Originally published as: Wennrich, V., Minyuk, P. S., Borkhodoev, V., Francke, A., Ritter, B., Nowaczyk, N., Sauerbrey, M. A., Brigham-Grette, J., Melles, M. (2014): Pliocene to Pleistocene climate and environmental history of Lake El'gygytgyn, Far East Russian Arctic, based on high-resolution inorganic geochemistry data. -Abstract. The 3.6 Ma sediment record of Lake El'gygytgyn/NE Russia, Far East Russian Arctic, represents the longest continuous climate archive of the terrestrial Arctic. Its

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... lemental composition as determined by X-ray fluorescence scanning exhibits significant changes since the mid-Pliocene caused by climate-driven variations in primary production, postdepositional diagenetic processes, and lake circulation as well as weathering processes in its catchment. During the mid-to late Pliocene, warmer and wetter climatic conditions are reflected by elevated Si / Ti ratios, indicating enhanced diatom production in the lake. Prior to 3.3 Ma, this signal is overprinted by intensified detrital input from the catchment, visible in maxima of clastic-related proxies, such as K. In addition, calcite formation in the early lake history points to enhanced Ca flux into the lake caused by intensified weathering in the catchment. A lack of calcite deposition after ca. 3.3 Ma is linked to the development of permafrost in the region triggered by cooling in the mid-Pliocene. After ca. 3.0 Ma the elemental data suggest a gradual transition to Pleistocene-style glacial-interglacial cyclicity. In the early Pleistocene, the cyclicity was first dominated by variations on the 41 kyr obliquity band but experienced a change to a 100 kyr eccentricity dominance during the middle Pleistocene transition (MPT) at ca. 1.2-0.6 Ma. This clearly demonstrates the sensitivity of the Lake El'gygytgyn record to orbital forcing.