LATE GLACIAL AND HOLOCENE HISTORY OF LAKE BOLSHOE MIASSOVO (SOUTHERN URALS) BASED ON DIATOM ANALYSIS OF BOTTOM SEDIMENTS<a href="#FN1">¹</a>

Abstract

Bottom sediments are the most important “archive” containing information about the development of lake ecosystems. One of the most reliable and widely used methods of studying bottom sediments is diatom analysis (Juze et al., 1949). Currently, it is part of a group of guiding methods used to reconstruct the historical dynamics of the environment and climate (Rudaya et.al., 2012; Palagushkina et.al., 2018). In this work, the history of development of Lake Bolshoe Miassovo (Southern Urals) reconstructed using the taxonomic composition of diatoms found in the 526 cm long sediment core is presented. The maximum age of the sediments in the column was 13 500 years BP. According to the results of the study, 123 taxa of diatoms belonging to 47 genera were identified in the lake sediments. Diatom analysis of the bottom sediments of the studied lake allowed us to identify the main stages of the evolution of the reservoir during the Late Glacial and Holocene. During ~13 200–11 700 yr BP, in the period of a cool climate, the lake was a deep body of water with a constant water level and an extensive zone of shallow waters overgrown with macrophytes; then ~11 700–8500 cal. years BP against the background of cooling, the water level decreased; from ~8500–4600 cal. years BP was the stage of increasing water level in the lake in a warmer and wetter climate; in the period ~4600–2500 cal. years BP there was an increase in productivity of algal communities; during ~2500–800 cal. years BP against the background of decreasing temperature, a deep lake with low mineralized water, and presence of swampy shallow waters with acidification processes in them is finally formed.