Late Quaternary Climate Change in Western Eurasia

• Main Author: Bostonalieva, Zhyldyz Kubatalievna
• Other Authors: [e-mail], w, Prof. Dr. Brigitta Schütt, Prof. Dr. Elke Kaiser
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: palaeoclimate; palaeoenvironment; Western Eurasia; ddc:550; Barents Sea; White Sea
• Online Access: https://refubium.fu-berlin.de/handle/fub188/11174; https://doi.org/10.17169/refubium-15372; https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:kobv:188-fudissthesis000000098741-9

The main purpose of this research project was to develop a comprehensive description of climate change in Western Eurasia during Holocene, using the method of literature review, including reports of palynological, lacustrine, pedological and archaeological site contexts. An inventory of all assembled and collated proxies used for the area between the Vistula River/Poland, the Carpathian Mountains, the Urals Mountains and the Caspian Sea was established (20-60°E, 42-70°N). The northernmost border corresponds to the Barents Sea and White Sea, and the southernmost border is located close to the Black Sea and the Caucasian Mountains. Over the last decades palaeoenvironmental events have increasingly been put forth by archaeologists as representing at least one important cause of changes in cultures in the East European Steppe over the last 8000 years. Thus, a comprehensive study on the issue "Late quaternary spatial-temporal analysis of palaeoenvironments in Western Eurasia based on climate proxies" can provide a reliable basis in this discussion. Methods used to acquire proxy data for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction vary. However, interpretations of these data, is of often set within a broad framework, with local findings used to explain global changes. Time-dependent frequency distribution of proxy data from Western Eurasia indicating palaeoclimate conditions clearly show the following: 1\. Early Holocene cooling with fluctuations in aridity and humidity occurred between 10,000-8200 BP. 2\. Middle Holocene warming with increasing humidity around 8200-5000 BP is known as the Holocene optimum 3\. Middle Holocene warming and aridization date to 5000-3000 BP has also known as “xerothermic phase”. 4\. Late Holocene cooling and increasing humidity data to 3000-2500 BP and is also known as the Neoglacial period. The research conducted on the basis of proxy data enables to detect major palaeoclimatic oscillations in Western Eurasiaduring the Holocene. The analysis reveals several shifts in palaeoclimate and ...