Journal of Siberian Federal University. Biology / Carotenoids in Bottom Sediments as Biomarkers of Changes in the Ecosystem of Saline Lake Shira (Siberia, Khakassia)

Full text (.pdf)
Issue
Journal of Siberian Federal University. Biology. 2025 18 (3)
Authors
Zykov, Vladimir V.; Bulkhin, Aleksandr O.; Bezrukova, Elena V.; Shchetnikov, Aleksandr A.
Contact information
Zykov, Vladimir V. : Institute of Biophysics SB RAS Federal Research Center “Krasnoyarsk Science Center SB RAS” Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation; ; ORCID: 0000-0002-3382-9339; Bulkhin, Aleksandr O. : Institute of Biophysics SB RAS Federal Research Center “Krasnoyarsk Science Center SB RAS” Krasnoyarsk, Russian Federation; 0000-0002-8537-0945; Bezrukova, Elena V. : Vinogradov Institute of Geochemistry SB RAS Irkutsk, Russian Federation; ORCID: 0000-0001-7370-105X; Shchetnikov, Aleksandr A. ; Institute of the Earth’s Crust SB RAS Irkutsk, Russian Federation; ORCID: 0000-0002-4591-6421
Keywords
meromixis; bottom sediments; carotenoids; okenone; paleoreconstructions
Abstract

Layered bottom sediments of the meromictic Lake Shira (Siberia, Khakassia) have well- preserved traces of the lake’s biota. This study focuses on comparison and analysis of photopigments in the lake’s sediments. We examined sediments up to 5,500 years old, as well as recent sediments frozen in situ using a freeze-corer to preserve the upper layers deposited in recent years. Our results show that carotenoid okenone produced by purple sulfur bacteria was present in the oldest sediments (~5500 years old), indicating that the lake was meromictic at that time. The profiles of carotenoids in frozen cores of the upper sediments, compared with the reservoir monitoring data, revealed that increases in okenone content corresponded to the periods of lake level rise, while decreases coincided with the periods of level decline or stabilization. These findings provide useful proxies for reconstructing past water levels and, consequently, paleoclimate humidity in southern Siberia

Pages
316–326
EDN
IAEGMH
Paper at repository of SibFU
https://elib.sfu-kras.ru/handle/2311/157488

Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).