Description: The Lake Suigetsu 2006 Varved Sediment Core Project (SG06 Project) aims to contribute to the international terrestrial radiocarbon calibration model, extending it to 〉50,000 cal years BP using the new SG06 sediment record, which shows annual laminations (varves) for most of this period. For varve counting, a novel approach using high resolution X-ray fluorescence (μXRF) and X-radiography was applied, described here in detail for the first time, and applied to the Late Glacial sediments of core SG06. This new technique was carried out alongside conventional varve counting by thin-section microscopy (Schlolaut et al., in this issue). This dual approach allows comparison of results from the two independent counting methods on metre to sub-mm scales, enabling the identification and characterisation of differences between the techniques, and quantification of their weaknesses. Combining the results produces a more robust chronology than either counting method could produce alone. The reliability of this dual approach is demonstrated by comparison of the combined chronology with the radiocarbon dataset of SG06, calibrated with the tree-ring derived Late Glacial section of IntCal09.

Description: Radiocarbon (14C) provides a way to date material that contains carbon with an age up to ~50,000 years and is also an important tracer of the global carbon cycle. However, the lack of a comprehensive record reflecting atmospheric 14C prior to 12.5 thousand years before the present (kyr B.P.) has limited the application of radiocarbon dating of samples from the Last Glacial period. Here, we report 14C results from Lake Suigetsu, Japan (35°35′N, 135°53′E), which provide a comprehensive record of terrestrial radiocarbon to the present limit of the 14C method. The time scale we present in this work allows direct comparison of Lake Suigetsu paleoclimatic data with other terrestrial climatic records and gives information on the connection between global atmospheric and regional marine radiocarbon levels.

Description: The high potential of the varved sediments of Lake Suigetsu, central Japan, to provide a purely terrestrial radiocarbon calibration model and a chronology of palaeoclimatic changes has been widely recognised for the last two decades. However, this potential has not been fully realised since the only available long sediment core from the lake (‘SG93’) was extracted from a single bore hole and was therefore interrupted by gaps of unknown duration between successive core sections. In the summer of 2006, a new sediment core (‘SG06’) was recovered from the lake. Four separate boreholes were drilled and the parallel sets of cores recovered were found to overlap completely, without gaps between segments. This new record provides the ability to test existing atmospheric radiocarbon calibration models, as well as to assess the scale of inter-regional leads and lags in palaeoclimatic changes over the last Glacial–Interglacial cycle. Multi-disciplinary analyses from SG06 are still ongoing, but a reliable description of the sedimentary sequence needs to be provided to the wider science community before major outputs from the project are released, thereby allowing fully-informed critical evaluation of all subsequent releases of data based on the SG06 record. In this paper, we report key litho-stratigraphic information concerning the SG06 sediment core, highlighting changes in the clarity of annual laminations (varves) with depth, and possible implications for the mechanism of the climate change. We also discuss the potential of the SG06 record to meet the fundamental goals of the INQUA-INTIMATE project.

Description: High-resolution diatom, sediment and pollen analyses of two sections from the annually laminated SG06 core from Lake Suigetsu were used to study the onset and termination of the late-glacial climate reversal in central Japan. It's broadly recognised counterpart is the Younger Dryas or Greenland Stadial-1 (ca. 12.85-11.65 cal. kyr BP based on the NGRIP ice core records). Our study suggests that accumulation of the analysed late-glacial sediments occurred in a deep and relatively cold water meso-eutrophic lake with a strong mixing regime and relatively high silica content. Combining these results together with available pollen-based environmental reconstructions we suggest that climate cooling, together with an intensified winter monsoon and thicker snow cover could influence changes in regional vegetation, sedimentation processes and trophic status of the lake during the transition from the last interstadial to stadial around Lake Suigetsu. A decrease in total pollen concentration and increase in Fagus pollen percentage indicate local vegetation stress/disturbances and suggest that cooling started at least 2-3 decades prior to the major shift in the inorganic sediment (accumulation of detrital layers) and in diatom assemblages (change from Aulacoseira ambigua to Aulacoseira subarctica dominance), which took about 10 years. The transition from the last stadial to the Holocene again shows that vegetation in the lake catchment area reacted first to the regional climate change, i.e. to the weakening of the winter monsoon and decrease in winter snow accumulation. The increase in the vegetation cover density and reduced volume of surface runoff associated with the decrease in melt water supply is likely responsible for the reduced soil erosion activity which caused the cessation in detrital layer accumulation and consequent decrease in the amount of nutrients brought to the lake and lowering of the water nutrient status. The latter process finally influenced changes in the diatom assemblages, including the return to dominance of A. subarctica ca. 30 years after the virtual disappearance of detrital layers from the sediment. Our results demonstrate the rapid response of the Lake Suigetsu system to the global cooling and subsequent warming, and allow clear definition of the onset and termination of the late-glacial climate reversal. Despite the fact that the lake system shows a more abrupt shift from the warm to cold (and cold to warm) environments than terrestrial records of vegetation demonstrate, we do not see any delayed response of local vegetation to the climate change. This last conclusion is of particular importance for application of the SG06 pollen record for quantitative climate reconstruction.

Description: The Lake Suigetsu sediment has been recognised for its potential to create a wholly terrestrial (i.e. non-reservoir-corrected) 14C calibration dataset, as it exhibits annual laminations (varves) for much of its depth and is rich in terrestrial leaf fossils, providing a record of atmospheric radiocarbon. Microscopic analysis revealed that the varve record is curtailed due to the incomplete formation or preservation of annual laminae, necessitating interpolation. The program for varve interpolation presented here analyses the seasonal layer distribution and automatically derives a sedimentation rate estimate, which is the basis for interpolation, and applies it to complement the original varve count. As the interpolation is automated it largely avoids subjectivity, which manual interpolation approaches often suffer from. Application to the Late Glacial chronology from Lake Suigetsu demonstrates the implementation and the limits of the method. To evaluate the reliability of the technique, the interpolation result is compared with the 14C chronology from Lake Suigetsu, calibrated with the tree-ring derived section of the IntCal09 calibration curve. The comparison shows that the accuracy of the interpolation result is well within the 68.2% probability range of the calibrated 14C dates and that it is therefore suitable for calibration beyond the present tree-ring limit.