The Early Holocene paleoclimate in Bosten Lake on the northern margin of the Tarim Basin, southern Xinjiang, is reconstructed through an analysis of a 953 cm long core （BSTC2000） taken from Bosten Lake. Multiple proxies of this core, including the mineral components of carbonate, carbonate content, stable isotopic compositions of carbonate, Ca/Sr, TOC and C/N and C/S of organic matter, are used to reconstruct the climatic change since 8500 a B.P. The chronology model is made by nine AMS 14C ages of leaves, seeds and organic matter contained in two parallel cores. The climate was cold and wet during 8500 to 8100 a B.P. Temperature increased from 8100 to 6400 a B.P., the climate was warm and humid, and the lake expanded. The lake level was highest during this stage. Then from 6400 to 5100 a B.P., the climate became cold and the lake level decreased slightly. During the late mid-Holocene, the climate was hot and dry from 5100 to 3100 a B.P., but there was a short cold period during 4400 to 3800 a B.P. At this temporal interval, a mass of ice and snow melting water supplied the lake at the early time and made the lake level rise. The second highest lake level stage occurred during 5200 to 3800 a B.P. The climate was cool and wet during 3100 to 2200 a B.P., when the lake expanded with decreasing evaporation. The lake had the last short-term high level during 3100 to 2800 a B.P. After this short high lake level period, the lake shrank because of the long-term lower temperature and reduced water supply. From 2200 to 1200 a B.P., the climate was hot and dry, and the lake shrank greatly. Although the temperature decreased somewhat from 1200 a B.P. to the present, the climate was warm and dry. The lake level began to rise a little again, but it did not reach the river bed altitude of the Konqi River, an outflow river of the Bosten Lake.
Bosten Lake is a mid-latitude lake with water mainly supplied by melting ice and snow in the Tianshan Mountains. The depositional environment of the lake is spatially not uniform due to the proximity of the major inlet and the single outlet in the western part of the lake. The analytical results show that the carbon and oxygen isotopic composition of recent lake sediments is related to this specific lacustrine depositional environment and to the resulting carbonate mineralogy. In the southwestern lake region between the Kaidu River inlet and the Kongqi River outlet, carbon isotope composition （δ^13C） values of the carbonate sediment （-1‰ to -2‰） have no relation to the oxygen isotope composition of the carbonate （δ^18O） values （-7‰ to -8‰）, with both isotopes showing a low variability. The carbonate content is low （〈20%）. Carbonate minerals analyzed by X-ray diffraction are mainly composed of calcite, while aragonite was not recorded. The salinity of the lake water is low in the estuary region as a result of the Kaidu River inflow. In comparison, the carbon and oxygen isotope values are higher in the middle and eastern parts of the lake, with δ^13C values between approximately ＋0.5‰ and ＋3‰, and δ^18O values between -1‰ and -5‰. There is a moderate correlation between the stable oxygen and carbon isotopes, with a coefficient of correlation r of approximately 0.63. This implies that the lake water has a relatively short residence time. Carbonate minerals constitute calcite and aragonite in the middle and eastern region of the lake. Aragonite and Mg-calcite are formed at higher lake water salinity and temperatures, and larger evaporation effects. More saline lake water in the middle and eastern region of the lake and the enhanced isotopic equilibrium between water and atmospheric CO2 cause the correlating carbon and oxygen isotope values determined for aragonite and Mg-calcite. Evaporation and biological processes are the main reasons for the salinity and carbonate mine
