Middle Pleistocene bivalves of the İznik lake basin (Eastern Marmara, NW Turkey) and a new paleobiogeographical approach

?znik Lake is a tectonically originated basin mainly controlled by the E–W trending middle strand of the North Anatolian Fault (NAF) system. Pleistocene sediments occurring in front of the faults are well exposed both in the northern and in the southern shorelines of the basin. In this study, two endemic brackish water bivalve species, Didacna subpyramidata Pravoslavkev 1939 and Didacna nov. sp. were found in the oldest terrace of the northern Pleistocene sequence. Having characterized morphology, these species serve as stratigraphic indicators in the regional Pleistocene stratigraphy of the Ponto-Caspian region, and thus are well correlated to the assemblages of the early Khazarian subhorizon (Middle Pleistocene). Hence, these data demonstrate that the early Khazarian brackish water sea covered the study area. Additionally, a model for the formation of the basin is proposed: the ?znik lake basin was a gulf of the former Marmara Sea in the early Khazarian, connecting the Marmara to the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. The subsequent regional prograding uplifts, main dextral strike-slip fault and many normal faults of the NAF Zone cut off the marine connections to the basin, leading to its present location and topographic level.     

Sea-level fluctuations on the northern shelf of the Eastern Paratethys in the Oligocene-Neogene

Sea-level fluctuations in the terminal Eocene, Oligocene, and Neogene of the Eastern Paratethys are quantitatively assessed on the basis of facies and old coastlines traced on the northern platform shelf, levels of river valley incisions, and the study of seismic profiles. The first data massif allows the characterization and correlation of transgression stages in the history of the Eastern Paratethys. The greatest transgressions fall within the first half of the Late Eocene, mid-Early Oligocene, initial Late Oligocene, initial Early Miocene, the initial Tchokrakian, Karaganian and Sarmatian in the Middle Miocene, the middle and late Sarmatian and early Pontian in the Late Miocene, and the Akchagylian in the Caspian basin of the Pliocene. In contrast, the greatest incisions of northern rivers running from the platform allow us to establish the time and extent of the main declines in the base levels of the erosion. Maximal incisions date back to the terminal Eocene-initial Oligocene, terminal Solenovian time in the terminal Rupelian, the terminal Maikop in the Early Miocene, the terminal Sarmatian and middle Pontian in the Late Miocene, and the Early Pliocene in the Caspian basin. Large regressions also formed unconformity surfaces, traced on seismic profiles as erosion boundaries of several orders. The surfaces are confined to the Eocene/Oligocene boundary, middle and late Maikop, Sarmatian/Meotian boundary, middle Pontian, and terminal Miocene-initial Pliocene, as well as being traced even in the most deep-water basins. The synthesis of these data suggests a preliminary version for the curve of transgression-regression cyclicity. Its correlation with the eustatic curve shows their similarity only in the lower part-prior to the initial Middle Miocene, when Paratethys became a semi-closed basin.     

First data on the radiocarbon age of the Atelian deposits in the North Caspian Region

This paper reports data on the Atelian horizon identified in the Caspian Sea bottom. Seismoacoustic profiling has made it possible to determine its area, position, and setting in the Upper Quaternary sequence and the relation to the host deposits. According to the drillhole core data, the Atelian horizon is composed of continental clay loam and sandy loam containing peatlike organic remains. They are depleted in biogenic residues containing rare freshwater mollusk species. The Atelian deposits were accumulated in lake reservoirs filling the depressions developed in the strata of the Upper Khazarian horizon. The radiocarbon age determined for the first time by humic acids has been used to estimate the Atelian deposition time in the range of 40 000–45 000 calibrated years BP.     

Structure of the crust and upper mantle of the Black and Caspian Seas

Many geophysical characteristics of the Caspian and Black Seas' deep basins are similar, having: suboceanic type of the crust, low average seismic velocity, absence of earthquakes and relatively small variation of magnetic anomalies. However, the sediments in the Caspian Sea deep basin are folded whereas in the Black Sea they are approximately horizontal. The Caspian Sea also has a far greater thickness of sediment accumulation.

