Lakebed sediment reveals climate history

ScienceDaily.

The bottom sediments of Lake Van in eastern Turkey (that nation's largest lake) is being researched by an international team of scientists interested in climatic history. Each summer, the lake sediments accumulated pollen grains that can be studied to determine what types of plants were growing in the region, and thus the region's climate and weather patterns. The mud leaves a historical footprint (like that of tree rings) that extends back over 3/4 of a million years, with the sedimentary mud extending to a depth of several hundred meters in many places along the lake bottom. Volcanic activity and earthquakes in the region can also be indentified through their effect on the sediments as well. Preliminary investigations of the strata show that the climate patterns have changed radically in the past in as little as 10 to 20 years.

This area in Turkey is of intense interest to me due to the fact that many of the domesticated plants and animals of the Neolithic period have been genetically traced to wild species found in the region in prehistoric times. The study of this lake bed sediment could have profound implications for not only climatic shift research, but the history of early civilization as well. Such stratigraphic studies of bog sediment pollen in Britain have already given us fascinating clues into the cultures and climate of Ice Age Europe.