deep Lakes Drilling System (DLDS). We recovered a total of ∼ 1018 m of core from 11 drilling sites with water depths ranging from 156 to 200 m. Recovery averaged 91.7 %, and the maximum drilling depth was 175 m below the lake floor, penetrating the entire sedimentary infill of the basin. Initial data from core and borehole logging indicate that these cores record the evolution of a highly dynamic tectonic and limnological system, with clear indications of orbital-scale climate variability during the mid- to late Pleistocene.
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 26-02-2016
Abstract: Abstract. Lake Ohrid (Macedonia, Albania) is thought to be more than 1.2 million years old and host more than 300 endemic species. As a target of the International Continental scientific Drilling Program (ICDP), a successful deep drilling c aign was carried out within the scope of the Scientific Collaboration on Past Speciation Conditions in Lake Ohrid (SCOPSCO) project in 2013. Here, we present lithological, sedimentological, and (bio-)geochemical data from the upper 247.8 m composite depth of the overall 569 m long DEEP site sediment succession from the central part of the lake. According to an age model, which is based on 11 tephra layers (first-order tie points) and on tuning of bio-geochemical proxy data to orbital parameters (second-order tie points), the analyzed sediment sequence covers the last 637 kyr. The DEEP site sediment succession consists of hemipelagic sediments, which are interspersed by several tephra layers and infrequent, thin ( 5 cm) mass wasting deposits. The hemipelagic sediments can be classified into three different lithotypes. Lithotype 1 and 2 deposits comprise calcareous and slightly calcareous silty clay and are predominantly attributed to interglacial periods with high primary productivity in the lake during summer and reduced mixing during winter. The data suggest that high ion and nutrient concentrations in the lake water promoted calcite precipitation and diatom growth in the epilimnion during MIS15, 13, and 5. Following a strong primary productivity, highest interglacial temperatures can be reported for marine isotope stages (MIS) 11 and 5, whereas MIS15, 13, 9, and 7 were comparably cooler. Lithotype 3 deposits consist of clastic, silty clayey material and predominantly represent glacial periods with low primary productivity during summer and longer and intensified mixing during winter. The data imply that the most severe glacial conditions at Lake Ohrid persisted during MIS16, 12, 10, and 6, whereas somewhat warmer temperatures can be inferred for MIS14, 8, 4, and 2. Interglacial-like conditions occurred during parts of MIS14 and 8.
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 29-04-2014
Abstract: Abstract. The Scientific Collaboration on Past Speciation Conditions in Lake Ohrid (SCOPSCO) project is an international research initiative to study the influence of major geological and environmental events on the biological evolution of lake taxa. SCOPSCO drilling c aigns were carried out in 2011 and 2013. In 2011 we used gravity and piston coring at one of the five proposed drill sites, and in 2013 we undertook deep drilling with the Deep Lake Drilling System (DLDS) of Drilling, Observation and S ling of the Earth's Continental Crust (DOSECC). In April and May 2013, a total of 2100 m sediments were recovered from four drill sites with water depths ranging from 125 to 260 m. The maximum drill depth was 569 m below the lake floor in the centre of the lake. By retrieving overlapping sediment sequences, 95% of the sediment succession was recovered. Initial data from borehole logging, core logging and geochemical measurements indicate that the sediment succession covers .2 million years (Ma) in a quasi-continuous sequence. These early findings suggest that the record from Lake Ohrid will substantially improve the knowledge of long-term environmental change and short-term geological events in the northeastern Mediterranean region, which forms the basis for improving understanding of the influence of major geological and environmental events on the biological evolution of endemic species.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 25-06-2018
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 20-08-2015
DOI: 10.5194/BGD-12-13427-2015
Abstract: Abstract. Lake Ohrid (Macedonia/Albania) is an ancient lake with a unique bio ersity and a site of global significance for investigating the influence of climate, geological and tectonic events on the generation of endemic populations. Here, we present oxygen (δ18O) and carbon (δ13C) isotope data on carbonate from the upper ca. 248 m of sediment cores recovered as part of the Scientific Collaboration on Past Speciation Conditions in Lake Ohrid (SCOPSCO) project, covering the past 640 ka. Previous studies on short cores from the lake (up to 15 m, 140 ka) have indicated the Total Inorganic Carbon (TIC) content of sediments to be highly sensitive to climate change over the last glacial–interglacial cycle, comprising abundant endogenic calcite through interglacials and being almost absent in glacials, apart from discrete bands of early diagenetic authigenic siderite. Isotope measurements on endogenic calcite (δ18Oc and δ13Cc) reveal variations both between and within interglacials that suggest the lake has been subject to hydroclimate fluctuations on orbital and millennial timescales. We also measured isotopes on authigenic siderite (δ18Os and δ13Cs) and, with the δ18OCc and δ18Os, reconstruct δ18O of lakewater (δ18Olw) through the 640 ka. Overall, glacials have lower δ18Olw when compared to interglacials, most likely due to cooler summer temperatures, a higher proportion of winter precipitation (snowfall), and a reduced inflow from adjacent Lake Prespa. The isotope stratigraphy suggests Lake Ohrid experienced a period of general stability through Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 15 to MIS 13, highlighting MIS 14 as a particularly warm glacial, and was isotopically freshest during MIS 9. After MIS 9, the variability between glacial and interglacial δ18Olw is enhanced and the lake became increasingly evaporated through to present day with MIS 5 having the highest average δ18Olw. Our results provide new evidence for long-term climate change in the northern Mediterranean region, which will form the basis to better understand the influence of major environmental events on biological evolution within the lake.
