Acquisition and testing of geophysical data from Lake Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan

• Applicants: Dr. Frank Niessen; Privatdozentin Dr. Hedi Oberhänsli
• Subject Area: Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry
• Term: from 2009 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 117309064

The proposed study in Lake Issyk-Kul in the Tien Shan Mountain Range in Kyrgyzstan focuses on two main goals; (i) a seismic survey providing evidence for the total thickness of the lacustrine sediments and insight into the tectonic and depositional history of the lake and its sediments in order to identify appropriate locations for future ICDP drill sites and give background information for interpretation of the respective future ICDP sediment cores, and (ii) test the quality of paleomagnetic signals recorded in Issyk-Kul sediment cores to in order to build reliable age models for the older parts of future ICDP sediment cores of this lake. This knowledge is essential for a proposed deep drilling project (Testing the causal link between climate and tectonics: A case study from Lake Issyk-Kul covering the past few million years) that will be submitted in January 2010 within the framework of ICDP.

• DFG Programme: Infrastructure Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1006: International Continental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP)
• Participating Person: Privatdozentin Dr. Andrea Catalina Gebhardt