Late Saalian and Eemian palaeoenvironmental history of the Bol'shoy Lyakhovsky Island (Laptev Sea region, Arctic Siberia)

Palaeoenvironmental records from permafrost sequences complemented by infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) and 230Th/U dates from Bol'shoy Lyakhovsky Island (73°20′N, 141°30′E) document the environmental history in the region for at least the past 200 ka. Pollen spectra and insect fauna indi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Boreas
Main Authors: ANDREEV, ANDREI A, GROSSE, GUIDO, SCHIRRMEISTER, LUTZ, KUZMINA, SVETLANA A, NOVENKO, ELENA YU, BOBROV, ANATOLY A, TARASOV, PAVEL E, ILYASHUK, BORIS P, KUZNETSOVA, TATIANA V, KRBETSCHEK, MATTHIAS, MEYER, HANNO, KUNITSKY, VIKTOR V
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: Wiley 2004
Subjects:
Arctic
Betula nana
Ice
laptev
Laptev Sea
permafrost
Tundra
wedge*
Siberia
Online Access:https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/58332/
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/58332/2/Andreev_2004_Boreas.pdf
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1502-3885.2004.tb01244.x
https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.e65a655e-403e-41c1-83cd-bdde463f1c1a
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Summary:Palaeoenvironmental records from permafrost sequences complemented by infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) and 230Th/U dates from Bol'shoy Lyakhovsky Island (73°20′N, 141°30′E) document the environmental history in the region for at least the past 200 ka. Pollen spectra and insect fauna indicate that relatively wet grasssedge tundra habitats dominated during an interstadial c. 200-170 ka BP. Summers were rather warm and wet, while stable isotopes reflect severe winter conditions. The pollen spectra reflect sparser grass-sedge vegetation during a Taz (Late Saalian) stage, c. 170-130 ka BP, with environmental conditions much more severe compared with the previous interstadial. Open Poaceae and Artemisia plant associations dominated vegetation at the beginning of the Kazantsevo (Eemian) c. 130 ka BP. Some shrubs (Alnus fruticosa, Salix, Betula nana) grew in more protected and wetter places as well. The climate was relatively warm during this time, resulting in the melting of Saalian ice wedges. Later, during the interglacial optimum, shrub tundra with Alnus fruticosa and Betula nana s.l. dominated vegetation. Climate was relatively wet and warm. Quantitative pollen-based climate reconstruction suggests that mean July temperatures were 4-5°C higher than the present during the optimum of the Eemian, while late Eemian records indicate significant climate deterioration. © 2004 Taylor & Francis.

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