Variations in the δ18O signals from lake sediments in the European Alps have been interpreted to reflect past temperature during the Late Glacial–Early Holocene transition due to the strong similarity with δ18O records from Greenland. However, past changes in evaporative enrichment could have played an important role, but were rarely considered yet. Therefore, we analyze δ2H on n-alkanes and δ18O on hemicellulose sugars from Late Glacial sediments (~15 ka cal. BP) from Bichlersee, Bavarian Alps (47.676007 N, 12.122035 E). With this, deuterium excess as a proxy for lake water evaporative enrichment is modelled based on coupling δ2H and δ18O.
The chronology for this dataset is based on 14C-dating of terrestrial macrofossils and charcoal. The dataset contains geochemical data including total organic carbon and calcium carbonate content and the compound-specific stable hydrogen and oxygen composition of n-alkanes and hemicellulose sugars, respectively. Based on this, deuterium excess as a proxy for evaporative enrichment of lake water is calculated after Hepp et al. (2015, doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.10.012). For additional paleoclimatic information see Prochnow et al. (in submission).