Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T17:21:18.893Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Last Interglaciation in Northeast Siberia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Anatoly V. Lozhkin  and
Patricia M. Anderson
Anatoly V. Lozhkin
Affiliation:
North-East Interdisciplinary Research Institute, Russian Academy of Science, Far East Branch, Portovaya 16, Magadan 685010, Russia
Patricia M. Anderson*
Affiliation:
Quaternary Research Center, AK-60, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195
*
To whom correspondence and reprint requests should be addressed
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Alluvial, fluvial, and organic deposits of the last interglaciation are exposed along numerous river terraces in northeast Siberia. Although chronological control is often poor, the paleobotanical data suggest range extensions of up to 1000 km for the primary tree species. These data also indicate that boreal communities of the last interglaciation were similar to modern ones in composition, but their distributions were displaced significantly to the north-northwest. Inferences about climate of this period suggest that mean July temperatures were warmer by 4 to 8°C, and seasonal precipitation was slightly greater. Mean January temperatures may have been severely cooler than today (up to 12°C) along the Arctic coast, but similar or slightly warmer than present in other areas. The direction and magnitude of change in July temperatures agree with Atmospheric General Circulation Models, but the 126,000-year-B.P. model results also suggest trends opposite to the paleobotanical data, with simulated cooler winter temperatures and drier conditions than present during the climatic optimum.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 43 , Issue 2 , March 1995 , pp. 147 - 158
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andreev, V. N. (1980). “Vegetation and Soils of Subarctic Tlindra.” Nauka U.S.S.R. Academy of Science, Siberian Subbranch Biological Institute, Novosibirsk (in Russian).Google Scholar
Baranova, Yu. P., and Biske, S. F. (1964). “History of the Development of the Relief of Siberia and the Far East.” Nauka, Moscow (in Russian).Google Scholar
Brigham-Grette, J. and Hopkins, D. M. (1995). Last-interglacial sea level record and isotope stage 5e and stage 5 glaciation of Chukotka Peninsula and St. Lawrence Island. Quaternary Research 4394, 159–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, S. P. Kutzbach, J. E. Prentice, I, C. Behling, P. J., and Sykes, M. T. (1995). The response of northern hemisphere extratropical climate and vegetation to orbitally induced changes in insolation during the last interglaciation. Quaternary Research 43, 174–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, S. P. Kutzbach, J. E., and Behling, P. (1991). General circulation models, paleodimatic data and last interglacial climates. Qua-ternary International 10-12, 231–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karavaev, M. N. (1958). “Notes on the Flora of Yakutia.” U.S.S.R. Academy of Science, Moscow/Leningrad (in Russian).Google Scholar
Kolosova, L. N. (Ed.) (1980). “Geographic Atlas,” 4th ed. Central Office of Geodesy and Cartography of the Soviet Ministry of the U.S.S.R., Moscow (in Russian).Google Scholar
Kutzbach, J. E. Gallimore, R. G., and Guetter, P. J. (1991). Sensitivity experiments on the effect of orbitally-caused insolation changes on the interglacial climate of high northern latitudes. Quaternary International 10-12, 223–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lozhkin, A. V. (1984). Late Pleistocene and Holocene vegetation in western Bering land. In “Beringia in the Cenozoic Era” (Kontrimavichus, V. L., Ed.), pp. 88–95. Amerind Pub. Co. Ltd., New Delhi.Google Scholar
Sher, A. V. (1991). Problems of the last interglacial in arctic Siberia. Quaternary International 10-12, 215–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shilo, N. A. Sidorov, A. A., Baranova, Yu, P. Lozhkin, A. V. Biske, S. F. et al. (Eds.) (1987). “Proceedings of a Meeting on the Quaternary System of the Eastern U.S.S.R.” U.S.S.R. Ministry of Geology and U.S.S.R. Academy of Science, Joint Stratigraphic Committee of the U.S.S.R., Magadan (in Russian).Google Scholar
Sokolov, S. Ya. (Ed.) (1951). “Trees and Shrubs of the U.S.S.R., Vol. II (Angiosperms).” U.S.S.R. Academy of Science, Moscow/Leningrad (in Russian).Google Scholar
Sokolov, S. Ya., and Shishkin, B. K. (Eds.) (1949). “Trees and Shrubs of the U.S.S.R., Vol. I (Angiosperms).” U.S.S.R. Academy of Science, Moscow/Leningrad (in Russian).Google Scholar
Tomirdiaro, S. V. (1982). Evolution of lowland landscapes in northeastern Asia during late Quaternary time. In “Paleoecology of Beringia” (Hopkins, D. M Matthews, J. V. Jr. Schweger, C. E., and Young, S. B., Eds.), pp. 29–37. Academic Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vas’kovskii, A. P. (1959). A short outline of vegetation, climate and chronology of the Quaternary period in the upper course of the Kolyma and Indigirka rivers and on the northern shore of the Okhotsk Sea. In “Ice Period on the Territory of European Part of U.S.S.R. and Siberia” (Markov, K. K. and Popov, A. J., Eds.), pp. 510–545. Moscow Univ. Press, Moscow (in Russian).Google Scholar
Velichko, A, A. Borisova, O. K. Gurtovaya, Ye. Ye., and Zelikson, E. M. (1991). Climatic rhythm of the last interglacial in northern Eurasia. Quaternary International 10-12, 191–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar