Fecal stanols in the bottom sediments of Lake Zapovednoe (Evenkia) indicate an insignificant anthropogenic load in the lake basin in the late Holocene
E. K. SINNER1,2, A. N. BOYANDIN2, D. Yu. ROGOZIN2
1Siberian Federal University, Krasnoyarsk, Russia
2Krasnoyarsk Science Centre of the Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Science, Institute of Biophysics of SB RAS, Krasnoyarsk, Russia
Keywords: fecal stanols, 5B-stanols, bottom sediments, Lake Zapovednoye, Evenkia, Holocene, paleolimnology
Abstract
Biomarkers of the presence of animals and humans - fecal stanols - are well preserved in the lake sediments. They are produced by intestinal microflora from sterols. Coprostanol and epicoprostanol are specific human stanols, since they are produced in the greatest quantities compared to animals. These stanols are used to reconstruct the population history of water bodies. In this work, fecal stanols were studied for the first time in the bottom sediments of Lake Zapovednoye, located in Evenkia (Siberia, Russia). The analysis was carried out using a gas chromatograph with a mass spectrometric detector. Along the entire core, there were no pronounced signals of coprostanol and epicoprostanol compared with other stanols, which indicates a negligible contribution of humans to the pool of fecal stanols. It is obvious that throughout the entire studied time interval (up to two and a half thousand years ago) there were no permanent settlements in the lake’s drainage basin, which is generally consistent with the extremely low population density of this region and unfavorable living conditions.
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