STRATIGRAPHY AND CORRELATION OF PLEISTOCENE DEPOSITS IN THE BOL'SHEZEMEL'SKAYA TUNDRA (THE CHERNAYA RIVER BASIN)

Abstract

Comprehensive investigation of new sections discovered in the northernmost Bol'shezemel'skaya Tundra is used for their facial-genetic subdivision and substantiation of the middle-upper Pleistocene stratigraphy of the region. Glacial and interglacial deposits of different age are characterized in granulometric, mineralogical, petrographic, and palynological aspects. The lithological study revealed three glacial horizons different in age and their diagnostic features used in stratigraphic analysis and correlation. Burials of small mammals discovered in the Chernaya River sections enabled dating of the upper Vychegda, Laya and upper Polyarnyi horizons. Successive landscape changes, phases of interglacial vegetation and climate, and ages of interglacial horizons are established based on palynological data. A comprehensive palynological characterization is obtained for the interstadial Byzovaya Horizon of the region.