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 21-10-2015
DOI: 10.5194/BGD-12-16979-2015
Abstract: Abstract. The DEEP site sediment sequence obtained during the ICDP SCOPSCO project at Lake Ohrid was dated using tephrostratigraphic information, cyclostratigraphy, and orbital tuning through marine isotope record. Although this approach is suitable for the generation of a general chronological framework of the long succession, it is insufficient to resolve more detailed paleoclimatological questions, such as leads and lags of climate events between marine and terrestrial records or between different regions. In this paper, we demonstrate how the use of different tie points can affect cyclostratigraphy and orbital tuning for the period between ca. 140 and 70 ka and how the results can be correlated with directly/indirectly radiometrically-dated Mediterranean marine and continental proxy records. The alternative age model obtained shows consistent differences with that proposed by Francke et al. (2015) for the same interval, in particular at the level of the MIS6-5e transition. According to this age model, different proxies from the DEEP site sediment record support an increase of temperatures between glacial to interglacial conditions, which is almost synchronous with a rapid increase in sea surface temperature observed in the western Mediterranean. The results show how important a detailed study of independent chronological tie points is for synchronizing different records and to highlight asynchronisms of climate events.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2018
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2022
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 27-03-2022
DOI: 10.5194/EGUSPHERE-EGU22-4660
Abstract: & & Variation in molybdenum (Mo) concentration and isotope composition is an established tracer for redox changes in marine environments. Here we apply Mo as a proxy of past water column oxygenation in ancient ferruginous and hyposulfidic Lake Towuti. Lake Towuti is & .2 Myrs old, up to 200m deep, weakly stratified and anoxic below ~100 m water depth, and surrounded by an ultramafic bedrock-dominated catchment in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Despite the current permanent stratification, deeper water mixing and oxygenation occurred periodically in the past due to Towuti& #8217 s sensitivity to climate change. To better reconstruct the redox changes through time, we present Mo concentration and isotope data from laterite profiles overlying ultramafic bedrock, lake surface sediments, and a ~30 kyr sediment piston core from Lake Towuti, Indonesia.& & & & Although Mo concentrations in laterite profiles are overall higher compared to the underlying bedrock, the absence of a significant Mo isotopic variability with values close to the unweathered ultramafic protolith, varying from & #8211 .16& #8240 to & #8211 .04& #8240 & #948 & sup& & /sup& Mo& sub& NIST3134& /sub& , suggests low aqueous mobility of Mo during weathering due to the formation of laterite Fe-oxides. In contrast to the laterite s les, Mo isotopic variability in lake surface sediments show a larger variability varying from & #8211 .15& #8240 to & #8211 .13& #8240 & #948 & sup& & /sup& Mo& sub& NIST3134& /sub& with a significantly lighter Mo isotopic composition in sediments deposited under oxic bottom water conditions. This light Mo isotopic composition is likely caused by early diagenetic redox cycling of Mo and Fe at the sediment-water interface. In the deeper, anoxic parts of the basin, Mo isotopic compositions show values close to the laterite input with elevated sedimentary Mo concentrations which are likely the result of an authigenic Mo enrichment from the water column. Mo isotope variability in sediments taken from a piston core in the deep part of the lake is in the range of Mo isotope compositions from modern surface sediments, varying from & #8211 .14& #8240 to & #8211 .66& #8240 & #948 & sup& & /sup& Mo& sub& NIST3134& /sub& . Interestingly, this variability is well correlated with local and global indicators of climate change from previous studies. Sediments deposited between ~30 kyr and ~10 kyr exhibit Mo isotope signatures similar to present-day oxygenated shallow water sites, thereby suggesting enhanced lake mixing and bottom water oxygenation under drier and colder climate conditions of the last glacial period. Sediments deposited since ~10 kyr under wetter and warmer climate conditions exhibit Mo isotope signatures similar to present-day anoxic deeper water settings. These suggest that Mo isotope compositions of lake sediments are potential quantitative indicators of past climate-driven water column oxygenation.& &
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 07-06-2013
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2012
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 20-12-2012
Abstract: Abstract. Lake Ohrid shared by the Republics of Albania and Macedonia is formed by a tectonically active graben within the south Balkans and suggested to be the oldest lake in Europe. Several studies have shown that the lake provides a valuable record of climatic and environmental changes and a distal tephrostratigraphic record of volcanic eruptions from Italy. Fault structures identified in seismic data demonstrate that sediments have also the potential to record tectonic activity in the region. Here, we provide an ex le of linking seismic and sedimentological information with tectonic activity and historical documents. Historical documents indicate that a major earthquake destroyed the city of Lychnidus (today: city of Ohrid) in the early 6th century AD. Multichannel seismic profiles, parametric sediment echosounder profiles, and a 10.08 m long sediment record from the western part of the lake indicate a 2 m thick mass wasting deposit, which is tentatively correlated with this earthquake. The mass wasting deposit is chronologically well constrained, as it directly overlays the AD 472/AD 512 tephra. Moreover, radiocarbon dates and cross correlation with other sediment sequences with similar geochemical characteristics of the Holocene indicate that the mass wasting event took place prior to the onset of the Medieval Warm Period, and is attributed it to one of the known earthquakes in the region in the early 6th century AD.
