Open AccessLate Saalian and Eemian palaeoenvironmental history of the Bol'shoy Lyakhovsky Island (Laptev Sea region, Arctic Siberia)
Author(s) -
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.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
boreas
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.95
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1502-3885
pISSN - 0300-9483
DOI - 10.1111/j.1502-3885.2004.tb01244.x
Subject(s) - eemian , stadial , tundra , geology , pollen , vegetation (pathology) , interglacial , marine isotope stage , physical geography , glacial period , arctic , paleontology , oceanography , ecology , geography , medicine , pathology , biology
Palaeoenvironmental records from permafrost sequences complemented by infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) and 230 Th/U dates from Bol'shoy Lyakhovsky Island (7320'N, 14130'E) document the environmental history in the region for at least the past 200 ka. Pollen spectra and insect fauna indicate that relatively wet grass‐sedge 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.