Abstract
Formation of Lake Long, King George Island, Antarctica started about 4,000 years B.P., after which the diatom community changed in response to environmental shifts driven by climatic oscillations (warm/wet and cool/dry). Successive sequences of diatoms in a 7.5-m drill core were divided into 11 assemblage zones by cluster analysis. The most obvious change was an alternation of major dominants, Achnanthes minutissima, Fragilaria alpestris and Fragilaria pinnata v. antarctica according to the climatic oscillations in the late Holocene. Variations in diatom assemblages clearly reflect two warm periods, a single cool period, and three transition periods. The recent warm period (zones 2 and 1) has persisted for approximately 450 years, perhaps sufficiently long to suggest the imminent onset of a new transition period. A recent high TOC (total organic carbon) value in the core reflects a warm period in Antarctica during the late Holocene.
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Acknowledgements
The authors deeply appreciate the assistance of Dr. J. Zhao, University of Science and Technology of China, for providing the valuable sediment core. Special thanks go to Dr. E. Y. Haworth of IFE in U.K. for reviewing the manuscript and also Professor D. M. Paterson in University of St. Andrews, U.K. for help with the English and also thanks to Professor Y.-G. Kang on statistical analysis in Hanshin University, Korea. Two anonymous reviewers are thanked for their help in improving the manuscript. This work was partially supported by the Korea Polar Research Institute in Korea (KOPRI Project PE07010).
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Lee, K., Yoon, SK. & Yoon, H.I. Holocene paleoclimate changes determined using diatom assemblages from Lake Long, King George Island, Antarctica. J Paleolimnol 42, 1–10 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-008-9243-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10933-008-9243-1