Publisher: American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Date: 28-10-2022
DOI: 10.1029/2022GL099154
Abstract: Chromium stable isotope composition (δ 53 Cr) is a promising tracer for redox conditions throughout Earth's history however, the geochemical controls of δ 53 Cr have not been assessed in modern redox‐stratified basins. We present new chromium (Cr) concentration and δ 53 Cr data in dissolved, sinking particulate, and sediment s les from the redox‐stratified Lake Cadagno (Switzerland), a modern Proterozoic ocean analog. These data demonstrate isotope fractionation during incomplete (non‐quantitative) reduction and removal of Cr above the chemocline, driving isotopically light Cr accumulation in euxinic deep waters. Sediment authigenic Cr is isotopically distinct from overlying waters but comparable to average continental crust. New and published data from other redox‐stratified basins show analogous patterns. This challenges assumptions from δ 53 Cr paleoredox applications that quantitative Cr reduction and removal limits isotope fractionation. Instead, fractionation from non‐quantitative Cr removal leads to sedimentary records offset from overlying waters and not reflecting high δ 53 Cr from oxidative continental weathering.
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 19-04-2022
DOI: 10.1038/S41467-022-29642-5
Abstract: The Southern Ocean paleoceanography provides key insights into how iron fertilization and oceanic productivity developed through Pleistocene ice-ages and their role in influencing the carbon cycle. We report a high-resolution record of dust deposition and ocean productivity for the Antarctic Zone, close to the main dust source, Patagonia. Our deep-ocean records cover the last 1.5 Ma, thus doubling that from Antarctic ice-cores. We find a 5 to 15-fold increase in dust deposition during glacials and a 2 to 5-fold increase in biogenic silica deposition, reflecting higher ocean productivity during interglacials. This antiphasing persisted throughout the last 25 glacial cycles. Dust deposition became more pronounced across the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT) in the Southern Hemisphere, with an abrupt shift suggesting more severe glaciations since ~0.9 Ma. Productivity was intermediate pre-MPT, lowest during the MPT and highest since 0.4 Ma. Generally, glacials experienced extended sea-ice cover, reduced bottom-water export and Weddell Gyre dynamics, which helped lower atmospheric CO 2 levels.
Publisher: California Digital Library (CDL)
Date: 21-10-2020
DOI: 10.31223/X5X30T
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 08-04-2016
Abstract: Abstract. The bulk magnetic mineral record from Lake Ohrid, spanning the past 637 kyr, reflects large-scale shifts in hydrological conditions, and, superimposed, a strong signal of environmental conditions on glacial–interglacial and millennial timescales. A shift in the formation of early diagenetic ferrimagnetic iron sulfides to siderites is observed around 320 ka. This change is probably associated with variable availability of sulfide in the pore water. We propose that sulfate concentrations were significantly higher before ∼ 320 ka, due to either a higher sulfate flux or lower dilution of lake sulfate due to a smaller water volume. Diagenetic iron minerals appear more abundant during glacials, which are generally characterized by higher Fe / Ca ratios in the sediments. While in the lower part of the core the ferrimagnetic sulfide signal overprints the primary detrital magnetic signal, the upper part of the core is dominated by variable proportions of high- to low-coercivity iron oxides. Glacial sediments are characterized by high concentration of high-coercivity magnetic minerals (hematite, goethite), which relate to enhanced erosion of soils that had formed during preceding interglacials. Superimposed on the glacial–interglacial behavior are millennial-scale oscillations in the magnetic mineral composition that parallel variations in summer insolation. Like the processes on glacial–interglacial timescales, low summer insolation and a retreat in vegetation resulted in enhanced erosion of soil material. Our study highlights that rock-magnetic studies, in concert with geochemical and sedimentological investigations, provide a multi-level contribution to environmental reconstructions, since the magnetic properties can mirror both environmental conditions on land and intra-lake processes.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 24-06-2014
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 11-09-2015
DOI: 10.5194/BGD-12-15051-2015
Abstract: Abstract. In order to understand the panarchy and interactions since the last interglacial period in the oldest, most erse and hydrologically connected European lake system, we assess changes in the diatom record and selected geochemistry data from Lake Ohrid's "DEEP site" core and compare it with the diatom and multi-proxy data from Lake Prespa core Co1215. Driven by climate forcing, tephra impact and/or human influence, the lakes experienced two adaptive cycles during the last 92 ka: "interglacial and interstadial-regime" and "glacial-regime". The patterns of regime shifts appear synchronous in both lakes, while differences occur in the inferred litudes of the variations. The deeper Lake Ohrid shifted between ultraoligo- and oligotrophic regimes in contrast to the more shallow Lake Prespa, which shifts from (oligo-) mesotrophic to eutrophic conditions. In response to external forcing, Lake Ohrid exhibits a high capacity to buffer disturbances, whereas Lake Prespa is much more resilient and "recovers" in relatively short time. This decoupling of the response is evident during the MIS 5/4 and 2/1 transitions, when Lake Ohrid displays prolonged and gradual changes. The lakes' specific differences in the response and feedback mechanisms and their different physical and chemical properties, probably confine a direct influence of Lake Prespa's shallow/eutrophic regimes over the productivity regimes of Lake Ohrid. Regime shifts of Lake Ohrid due to the hydrological connectivity with Lake Prespa are not evident in the data presented here. Moreover, complete ecological collapse did not happened in both lakes for the period presented in the study.
