Project Details
Projekt
Seismic investigation of Lake Issyk-Kul sediments - paleoclimatic and tectonic evolution of the lake and its basin
Subject Area
Palaeontology
Term
from 2011 to 2017
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 194345370
The planned project is a key contribution to investigations at Lake Issyk-Kul, Central Asia, located in an intramontane basin of the Tien Shan mountains. The lake has formed in a tectonically active region (W-E striking major thrust zones N and S of the lake) and has experienced lake level changes of up to >400 m, which is well documented in two large delta systems at the W and E end of the lake. The lake contains the sediments of the past up to several million years, and has been proposed as a future target for deep drilling within ICDP. Previous seismic surveys by Belgian colleagues were so far only investigated by two master students, and data are not published yet. The seismic profiles shall be reinterpreted, and the study of the delta sequences and their internal structures will result in a refined lake level curve. This will allow to compare the lake's paleoclimate record with other global and regional records, e.g. from the Tarim Basin loesses located south of the Tien Shan mountains. Latest Pleistocene sediments cropping out at the northern and southern shore were interpreted as resulting from earthquakes and point at tectonic activity. Other tectonic features such as faults and folds are quite likely found in the lake sediments and will be mapped in the seismic profiles. This will help to reconstruct the tectonic history of the lake and its basin.
DFG Programme
Infrastructure Priority Programmes
