A case study on geomorphology: Tree-ring-based confirmation of the formation year of Lake Kaindy after the 1911 Kemin earthquake in Almaty (Kazakhstan)
Authors: ÜNAL AKKEMİK, KURALAY MAZARZHANOVA, ARAILYM KOPABAYEVA
Abstract: Lake Kaindy, which is located in the Kazakhstan side of the Tien Shan Mountains is one of the most famous places in the World due to having sunken Picea schrenkiana Fisch. & C.A.Mey. trees within the Lake. The purpose of the study is to find the dead years of the sunken trees in the lake and therefore to confirm the formation time of Kaindy Lake, and if there is an effect of the 1911 Kemin earthquake on the tree-ring width of Picea schrenkiana around the lake. Eight wood pieces and two increment cores from the sunken trees were taken to find the formation time of the lake. For building a reference chronology to date these sunken woods, a total of 43 increment cores from 25 trees of Picea schrenkiana were extracted by using an increment borer 50 cm long. Four sunken trees were dated to 1912, and dating statistics which are Gleichlaufigkeit value (percentage of parallel variation), t-tests (TV, TVB, TVBP), and CDI (crossdating index) were calculated as 74%(***), 3.3(**), 7.9(***), 9.7(***) and 57, respectively, and all are significant. According to the 11-year event analysis, the ratio of decrease after the earthquake is 34% in older trees, and 20% in younger ones. One of the main reasons for long-term decreasing growth may be breaking the root tips and dying the roots with the effect of the violent vibration in the earthquake. With this dendrogeomorphological study, the formation date of Lake Kaindy was determined as 1911 and the local information was confirmed with tree-ring data. After the year of the great earthquake, a long-term dry period occurred up to the years of 1930s. Tree-ring results showed that the affected trees from the earthquake produced narrower rings during this dry period.
Keywords: Dendrogeomorphology, dating, tree ring, dendrochronology, lake formation
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