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 11-09-2015
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 05-11-2020
DOI: 10.3390/MICROORGANISMS8111736
Abstract: Lacustrine sediments are widely used to investigate the impact of climatic change on biogeochemical cycling. In these sediments, subsurface microbial communities are major actors of this cycling but can also affect the sedimentary record and overprint the original paleoenvironmental signal. We therefore investigated the subsurface microbial communities of the oldest lake in Europe, Lake Ohrid (North Macedonia, Albania), to assess the potential connection between microbial ersity and past environmental change using 16S rRNA gene sequences. Along the upper ca. 200 m of the DEEP site sediment record spanning ca. 515 thousand years (ka), our results show that Atribacteria, Bathyarchaeia and Gammaproteobacteria structured the community independently from each other. Except for the latter, these taxa are common in deep lacustrine and marine sediments due to their metabolic versatility adapted to low energy environments. Gammaproteobacteria were often co-occurring with cyanobacterial sequences or soil-related OTUs suggesting preservation of ancient DNA from the water column or catchment back to at least 340 ka, particularly in dry glacial intervals. We found significant environmental parameters influencing the overall microbial community distribution, but no strong relationship with given phylotypes and paleoclimatic signals or sediment age. Our results support a weak recording of early diagenetic processes and their actors by bulk prokaryotic sedimentary DNA in Lake Ohrid, replaced by specialized low-energy clades of the deep biosphere and a marked imprint of erosional processes on the subsurface DNA pool of Lake Ohrid.
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 20-04-2017
Abstract: Abstract. This study reviews and synthesises existing information generated within the SCOPSCO (Scientific Collaboration on Past Speciation Conditions in Lake Ohrid) deep drilling project. The four main aims of the project are to infer (i) the age and origin of Lake Ohrid (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia/Republic of Albania), (ii) its regional seismotectonic history, (iii) volcanic activity and climate change in the central northern Mediterranean region, and (iv) the influence of major geological events on the evolution of its endemic species. The Ohrid basin formed by transtension during the Miocene, opened during the Pliocene and Pleistocene, and the lake established de novo in the still relatively narrow valley between 1.9 and 1.3 Ma. The lake history is recorded in a 584 m long sediment sequence, which was recovered within the framework of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) from the central part (DEEP site) of the lake in spring 2013. To date, 54 tephra and cryptotephra horizons have been found in the upper 460 m of this sequence. Tephrochronology and tuning biogeochemical proxy data to orbital parameters revealed that the upper 247.8 m represent the last 637 kyr. The multi-proxy data set covering these 637 kyr indicates long-term variability. Some proxies show a change from generally cooler and wetter to drier and warmer glacial and interglacial periods around 300 ka. Short-term environmental change caused, for ex le, by tephra deposition or the climatic impact of millennial-scale Dansgaard–Oeschger and Heinrich events are superimposed on the long-term trends. Evolutionary studies on the extant fauna indicate that Lake Ohrid was not a refugial area for regional freshwater animals. This differs from the surrounding catchment, where the mountainous setting with relatively high water availability provided a refuge for temperate and montane trees during the relatively cold and dry glacial periods. Although Lake Ohrid experienced significant environmental change over the last 637 kyr, preliminary molecular data from extant microgastropod species do not indicate significant changes in ersification rate during this period. The reasons for this constant rate remain largely unknown, but a possible lack of environmentally induced extinction events in Lake Ohrid and/or the high resilience of the ecosystems may have played a role.
