Quantitative analysis of paleoclimate paleoenvironment and paleovegetation of Lake Ercek bottom sediments

The aim of this thesis is to reconstruct and correlate high resolution paleoclimatic, paleovegetation and paleoenvironment data obtained from lithological, chronostratigraphical and palynological analysis of the Lake Erçek sediments. For this purpose a sediment core, obtained for a TUBİTAK project no. 114Y825, was chosen. On the selected short core (137Cs - 210Pb, varve counting), lithological identification, stable isotope analysis (δ18O) and palynological analysis were performed. According to the chronological analysis, the maximum age obtained from the core is about 850 years. Both stable isotope and palynological records support each other along the core. According to the pollen analysis, four distinct pollen zones, based on the pollen percentages and taxonomical compositions (PZI, PZII, PZIII and PZIV) are defined. In spite of the existence of four dictinct pollen zones, the fact of dominance in steppe-type vegetation (Artemisia, Amaranthaceae and Poaceae) can be suggested for the Erçek region.