A multiproxy record of sedimentation, pedogenesis, and environmental history in the north of West Siberia during the late Pleistocene based on the Belaya Gora section

Abstract

Recent revision of the Pleistocene glaciation boundaries in northern Eurasia has encouraged the search for nonglacial geological records of the environmental history of northern West Siberia. We studied an alluvial paleosol-sedimentary sequence of the high terrace of the Vakh River (middle Ob basin) to extract the indicators of environmental change since Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 6. Two levels of the buried paleosols are attributed to MIS 5 and MIS 3, as evidenced by U/Th and radiocarbon dates. Palynological and pedogenetic characteristics of the lower pedocomplex recorded the climate fluctuations during MIS 5, from the Picea-Larix taiga environment during MIS 5e to the establishment of the tundra-steppe environment due to the cooling of MIS 5d or MIS 5b and partial recovery of boreal forests with Picea and Pinus in MIS 5c or MIS 5a. The upper paleosol level shows signs of cryogenic hydromorphic pedogenesis corresponding to the tundra landscape, with permafrost during MIS 3. Boulders incorporated in a laminated alluvial deposit between the paleosols are dropstones brought from the Enisei valley by ice rafting during the cold MIS 4. An abundance of eolian morphostructures on quartz grains from the sediments that overly the upper paleosol suggests a cold, dry, and windy environment during the MIS 2 cryochron.

Back to the future: Climate change effects on habitat suitability of Parnassius apollo throughout the Quaternary glacial cycles

“…The impact of megafauna herbivory on the Last Interglacial's vegetation cover is still a matter of debate in the scientific community (Gusev et al, 2016; Kienast et al, 2011; Sheinkman et al, 2021). According to Sandom et al (2014), a mosaic of open areas and closed forest was likely present during the LIG in Europe and Eastern Asia, decreasing the suitability for P. apollo compared to the treeless conditions of cooler periods.…”

“…The impact of megafauna herbivory on the Last Interglacial's vegetation cover is still a matter of debate in the scientific community (Gusev et al, 2016;Kienast et al, 2011;Sheinkman et al, 2021).…”

Geochemistry of Holocene–Late Pleistocene sediments in the Berezovka River valley (Near-Yenisey Siberia)

“…Studies on the hydrological regimes of rivers, sedimentation, geochemical features and pollution of sediments, and environmental evolution and reconstruction based on alluvial sediments have been conducted in various territories within the European part of Russia and West Siberia, and in several foreign countries (Pope and van Andel, 1984;Waters and Nordt, 1995;Liu et al, 1996;Gocht et al, 2001;Berner et al, 2012;Keen-Zebert et al, 2013;Matys Grygar et al, 2014;Olszak et al, 2019;Budko et al, 2020;Chen et al, 2020;Lombardi et al, 2020;Sheinkman et al, 2021;Vandenberghe et al, 2021). However, despite the high value of such studies, terrace and floodplain sediments, including those in the Krasnoyarsk forest-steppe area, have been poorly studied.…”