Lakes of Khakassia tell stories of ancient climate on Earth

Geologists from Kazan Federal University are studying 11 – 16 thousand-year-old benthal deposits in Khakassia.

Lakes Itkul, Bele and Shira, all situated in the Khakassky Natural Reserve, are being the objects of research.

Senior Research Associate Pavel Krylov explains, “We needed to obtain data on the morphology of the lake bottom, the presence of bottom sediments, as well as the structure of their occurrence. Before us, no one has conducted such research. There was only a depth map obtained with a household echo sounder. We have carried out seismic-acoustic studies on all lakes and obtained unique section data. The significant thickness of bottom sediments indicates the great age of these lakes and is of great scientific interest. The sections are very different from those that we obtained in previous years on the Ural Lakes. We saw some details in the sections for the first time. We also selected bottom sediments 30-50 centimeters thick for laboratory paleobiological studies and magnetic susceptibility measurements.”

Lake Itkul proved to be of most interest because of its depth and thickness of deposits. It will be studied thoroughly in August.

The research is sponsored by the Russian Science Foundation. Apart from other things, drill samples can help understand the historical changes in the Earth’s magnetic field.

“Sensitivity to climate change, a variety of forming sedimentary facies in the vertical section, and high sedimentation rate make lakes one of the best archives of paleoclimatic information of the last millennia when compared to marine and oceanic sediments, forests and ice cores,” says Senior Research Associate Dilyara Kuzina.

Lake sediments contain particles of various origins, including even space dust and materials from other continents.

Source text: Larisa Busil

Photo: Pavel Krylov

Translation: Yury Nurmeev