Seismic Investigation of Lakes Taymyr and Levinson-Lessing, Northern Eurasia - First Results

The German-Russian PLOT project (Paleolimnological Transect: Quaternary Climate Gradients Along Northern Eurasia and Potentials for Deep Drilling) aims at investigating the climatic and environmental changes in Northern Eurasia during the Late Quaternary, through analysis of sediment records within five lakes (Ladoga, Shuchye, Levinson-Lessing, Taymyr and Emanda). Together with Lake El`gygytgyn (already drilled), they form a 6000 km-long transect that will provide a comprehensive record of the Late Quaternary history in the area. In 2013, a pilot expedition was carried out on Lake Ladoga, where seismic data and sediment cores have been collected. Analysis of these two datasets enabled reconstruction of the sedimentary and tectonic evolution of the lake. Recently, we undertook the second field work on Lakes Taymyr and Levinson-Lessing. Detailed analysis of the newly-acquired seismic data, together with previous chirp lines, permits to reconstruct the sedimentary and tectonic evolution of the two lakes. Here, we present the first results of the second campaign.