Last-glacial to post-glacial¹⁰Be fluctuations in a sediment core from the Academician Ridge, Lake Baikal

¹⁰Be concentrations, sediment composition and sediment accumulation rates were determined in a sediment core from the Academician Ridge of Lake Baikal. The ¹⁰Be concentrations vary from 5.07×10⁸ atoms/g in the last glacial section to 11.25×10⁸ atoms/g in the section representing the post-glacial climate stage. ¹⁰Be fluxes, on the other hand, increase toward the last-glacial stage coinciding with an increase of the sediment accumulation rate. These facts imply that climate-related sedimentation is related to both flux and concentration of the nuclide in the sediment core. During the last-glacial stage, arid conditions in the lake's watershed caused a marked increase in flux of clay particles with low ¹⁰Be content to the lake, resulting in an increased flux but lowered concentration of ¹⁰Be in the sediments. It is suggested that the ¹⁰Be record of the bottom sediments of Lake Baikal can be used as a proxy indicator of climate change in central Asia.