Description: We present results of analyses on a sediment core from Lake Karakul, located in the eastern Pamir Mountains, Tajikistan. The core spans the last ~29 cal ka. We investigated and assessed processes internal and external to the lake to infer changes in past moisture availability. Among the variables used to infer lake-external processes, high values of grain-size end-member (EM) 3 (wide grain-size distribution that reflects fluvial input) and high Sr/Rb and Zr/Rb ratios (coinciding with coarse grain sizes), are indicative of moister conditions. High values in EM1, EM2 (peaks of small grain sizes that reflect long-distance dust transport or fine, glacially derived clastic input) and TiO 2 (terrigenous input) are thought to reflect greater influence of dry air masses, most likely of Westerly origin. High input of dust from distant sources, beginning before the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and continuing to the late glacial, reflects the influence of dry Westerlies, whereas peaks in fluvial input suggest increased moisture availability. The early to early-middle Holocene is characterised by coarse mean grain sizes, indicating constant, high fluvial input and moister conditions in the region. A steady increase in terrigenous dust and a decrease in fluvial input from 6.6 cal ka BP onwards points to the Westerlies as the predominant atmospheric circulation through to present, and marks a return to drier and even arid conditions in the area. Proxies for productivity (TOC, TOC/TN, TOC Br ), redox potential (Fe/Mn) and changes in the endogenic carbonate precipitation (TIC, d18 O) indicate changes within the lake. Low productivity characterised the lake from the late Pleistocene until 6.6 cal ka BP, but productivity increased rapidly afterwards. Lake level remained low until the LGM, but water depth increased to a maximum during the late glacial and remained high into the early Holocene. Subsequently, the water level decreased to its present stage. Today the lake system is mainly climatically controlled, but the depositional regime is also driven by internal limnogeological processes.

Description: We present results of analyses on a sediment core from Lake Karakul, located in the eastern Pamir Mountains, Tajikistan. The core spans the last *29 cal ka. We investigated and assessed processes internal and external to the lake to infer changes in past moisture availability. Among the variables used to infer lake-external processes, high values of grain-size end-member (EM) 3 (wide grain-size distribution that reflects fluvial input) and high Sr/Rb and Zr/Rb ratios (coinciding with coarse grain sizes), are indicative of moister conditions. High values in EM1, EM2 (peaks of small grain sizes that reflect long-distance dust transport or fine, glacially derived clastic input) and TiO2 (terrigenous input) are thought to reflect greater influence of dry air masses, most likely of Westerly origin. High input of dust from distant sources, beginning before the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and continuing to the late glacial, reflects the influence of dry Westerlies, whereas peaks in fluvial input suggest increased moisture availability. The early to early-middle Holocene is characterised by coarse mean grain sizes, indicating constant, high fluvial input and moister conditions in the region. A steady increase in terrigenous dust and a decrease in fluvial input from 6.6 cal ka BP onwards points to the Westerlies as the predominant atmospheric circulation through to present, and marks a return to drier and even arid conditions in the area. Proxies for productivity (TOC, TOC/TN, TOCBr), redox potential (Fe/Mn) and changes in the endogenic carbonate precipitation (TIC, d18OCarb) indicate changes within the lake. Low productivity characterised the lake from the late Pleistocene until 6.6 cal ka BP, and increased rapidly afterwards. Lake level remained low until the LGM, but water depth increased to a maximum during the late glacial and remained high into the early Holocene. Subsequently, the water level decreased to its present stage. Today the lake system is mainly climatically controlled, but the depositional regime is also driven by internal limnogeological processes.

Description: Mountainous ecosystems are very sensitive towards changes in moisture and temperature and therefore most likely to be affected by climate change. To be able to get a closer insight into the alpine system of the Pamir Mountains, a 1125 cm long core was retrieved from the eastern basin of Lake Karakul (3929 m asl, 12 m water depth), Tajikistan, in 2012. The brackish lake is located in a tectonic basin and the catchment comprises of high alpine steppe to desert with partially snow-covered mountain peaks, up to 6000 m asl, which are the main source of lake water input. Annual precipitation averages at 82 mm and temperatures are around -3.8 °C in the annual mean. To investigate the lacustrine depositional environment of the approximately 29 cal kyr BP old sediment core which contains abundant macrophyte remains, we applied a multiproxy approach by analysing organic and inorganic geochemical parameters (e.g. element contents, stable isotopes, XRF data) and grain-size distribution combined with a subsequent endmember modelling. The key depositional processes in three main sections were identified by analysing the laboratory data. The first reaching from 29 to 16 cal kyr BP is characterized by a low TOC content and high counts of typical indicators for clastic input such as AL2O3 and TiO2. Stable isotopes from authigenic carbonates range from 4.5‰ to 2‰ for δ13C and -0.3‰ to -6‰ for δ18O, reaching a minimum at 21 cal kyr BP. Section two is distinguished by slight increases in TOC and TOC/TN, as well as enrichment in the stable isotopes, whereas the clastic input decreases slowly from 16 to 12 cal kyr BP. The third section displays high TOC and TOC/TN values from 12 cal kyr BP to present and stable isotope values reach their maximum from 10 to 7 cal kyr BP, characterising sub sections within, before following a decreasing trend until present. Indicators of inorganic clastic input reach their lowest values from 8 to 6 cal kyr BP and follow a slight increasing trend afterwards. Our data imply a low biomass productivity during the late Pleistocene with a high external input into the lake basin due to a colder climate and glacial activity. A transition zone characterised by a decrease in external input and a shift towards a higher in-lake productivity follows and indicates climatically induced changes in the sedimentological regime at the transition from the late Pleistocene to the early Holocene. The upper part of the core illustrates a warmer phase since 12 cal kyr BP with reduced influence of glacial activity and a dominance of lake internal signals, revealing high productivity, especially during the last 8 cal kyr BP. Partly high-amplitude changes of the proxies, such as alternating results of stable carbon and oxygen isotopes, which however generally follow the summer insolation (39°N), are presumably induced by short term changes in the environment and surroundings of the lake, yet also major shifts in climate conditions in the region from the late Pleistocene until present are well preserved in the lake record.