CENTRAL ASIAN CLIMATE VARIABILITY DURING THE PAST 13,500 YEARS: THE ORGANIC GEOCHEMICAL RECORD OF LAKE ISSYK-KUL, KYRGYZSTAN

Asian Monsoons have long complicated paleoclimate studies investigating the mechanisms driving ties between continental Asia and the North Atlantic region. Issyk-Kul is a large (6,247km²), deep (max: 668m), brackish lake located in the Tian Shan Mountains of eastern Kyrgyzstan. It provides an ideal site to examine mid-latitude atmospheric circulation since its location in the continental interior falls outside of the influence of southerly monsoons (Ricketts et al., 2001). Here we apply a multi-proxy organic geochemical approach to Issyk-Kul sediment core IK97-5P, examining climate variability during the past ~13,500 years. We utilize proxies based on isoprenoid and branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) to reconstruct past temperature (TEX86 and MBT/CBT), along with leaf wax deuterium isotopes (δD) to examine variability in the isotopic composition of precipitation.