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 09-2012
Abstract: No abstract available. br br doi: a href="0.2204/iodp.sd.14.11.2012" target="_blank" .2204/iodp.sd.14.11.2012 /a
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 02-09-2019
DOI: 10.1038/S41586-019-1529-0
Abstract: Mediterranean climates are characterized by strong seasonal contrasts between dry summers and wet winters. Changes in winter rainfall are critical for regional socioeconomic development, but are difficult to simulate accurately
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 18-07-2018
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 11-2013
Abstract: Abstract. A 318-metre-long sedimentary profile drilled by the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) at Site 5011-1 in Lake El'gygytgyn, Far East Russian Arctic, has been analysed for its sedimentologic response to global climate modes by chronostratigraphic methods. The 12 km wide lake is sited off-centre in an 18 km large crater that was created by the impact of a meteorite 3.58 Ma ago. Since then sediments have been continuously deposited. For establishing their chronology, major reversals of the earth's magnetic field provided initial tie points for the age model, confirming that the impact occurred in the earliest geomagnetic Gauss chron. Various stratigraphic parameters, reflecting redox conditions at the lake floor and climatic conditions in the catchment were tuned synchronously to Northern Hemisphere insolation variations and the marine oxygen isotope stack, respectively. Thus, a robust age model comprising more than 600 tie points could be defined. It could be shown that deposition of sediments in Lake El'gygytgyn occurred in concert with global climatic cycles. The upper ~160 m of sediments represent the past 3.3 Ma, equivalent to sedimentation rates of 4 to 5 cm ka−1, whereas the lower 160 m represent just the first 0.3 Ma after the impact, equivalent to sedimentation rates in the order of 45 cm ka−1. This study also provides orbitally tuned ages for a total of 8 tephras deposited in Lake El'gygytgyn.
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 24-03-2016
Abstract: Abstract. Lake Ohrid (Macedonia/Albania) is an ancient lake with unique bio ersity and a site of global significance for investigating the influence of climate, geological, and tectonic events on the generation of endemic populations. Here, we present oxygen (δ18O) and carbon (δ13C) isotope data from carbonate over the upper 243 m of a composite core profile recovered as part of the Scientific Collaboration on Past Speciation Conditions in Lake Ohrid (SCOPSCO) project. The investigated sediment succession covers the past ca. 637 ka. Previous studies on short cores from the lake (up to 15 m, 140 ka) have indicated the total inorganic carbon (TIC) content of sediments to be highly sensitive to climate change over the last glacial–interglacial cycle. Sediments corresponding to warmer periods contain abundant endogenic calcite however, an overall low TIC content in glacial sediments is punctuated by discrete bands of early diagenetic authigenic siderite. Isotope measurements on endogenic calcite (δ18Oc and δ13Cc) reveal variations both between and within interglacials that suggest the lake has been subject to palaeoenvironmental change on orbital and millennial timescales. We also measured isotope ratios from authigenic siderite (δ18Os and δ13Cs) and, with the oxygen isotope composition of calcite and siderite, reconstruct δ18O of lake water (δ18Olw) over the last 637 ka. Interglacials have higher δ18Olw values when compared to glacial periods most likely due to changes in evaporation, summer temperature, the proportion of winter precipitation (snowfall), and inflow from adjacent Lake Prespa. The isotope stratigraphy suggests Lake Ohrid experienced a period of general stability from marine isotope stage (MIS) 15 to MIS 13, highlighting MIS 14 as a particularly warm glacial. Climate conditions became progressively wetter during MIS 11 and MIS 9. Interglacial periods after MIS 9 are characterised by increasingly evaporated and drier conditions through MIS 7, MIS 5, and the Holocene. Our results provide new evidence for long-term climate change in the northern Mediterranean region, which will form the basis to better understand the influence of major environmental events on biological evolution within Lake Ohrid.
