PALEOGEOGRAPHY OF THE LAPTEV SEA EASTERN SHELF IN THE FIRST HALF OF HOLOCENE BASED ON FAUNAL AND PALYNOLOGICAL EVIDENCE

Abstract

The Holocene paleogeography of the Laptev Sea eastern shelf is reconstructed based on mollusks, foraminifers, ostracodes, spores and pollen found for the first time. Environmental changes in the course of the postglacial (Holocene) transgression are detectable from quantitative analysis of three ostracod assemblages. Three phases of the transgression are established based on ostracode assemblages from the AMS 14C-dated core from the ancient valley of Yana River, central part of the Laptev Sea eastern shelf. After the first phase of coastal brackish-water environment (11.3-11.1 ka), shallow-water marine taxa appeared in the transitional phase (11.1-10.3 ka), and the third phase of modern sea conditions commenced 10.3 ka ago. Spore and pollen assemblages from the core indicate that the early Holocene land vegetation was dominated by tundra plant communities adapted to climatic conditions not warmer than at present. In the interval of 9.3-8.0 ka, climate was increasingly humid and warm, and forest-tundra vegetation occupied more favorable zones of the region. © MAIK "Nauka/Interperiodica" 2006.