Aa. Prokopenko et al., Response of Lake Baikal ecosystem to climate forcing and pCO(2) change over the last glacial/interglacial transition, EARTH PLAN, 172(3-4), 1999, pp. 239-253
The delta(13)C record of total organic carbon in the Lake Baikal core BDP-9
3-2 over the last glacial/interglacial transition shows remarkable correlat
ion with atmospheric CO2 fluctuations and the negative isotopic shift of 3.
5-4 parts per thousand in response to the global increase in paleo-pCO(2) l
evel. With rapid evolution of the Lake Baikal carbon cycle from full glacia
l to full interglacial modes, however, the pCO(2) signal in the Baikal delt
a(13)C sedimentary organic matter is inundated by the basin-wide productivi
ty signal, in the Holocene. The Baikal diatom abundance record, as a paleot
emperature proxy, lags behind the GISP2 ice core delta(18)O temperature pro
xy record by ca. 1 ka, possibly reflecting the response time of the Baikal
ecosystem to major climatic transitions. There is no lag associated with th
e pronounced Younger Dryas cooling, however, suggesting a different forcing
mechanism, with a short response time, for this abrupt climatic event in c
ontinental interior Asia. The phase difference observed between the diatom
abundance and delta(13)C proxies in Lake Baikal care BDP-93-2 suggests thei
r independent responses to different forcing mechanisms, further justifying
their importance for paleoclimate reconstructions from Lake Baikal records
. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.