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Abstract

This paper focuses on the characterization and genesis of mass movement deposits (MMDs) in the Quater- nary and Pliocene sediments of Lake El’gygytgyn, Far East Russian Arctic. Three partly overlapping holes were drilled into the 320 m long sediment record at International Conti- nental Scientific Drilling Program (ICDP) Site 5011-1 in the lake basin, recovering the Quaternary almost completely, and the Pliocene down to 3.6 Ma with 52 % recovery. Mass move- ment deposits were investigated in all three cores, based on macroscopical core descriptions, radiographic images, high- resolution magnetic susceptibility and gamma-ray density. Five different types of MMDs were identified: turbidites, grain-flow deposits, debrites, slumps and slides. These are formed by transitional mass movement processes, and thus can be co-generic. An initial slope failure is thought to trans- form into a debris flow that deforms frontal sediments, partly disintegrates and dilutes into a turbidity flow. Turbidites are by far the most frequent MMD type in the lake center. They occur throughout the record in all pelagic sedimentary fa- cies, but they are thinner in facies formed during cold cli- mate conditions. All other MMDs, by contrast, incise exclu- sively the pelagic facies deposited during warm climates. In the 123 m thick Quaternary composite sediment record 230 mass movement events are identified, comprising 33 % of the sediment length. Turbidites contribute 93 % of the num- ber of Quaternary MMDs, but only 35 % of their thickness. In the Pliocene sediments between 123 and 320 m, 181 ad- ditional mass movement deposits are identified, which con- stitute ∼ 33 % of the recovered sediments. The mean recur- rence interval for MMDs is 11 and 5 ka in the Quaternary and Pliocene, respectively.