--> Abstract: U.S.-U.S.S.R. Paleoclimate Research at Lake Baikal (Southeastern Siberia), the World's Deepest Lake, by D. F. Williams, S. M. Colman, P. P. Hearn, Jr., B. N. Khakhaev, M. Grachev, E. Karabanov, L. Likoshway, M. Shimaraeva, L. Granina, M. Kuzmin, A. Gvozdkov, and J. W. King; #91012 (1992).

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ABSTRACT: U.S.-U.S.S.R. Paleoclimate Research at Lake Baikal (Southeastern Siberia), the World's Deepest Lake

WILLIAMS, D. F., University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, S. M. COLMAN, U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole, MA, P. P. HEARN, JR., U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA, B. N. KHAKHAEV, NEDRA Deep Drilling Enterprise, Yaroslavl, U.S.S.R., M. GRACHEV, E. KARABANOV, L. LIKOSHWAY, M. SHIMARAEVA, and L. GRANINA, Limnological Inst., U.S.S.R., Academy of Sciences, Irkutsk, U.S.S.R., M. KUZMIN and A. GVOZDKOV, Inst. Geochemistry, U.S.S.R., Academy of Sciences, Irkutsk, U.S.S.R., and J. W. KING, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI

Lake Baikal, the largest (23,000 cubic kilometers), deepest (1637 m), and one of the oldest (>25 Ma) lakes in the world, is the focus of an integrated research effort to understand the paleoclimatic and geologic history of central Asia during the late Cenozoic. Joint seismic and coring expeditions have already taken place in the summers of 1989,

1990, and 1991. The 1990-1991 expeditions have also collected over 2500 km of high-resolution seismic-reflection profiles and sediment cores from the southern, central, and northern basins. In February-March 1992, an advanced hydraulic piston corer will be tested from the frozen surface of the northern basin. This Baikal coring system should allow recovery of cores up to 100 m in length at water depths of 800 m or more. Plans are underway to obtain long cores from the Academician Ridge and Selenga Delta during the 1993 and 1994 winter seasons. The sediment cores are being studied to determine the paleolimnological and sedimentological responses of Lake Baikal to paleoclimatic changes in central Asia. Seismic profiles and cores already under study reveal a variety of sedimentary enviro ments with widely varying sedimentation rates (<0.1 to >1.0 mm/yr), sediment thicknesses (commonly >5 km), tectonic overprinting, and geochemical properties (e.g., organic carbon contents >3.5 wt. %). Available data on variations of biogenic components (total C and SiO2) in sediments are likely to be important indicators of climate change. Broad unfaulted regions of continuous reflections indicate that continuous paleoclimate records should be obtainable through coring and drilling.

 

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91012©1992 AAPG Annual Meeting, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June 22-25, 1992 (2009)