Sedimentological imprints of environmental variability at the Balkan Peninsula on the sediment sequence of Lake Ohrid (Macedonia, Albania) between the Mid Pleistocene Transition and present days: the ICDP SCOPSCO project

Abstract

The UNESCO World Heritage site of Lake Ohrid in the Balkans is thought to be the oldest, continuously existing lake in Europe. In order to unravel the geological and evolutionary history of the lake, a deep drilling campaign was conducted in spring 2013 under the umbrella of the ICDP SCOPSCO project. At the coring site “DEEP” in central parts of the lake, more than 1,500 m of sediments were recovered down to a penetration depth of 569 m blf. This sediment sequence is assumed to be more than 1.2 Ma old and likely covers the entire lacustrine deposits of the Lake Ohrid Basin