The deep basins of the Caspian, Black and Mediterranean seas represent a sequence having similar crustal structures but with a decreasing thickness of sediments and consolidated layer, in that order. It is possible that the intensive sinking and accumulation of sediments began earliest in the Caspian Sea and spreaded continuously to the Black Sea and then the Mediterranean Sea. The Caspian and Black Sea deep basins have existed for long time (perhaps from Paleozoic time or even earlier) as areas with a specific and related type of evolution.     

Quaternary marine transgressions and paleoclimate in the Yangtze River delta region

Eight marine transgressions have been recognized from more than 30 deep drill holes (ca. 300 m deep) through Quaternary sequences in the Yangtze River delta region. These are, in ascending order, the Rugao and Zhoupe transgressions (early Pleistocene); the Shanghai, Jiading, and Wangdian transgressions in the middle Pleistocene; the Jiangyin and Gehu transgressions in the late Pleistocene; and the Zhenjiang transgression in the Holocene. The transgressions correspond to warm periods and regressions to cold periods. The younger transgressions were not only of shorter duartion, but also of larger magnitude. The findings verify that there were five moderately warm periods during the early to middle Pleistocene and two very warm periods during the late Pleistocene in the Yangtze River delta region.     

In quest of Paleocene global-scale transgressions and regressions: constraints from a synthesis of regional trends

Chronostratigraphically-justified records of regional transgressions and regressions are important for understanding the nature of the Paleocene shoreline shifts on a global scale. Review of previously synthesized data from 7 tectonically “stable” regions, namely the eastern Russian Platform, Northwestern Europe, Northwestern Africa, Northeastern Africa, the Arabian Platform, the northern Gulf of Mexico, and Southern Australia, allows a comparison of transgressions and regressions interpreted in these regions. No common patterns are found in the early Danian and late Selandian, which reflects small or zero eustatic fluctuations that are overwhelmed locally on coastlines by regional tectonic motions and local changes in dynamic support of surface topography by mantle flow. Sea level was stabilized during these stages by a warm climate and a lack of planetary-scale tectonic changes. We have detected a middle–late Danian regression that occurred in 5 of 7 study regions, and can be explained by glacial advance at ～62–63 Ma or by concurrent subduction of the Izanagi–Pacific ridge beneath eastern Asia. An early–middle Selandian transgression also occurred in 5 regions, probably, as a result of a hyperthermal at ～61 Ma that coincided with emplacement of large igneous provinces in the oceanic domain. Both events are characterized by significant diachroneity, which can also be explained by the influence of regional tectonic subsidence or uplift. Results of the present study permit us to propose a tentative framework for a new Paleocene eustatic curve that is constrained globally using available records of transgressions and regressions.     

层序地层学中海侵-海退的重新解释及地质意义

海平面变化的主要表现形式是海侵和海退,它们是地球地质历史发展中最基本的现象和过程,也是层序地层学的主要构建机制,研究者以此建立层序地层格架及其模式,进行层序地层的成因单元配置和模式划分。随着研究的深入,已识别出两种海侵(正常海侵,快速海侵)和3种海退(高水位正常海退,低水位正常海退,强迫型海退),本文着重论述其在层序地层学中的定义及解释,并探讨其主要的沉积特点。     

Diatom evidence on Wisconsin and Holocene events in the Bering Sea

Previous work on surface (modern) sediments has defined diatom species which appear to be good indicators of various oceanographic/ecologic conditions in the North Pacific Ocean and marginal seas. Three long cores from the eastern and northern sides of the Aleutian Basin show changes in species assemblage which can be interpreted in terms of changes in the ocean environment during the last glaciation (Wisconsin) and the Holocene. The early and late Wisconsin maxima were times of prolonged annual sea-ice cover and a short cool period of phytoplankton productivity during the ice-free season. The middle Wisconsin interstade, at least in the southern Bering Sea, had greater seasonal contrast than today, with some winter sea-ice cover, an intensified temperature minimum, and high spring productivity. Variations in clastic and reworked fossil material imply varying degrees of transport to the basin by Alaskan rivers. The results of Jousé from the central Bering Sea generally correspond with those presented here, although there are problems with direct comparison.     