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 11-05-2016
Abstract: Abstract. The DEEP site sediment sequence obtained during the ICDP SCOPSCO project at Lake Ohrid was dated using tephrostratigraphic information, cyclostratigraphy, and orbital tuning through the marine isotope stages (MIS) 15-1. Although this approach is suitable for the generation of a general chronological framework of the long succession, it is insufficient to resolve more detailed palaeoclimatological questions, such as leads and lags of climate events between marine and terrestrial records or between different regions. Here, we demonstrate how the use of different tie points can affect cyclostratigraphy and orbital tuning for the period between ca. 140 and 70 ka and how the results can be correlated with directly/indirectly radiometrically dated Mediterranean marine and continental proxy records. The alternative age model presented here shows consistent differences with that initially proposed by Francke et al. (2015) for the same interval, in particular at the level of the MIS6-5e transition. According to this new age model, different proxies from the DEEP site sediment record support an increase of temperatures between glacial to interglacial conditions, which is almost synchronous with a rapid increase in sea surface temperature observed in the western Mediterranean. The results show how a detailed study of independent chronological tie points is important to align different records and to highlight asynchronisms of climate events. Moreover, Francke et al. (2016) have incorporated the new chronology proposed for tephra OH-DP-0499 in the final DEEP age model. This has reduced substantially the chronological discrepancies between the DEEP site age model and the model proposed here for the last glacial-interglacial transition.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 08-2021
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 23-03-2020
DOI: 10.5194/EGUSPHERE-EGU2020-5849
Abstract: & & Evidence for global environmental and climate change-related loss of bio ersity is accumulating. Understanding the causes of species community change is thus essential for effective management and conservation policies. Nonetheless, disentangling the relative influence of the in idual or multiple drivers determining the species communities is challenging, as ecosystems are simultaneously affected by variable drivers acting on different spatial and temporal scales. To this end, paleolimnological data may provide critical information on long-term community changes, species dominance shifts, and their underlying drivers. Natural forced changes in the aquatic environments can be used to study the response of biota to repeated fluctuations in essential key variables. In this study, we investigated the planktonic diatom communities in a continuous, 1.36 Ma sedimentary succession from ancient Lake Ohrid (North Macedonia/Albania). This is the oldest, continuously existing freshwater lake in Europe, acknowledged as a site of exceptional bio ersity and endemic species richness. An extended biogeochemical dataset from the DEEP site sedimentary record and previously-published variables representing global climate variability was used to: i) quantify the relative influence of in idual environmental variables in governing species communities, and ii) disentangle the contribution of basin-scale environmental processes and global-scale climate variability in driving community patterns over time. The results show that the structure of planktonic communities was primarily determined by the basin-scale environment, particularly, nutrient availability, water temperature and water column mixing, but also local tectonic processes, since lake ontogeny. However, since the onset of the penultimate glacial period 0.185 Ma ago, global-scale climate variability became the principal drivers of the diatom community structure. Our proxy time-series illustrates how various factors at different spatial scales may determine the freshwater planktonic communities over geological time-scales. Extended periods of stable communities can be terminated by changes in climate, environmental conditions and/or lake ontogeny, leading to species extinctions and community turnovers. Thereby lake ecosystem structure and functioning are affected and effective management and conservation policies are required to minimize additional anthropogenic change-related loss of bio ersity.& & &
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 31-05-2016
Abstract: Abstract. We reconstruct the aquatic ecosystem interactions since the last interglacial period in the oldest, most erse, hydrologically connected European lake system, by using palaeolimnological diatom and selected geochemistry data from Lake Ohrid “DEEP site” core and equivalent data from Lake Prespa core, Co1215. Driven by climate forcing, the lakes experienced two adaptive cycles during the last 92 ka: "interglacial and interstadial" and "glacial" cycle. The short-term ecosystems reorganizations, e.g. regime shifts within these cycles substantially differ between the lakes, as evident from the inferred litudes of variation. The deeper Lake Ohrid shifted between ultra oligo- and oligotrophic regimes in contrast to the much shallower Lake Prespa, which shifted from a deeper, (oligo-) mesotrophic to a shallower, eutrophic lake and vice versa. Due to the high level of ecosystem stability (e.g. trophic state, lake level), Lake Ohrid appears relatively resistant to external forcing, such as climate and environmental change. Recovering in a relatively short time from major climate change, Lake Prespa is a resilient ecosystem. At the DEEP site, the decoupling between the lakes' response to climate change is marked in the prolonged and gradual changes during the MIS 5/4 and 2/1 transitions. These response differences and the lakes' different physical and chemical properties may limit the influence of Lake Prespa on Lake Ohrid. Regime shifts of Lake Ohrid due to potential hydrological change in Lake Prespa are not evident in the data presented here. Moreover, a complete collapse of the ecosystems functionality and loss of their diatom communities did not happen in either lake for the period presented in the study.
