Horizons, seismic reference profile, high-resolution figures and statistical data used for mapping/gridding mass movement deposits in Lake El'gygytgyn

• Main Authors: Warnke, Fynn, Gebhardt, Catalina, Niessen, Frank
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: PANGAEA 2019
• Subjects: El'gygytgyn; ELGYGYTGYN; Elgygytgyn_Lake; File content; File format; File name; File size; lake; Lake Elgygytgyn - Climate History of the Arctic since 3.6 Million Years; mass movement; mass transport; MULT; Multiple investigations; sediment echosounder; Siberia; Russia; Uniform resource locator/link to file; Arctic
• Online Access: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.909299; https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.909299

Density-driven mass movement deposits (MMDs) were mapped throughout the Quaternary sedimentary record of Lake El'gygytgyn (NE Siberia) using high-resolution acoustic data. Three different acoustic facies types were identified in the lake: (1) pelagic sediment, (2) plastic flow deposits and (3) turbidites. Deposits from plastic flows are dominantly present proximal to the lakes' slopes, whereas deposits from turbidity currents occur more spatially distributed. During glacial times, the distribution of MMDs was more uniform, while during interglacial periods, MMDs were deposited predominantly close to the slope of the northwestern area. Furthermore, the overall number of MMDs and accumulated sediment volume significantly varies between glacial/interglacial periods. About 1.6 times more MMDs were mapped during interglacials, contributing to a 3.5 times higher sediment volume. The main reason for this large difference is that a significant increase in plastic flows were formed during interglacials, which account for a much larger volume of sediments when compared with the glacial intervals characterized by increased amount of turbidites. It appears that the most important source areas for MMDs are located at the northern and western shores. Cycles of lake level changes caused by variations in climate conditions between glacials and interglacials are likely the main trigger mechanism for the generation of these MMDs. The climate-dependent genesis and partly erosive potential influencing the sedimentary record contain implications to consider for future paleo-environmental reconstructions in lacustrine settings. The supplementary data include high resolution versions of the figures of the article, a spreadsheet with calculated data for the statistics presented, an archive of mapped horizons in the seismic data used for gridding and the reference profile AWI-20038540.