BPCA-derived pyrogenic carbon, microscopic charcoal, and TOC in a sediment core from Lake EN21437 (Yakutia, Siberia)

Records of benzene polycarboxylic acids (BPCAs), microscopic charcoal, and organic carbon of sediment core EN21437-1 from Lake EN21437 in central Yakutia. This data was used for the reconstruction of fire dynamics (biomass burning, fire intensity) over the past c. 7600 years. BPCAs were prepared from freeze-dried, homogenized lake sediment samples by nitric acid oxidation and measured in a high-performance liquid chromatograph. They are reported here as the concentration of the complete BPCAs (µM), as relative data, and as concentration of pyrogenic carbon (mgC) per gram of dry sediment, based on the sum of B5CA and B6CA. Microscopic charcoal particles (<150 µm) were counted on pollen slides together with marker spores to establish charcoal particle concentrations reported here. Total organic carbon (TOC) was measured in dried and homogenized bulk sediment samples using a soliTOC cube analyzer. The sediment core was obtained during fieldwork in August 2021, jointly organized by the Alfred Wegener Institute and the North-Eastern Federal University of Yakutsk. More information about the data can be found in the corresponding research paper (Glückler et al., in preparation). A comprehensive description of fieldwork in 2021 is available in the corresponding expedition report (Morgenstern et al., 2023).