The Baikal Climate Record

E. L. Goldberg

It has become a universal premise that the tens- to hundreds-kyr fluctuations of global climate are the response to orbital forcing associated with variations in the amount of solar radiation (insolation) in the Northern Hemisphere. Insolation changes with Earth’s orbit shape (eccentricity) and with the tilt of the Earth’s rotation axis relative to its orbital plane (obliquity).The climate change is recorded in marine sediments in oceans and in lake sediments on continents, which makes them valuable paleoclimate archives

Lake Baikal, with its continental interior position and long continuous deposition, stores a perfect undisturbed “archive” of Asian climates and is an exceptional paleoclimate site studied since 1990. During long and strong glaciations, the mountains around Baikal became thickly covered with ice. The growth of glaciers was attendant with degradation of rocks and influx of “glacial milk” into the lake. On the other hand, aridization possibly decreased the river input and the fluxes of solids to the lake. Since suspended load in rivers and glacial milk particles have different chemical compositions, the downcore patterns of sediment chemistry can be expected to reflect the redistribution of fluxes from different sources and record the climate change. Then, the geochemical record can be used to identify and investigate glacial/interglacial cycles in the Baikal watershed.

More information on these and other subjects you can find in the printed version of our journal.