Clim. Past, 10, 643–660, 2014 Open Access www.clim-past.net/10/643/2014/ Climate doi:10.5194/cp-10-643-2014 © Author(s) 2014. CC Attribution 3.0 License. of the Past Climate variability over the last 92 ka in SW Balkans from analysis of sediments from Lake Prespa K. Panagiotopoulos1, A. Böhm2, M. J. Leng3,4, B. Wagner2, and F. Schäbitz1 1Seminar of Geography and Education, University of Cologne, Gronewaldstraße 2, 50931 Cologne, Germany 2Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, Zülpicher Straße 49a, 50674 Cologne, Germany 3Centre for Environmental Geochemistry, School of Geography, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK 4NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, British Geological Survey, Nottingham, NG12 5GG, UK Correspondence to: K. Panagiotopoulos (
[email protected]) Received: 21 February 2013 – Published in Clim. Past Discuss.: 11 March 2013 Revised: 4 February 2014 – Accepted: 5 February 2014 – Published: 27 March 2014 Abstract. The transboundary Lake Prespa (Albania/former belts (composition and distribution) over the period exam- Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia/Greece) has been recog- ined. The study area most likely formed the upper limit of nized as a conservation priority wetland. The high biodiver- several drought-sensitive trees (temperate tree refugium) at sity encountered in the catchment at present points to the these latitudes in the Mediterranean mountains. refugial character of this mountainous region in the south- western Balkans. A lake sediment core retrieved from a cor- ing location in the northern part of the lake was investi- gated through sedimentological, geochemical, and palyno- 1 Introduction logical analyses. Based on tephrochronology, radiocarbon and electron spin resonance (ESR) dating, and cross correla- The Balkan Peninsula has very heterogeneous habitats, land- tion with other Northern Hemisphere records, the age model scapes, and climate (Grove and Rackham, 2003).