Publisher: Springer International Publishing
Date: 12-2016
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2019
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 11-09-2015
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 28-03-2022
DOI: 10.5194/EGUSPHERE-EGU22-11833
Abstract: & & Lake Cadagno, a meromictic, redox stratified lake located in Val Piora in Switzerland has extensively been studied serving as a modern analogue of the Archean/Proterozoic ocean. Euxinic conditions were established after a short transition interval immediately following lake formation ~10& #8217 years ago. Overall elevated but very variable Mn concentration during this transition period have been thought to reflect fluctuating bottom water redox condition with authigenic accumulation of sedimentary Mn from the water column in line with observation from deep basins of the Baltic Sea.& & & & To test this hypothesis we measured the Mo isotopic composition of Lake Cadagno sediments with a focus on the transition interval following lake formation between 7.4 and 7.8 m depth. With a & #948 & sup& /95& /sup& Mo& sub& NIST+0.25 & /sub& composition ranging from -1.72 to +3.77& #8240 the Mo isotopic variability of the transition interval sediments is significantly larger compared to Cadagno sapropels deposited under euxinic conditions and significant larger compared to the entire Mo isotopic variability observed in marine reservoirs. Aside this large variability in & #948 & sup& /95& /sup& Mo& sub& NIST+0.25 & /sub& a gradual change from isotopically very light to very heavy Mo isotopic composition upcore is observed. This transient sedimentary Mo isotope pattern cannot be explained by fluctuating bottom water redox conditions at the beginning of the lake and cannot be a primary signature caused by changes in the depositional environment. Likely, the inflow of oxic groundwater from subsurface karst aquifers present in Cadagno into organic-matter-rich lake sediments, a likely active and currently ongoing process, causes the formation of a chemocline at depth in the sediment column. Here the reduction of sulphate and the precipitation of isotopically light Mo from the dissolved oxic groundwater reservoir causes progressively higher & #948 & sup& /95& /sup& Mo& sub& NIST+0.25 & /sub& upwards in the sediment column.& sub& & /sub& & & & &
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 12-2020
Abstract: Abstract. The Weihe Basin, enclosed by the Chinese Loess Plateau to the north and the Qinling Mountains to the south, is an outstanding, world-class continental site for obtaining high-resolution multi-proxy records that reflect environmental changes spanning most of the Cenozoic. Previous geophysical and sedimentary studies indicate that the basin hosts 6000–8000 m thick fluvial–lacustrine sedimentary successions spanning the Eocene to Holocene. This sedimentary record provides an excellent and unique archive to decipher long-term tectonic–climate interactions related to the uplift of the Tibetan Plateau, the onset/evolution of the Asian monsoon, and the development of the biogeography of East Asia. Owing to its location at the interface of the opposing westerly and Asian monsoon circulation systems, the Weihe Basin also holds enormous promise for providing a record of changes in these circulation systems in response to very different boundary conditions since the Eocene. To develop an international scientific drilling programme in the Weihe Basin, the Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, organized a dedicated workshop with 55 participants from eight countries. The workshop was held in Xi'an, China, from 15 to 18 October 2019. Workshop participants conceived the key scientific objectives of the envisaged Weihe Basin Drilling Project (WBDP) and discussed technical and logistical aspects as well as the scope of the scientific collaboration in preparation for a full drilling proposal for submission to the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP). Workshop participants mutually agreed to design a two-phase scientific drilling programme that will in a first phase target the upper 3000 m and in a second phase the entire up to 7500 m thick sedimentary infill of the basin. For the purpose of the 7500 m deep borehole, the world's only drill rig for ultra-deep scientific drilling on land, Crust 1, which previously recovered the entire continental Cretaceous sediments in the Songliao Basin, will be deployed in the WBDP.
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 13-10-2010
Abstract: Abstract. Here we present stable isotope data from three sediment records from lakes that lie along the Macedonian-Albanian border (Lake Prespa: 1 core, and Lake Ohrid: 2 cores). The records only overlap for the last 40 kyr, although the longest record contains the MIS 5/6 transition (Lake Ohrid). The sedimentary characteristics of both lakes differ significantly between the glacial and interglacial phases. At the end of MIS 6 Lake Ohrid's water level was low (high δ18Ocalcite) and, although productivity was increasing (high calcite content), the carbon supply was mainly from inorganic catchment rock sources (high δ13Ccarb). During the last interglacial, calcite and TOC production and preservation increased, progressively lower δ18Ocalcite suggest increase in humidity and lake levels until around 115 ka. During ca. 80 ka to 11 ka the lake records suggest cold conditions as indicated by negligible calcite precipitation and low organic matter content. In Lake Ohrid, δ13Corg are complacent in contrast, Lake Prespa shows consistently higher δ13Corg suggesting a low oxidation of 13C-depleted organic matter in agreement with a general deterioration of climate conditions during the glacial. From 15 ka to the onset of the Holocene, calcite and TOC begin to increase, suggesting lake levels were probably low (high δ18Ocalcite). In the Holocene (11 ka to present) enhanced productivity is manifested by high calcite and organic matter content. All three cores show an early Holocene characterised by low δ18Ocalcite, apart from the very early Holocene phase in Prespa where the lowest δ18Ocalcite occurs at ca. 7.5 ka, suggesting a phase of higher lake level only in (the more sensitive) Lake Prespa. From 6 ka, δ18Ocalcite suggest progressive aridification, in agreement with many other records in the Mediterranean, although the uppermost sediments in one core records low δ18Ocalcite which we interpret as a result of human activity. Overall, the isotope data present here confirm that these two big lakes have captured the large scale, low frequency palaeoclimate variation that is seen in Mediterranean lakes, although in detail there is much palaeoclimate information that could be gained, especially small scale, high frequency differences between this region and the Mediterranean.
