Uranium-series chronology for sediments of Lake Hovsgol, Mongolia, and the 1-Ma records of uranium and thorium isotopes from the HDP-04 drill core

Uranium and thorium isotopes in an 81-m long sediment core (HDP-04) of Lake Hovsgol, Mongolia, were measured to investigate their downcore distributions and to explore potential linkage to paleoenvironmental changes. Three-dimensional isochron techniques using isotope-ratio diagrams in 238U– 234U– 230Th– 232Th system presented by Ludwig and Titterington were applied to age date the lake sediments at the depths of 11.42, 14.71 and 14.83 m in the HDP-04 section, the estimated ages of these horizons are 66 ± 8, 122 ± 11 and 128 ± 22 ka, respectively. The 238U concentration throughout the entire section fluctuated by a factor of 12, ranging from 19.9 to 232.1 mBq/g with anomalously high 238U peak at 23.8 m in depth, while the 232Th concentration varied only by a factor of about two between 24.3 and 54.0 mBq/g. The discrimination of the bulk 238U into authigenic and terrigenous 238U fractions was attempted, based on the measured 232Th as a correction index for terrigenous materials. In the upper 24 m corresponding to the last 250 ka, the authigenic 238U was higher in interglacials and lower in glacials. This depth profile of authigenic 238U contents was almost identical pattern with that found in a sediment core (VER98-1-6) from the Academician Ridge, Lake Baikal. Further, this profile can be correlated well with that of photosynthetic pigment contents, one of proxies of paleoproductivity, suggesting that the variation of authigenic 238U contents were associated with the environmental change around Lake Hovsgol.