PALEOECOLOGICAL INDICATORS OF THE CONDITIONS OF PERMAFROST DEVELOPMENT IN THE AREA OF BATAGAY RETROGRESSIVE THAW SLUMP
A.V. Lupachev1, Ya.V. Tikhonravova2, P.P. Danilov3, O.G. Zanina1, M.Yu. Cheprasov3, G.P. Novgorodov3
1Institute of Physico-Chemical and Biological Problems in Soil Science, Russian Academy of Sciences, Puschino, Russia
2Melnikov Permafrost Institute, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Yakutsk, Russia
3Savvinov Science Research Institute of Applied Ecology of the North, Ammosov North-East Federal University, Yakutsk, Russia
Keywords: cryogenic ecosystems, permafrost-affected soils, Yakutia, paleoreconstruction, phytoliths
Abstract
The morphology and properties of frozen strata were studied in the area of the largest retrogressive thermal thaw slump Batagay (Yakutia). A presumably continuous stratigraphic sequence of permafrost sediments accumulated during the Middle and Late Pleistocene (~700-11 ka) and was partially transformed during the Holocene. Based on paleopedological, paleontological, and geocryological data, new suggestions have been made regarding the historical development of the soil-vegetation cover and late glacial fauna in the Yana Plateau region. Two extensive and relatively warm climatic periods favoring the formation of developed soil-vegetation cover have been identified: the first one belongs to MIS 15-17 (600-700 ka) or (depending on the dating method) to MIS 7e (230-250 ka); the second one is more certainly dates back to MIS 5e (110-130 ka).
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