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 12-2016
DOI: 10.5194/BG-2016-475
Abstract: Abstract. This study reviews and synthesises existing information generated within the SCOPSCO ("Scientific Collaboration on Past Speciation Conditions in Lake Ohrid") deep drilling project. The four main aims of the project are to infer (i) the age and origin of Lake Ohrid (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia/Republic of Albania), (ii) its regional seismotectonic history, (iii) volcanic activity and climate change in the central northern Mediterranean region, and (iv) the drivers of bio ersity and endemism. The Ohrid basin formed by transtension during the Miocene, opened during the Pliocene and Pleistocene, and the lake established de novo in the still relatively narrow valley between 1.9 and 1.3 Myr ago. The lake history is recorded in a 584 m long sediment sequence, which was recovered within the framework of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) from the central part (DEEP site) of the lake in spring 2013. To date, 50 tephra and crypto-tephra horizons have been found in the upper 460 m of this sequence. Tephrochronology and tuning biogeochemical proxy data to orbital parameters revealed that the upper 247.8 m represent the last 637 kyr. The multi-proxy dataset covering these 637 kyr indicates long-term variability, with a change from cooler and wetter to drier and warmer glacial and interglacial periods around 300 ka. Short-term environmental change caused, for ex le, by tephra deposition or the climatic impact of millennial-scale Dansgaard-Oeschger and Heinrich events are superimposed on the long-term trends. Evolutionary studies on the extant fauna indicate that Lake Ohrid was not a refugial area for regional freshwater animals. This differs from the surrounding catchment, where the mountainous setting with relatively high water availability provided a refugial area for temperate and montane trees during the relatively cold and dry glacial periods. Although Lake Ohrid experienced significant environmental change over the last 637 kyr, preliminary molecular data from extant microgastropod species do not indicate significant changes in ersification rate during this period. The reasons for this constant rate remain largely unknown, but a possible lack of environmentally induced extinction events in Lake Ohrid and/or the high resilience of the ecosystems may have played a role.
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 03-03-2021
DOI: 10.5194/EGUSPHERE-EGU21-1235
Abstract: & & Molybdenum (Mo) isotopes are known as sensitive recorders for changes in redox conditions because the oxidized form of Mo (Mo VI) is more soluble, whereas its reduced form is more particle reactive. Previous studies suggest that Mo isotopic fractionation during the weathering process is controlled by atmospheric input, Mo host, and bedrock composition. However, Mo isotopic variation and processes influencing fractionation in weathering profiles overlying ultramafic bedrock, the early Earth analog, have yet to be explored. This study explores for the first time (1) Mo behavior and (2) isotopic fractionation in two representative and intensely-weathered lateritic profiles overlying ultramafic bedrock of the East Sulawesi Ophiolite, Indonesia. Mo concentrations measured on s les obtained from laterite successions studied here range between 60 - 537 ppb and are overall higher compared to bedrock values ranging between 9 - 45 ppb. The Mo isotope compositions of laterite s les vary between -0.043& #8240 to -0.161& #8240 & #948 & sup& & /sup& Mo& sub& NIST3134& /sub& . The overall close to mantle Mo isotopic composition of the laterite s les, their small Mo isotope variability, and the covariation between Mo and Ti concentrations suggest low mobility of Mo during chemical weathering and laterite formation. This low Mo mobility is likely a consequence of a) the low Mo concentration of the ultramafic protolith and b) adsorption of Mo to secondary Fe-Oxides during laterite formation under oxic weathering conditions.& &
Publisher: Copernicus GmbH
Date: 11-09-2015
DOI: 10.5194/BGD-12-15111-2015
Abstract: Abstract. Lake Ohrid (FYROM, Albania) is thought to be more than 1.2 million years old and hosts more than 200 endemic species. As a target of the International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP), a successful deep drilling c aign was carried out within the scope of the Scientific Collaboration on Past Speciation Conditions in Lake Ohrid (SCOPSCO) project in 2013. Here, we present lithological, sedimentological, and (bio-)geochemical data from the upper 247.8 m of the overall 569 m long DEEP site sediment succession from the central part of the lake. According to an age model, which is based on nine tephra layers (1st order tie points), and on tuning of biogeochemical proxy data to orbital parameters (2nd order tie points) and to the global benthic isotope stack LR04 (3rd order tie points), respectively, the analyzed sediment sequence covers the last 640 ka. The DEEP site sediment succession consists of hemipelagic sediments, which are interspersed by several tephra layers and infrequent, thin ( 5 cm) mass wasting deposits. The hemipelagic sediments can be classified into three different lithotypes. Lithotype 1 and 2 deposits comprise calcareous and slightly calcareous silty clay and are predominantly attributed to interglacial periods with high primary productivity in the lake during summer and reduced mixing during winter. The data suggest that high ion and nutrient concentrations in the lake water promoted calcite precipitation and diatom growth in the epilmnion in during MIS15, 13, and 5. Following a strong primary productivity, highest interglacial temperatures can be reported for MIS11 and 5, whereas MIS15, 13, 9, and 7 were comparable cooler. Lithotype 3 deposits consist of clastic, silty clayey material and predominantly represent glacial periods with low primary productivity during summer and longer and intensified mixing during winter. The data imply that most severe glacial conditions at Lake Ohrid persisted during MIS16, 12, 10, and 6 whereas somewhat warmer temperatures can be inferred for MIS14, 8, 4, and 3. Interglacial-like conditions occurred during parts of MIS14, and 8.
No related grants have been discovered for Hendrik Vogel.