A reassessment of late glacial – Holocene diatom oxygen isotope record from Lake Baikal using a geochemical mass‐balance approach

Abstract

We present a new palaeoenvironmental record of hydrological variability in Lake Baikal, based on re‐modelled δ 18 O diatom values of diatom silica (δ 18 O modelled ), where the residual contaminants are identified and compensated for using electron optical imaging and whole‐sample geochemistry. δ 18 O modelled interpretations are based on the balance between rivers with high δ 18 O values and rivers with low δ 18 O values. Isotopic variability is related to latitudinal differences in precipitation which feed these rivers. The δ 18 O modelled record suggests that rather moist conditions prevailed in the Lake Baikal region during the latter stages of the Younger Dryas. Throughout the Holocene, episodes of low δ 18 O modelled values are, in general, in good agreement with increases in percentage haematite‐stained grains in North Atlantic sediments (indicative of ice‐rafted debris events). Rivers with southerly catchments dominate fluvial input especially between c . 3.3 and 2 cal ka BP, concurrent with high precipitation in the Lake Baikal region. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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