Climate change variability through lacustrine records published during 2016-2019: Implications, new approaches, and future direction

Abstract

During the last four years, upcoming innovative technologies are fast developing to produce high-quality, high resolution, non-destructive down- core analyses. These lead to physical and chemical characterisations of sediments and environmentally significant biotic proxies at decadal to sub-annual timescales. This paper reviews the application of biotic and abiotic proxy analysis to integrate and infer recently procured lacustrine records from the Indian subcontinent. The problems in chronology, quantification, and interpretation are discussed, leading to possible precautions or solutions for future paleoclimate research. In the Subcontinent, signs of anthropogenic climate change are increasingly visible, especially in enclosed lake basins. Significant among these signs are: shrinking and eutrophication of low altitude tropical lakes; expansion of glacial lakes; increasing primary productivity in high latitude/altitude lakes; frequent landscape changes, coastal erosion, saline water intrusion in coastal lakes, industrial pollution near cities.