Sea level history in Beringia during the past 250,000 years

This paper attempts to relate current knowledge of sea-level history in Beringia to the Broecker-van Donk “Termination” concept of climatic and sea-level history. The Einahnuhtan transgression is thought to represent Termination III, which according to Broecker and van Donk, took place about 225,000 y.a. The Kotzebuan transgression is thought to represent a positive fluctuation that modulated the generally falling sea level during the ensuing 100,000 yr. Sea level probably fell to about ?135 m in the Bering Sea area during the maximum phase of the penultimate glaciation. The two Pelukian shorelines probably represent Termination II (about 125,000 yr BP in the Broecker-van Donk chronology) and one of the two positive fluctuations that modulated the generally falling sea level of early Wisconsinan time, about 105,000 and 80,000 y.a. according to Broecker and van Donk. Another positive modulation brought sea level to at least ?20 m, about 30,000 y.a. Sea level evidently fell to between ?90 and ?100 m during the late Wisconsinan regression, but a substantial part of the outer Bering shelf remained submerged. Submerged shoreline features at ?38m, ?30 m, ?24 to ?20 m, and ?12 to ?10 m represent stillstands or slight regressions that modulated Termination I, the late Wisconsinan, and early Holocene recovery of sea level.     

Study of internal wave generation and propagation features in non-tidal seas based on satellite synthetic aperture radar data

Despite the intense attention paid to internal wave (IW) investigation, the most experimentally studied and theoretically described are internal gravitational waves in shelf zones of oceans and tidal seas appearing during the interaction of tidal currents with the margin of the shelf. Information on surface manifestations of internal waves in enclosed seas, such as the Black and Caspian seas, is almost absent. In this paper, the results of study of the peculiarities of generation and propagation of nontidal internal waves are presented; the study is carried out on the basis of combined analysis in data of marine surface radiolocation and data of optical and infrared satellite-borne sensors. The experimental basis of investigation is radar images of the marine surface derived with the help of Synthetic Aperture Radars, onboard the Envisat and ERS-2 satellites. Additionally, the data of the following sensors belonging to the optical and infrared ranges were used for the purpose of radar image interpretation: MODIS (onboard the Aqua/Terra satellite), MERIS (Envisat), and AVHRR (NOAA). Surface manifestations of IWs in the northeastern part of the Black Sea and in the Caspian Sea have been found in radar imagery for the first time, their pattern of spatial and temporal variation has been reconstructed. The possible factors leading to generation of the observed nontidal IWs are determined and suppositions about the corresponding generation mechanisms are made. In particular, the IW manifestations recorded in the northeastern part of the Black Sea are localized in the vicinity of the boundaries of eddies or hydrological fronts; this fact evidences for the frontal mechanism of generation, at which IWs are radiated by a nonstationary (moving and/or inertially oscillating) front. The most probable main sources of generation of IWs detected in the Caspian Sea are longitudinal one-knot seiches, whose knot point is located near the Apsheron sill.     

苏北盆地晚白垩世-古新世海侵湖泊的证据及其地质意义

通过对苏北盆地钻井岩心分析研究总结得出,在晚白垩世、古新世苏北盆地曾与海相通,并遭受海侵影响。海侵的原因,可能是从晚白垩世晚期起,中国东部的地应力条件以引张力占优势,并在华北—渤海湾、苏北—南黄海和东海陆架区,发育了一系列为早第三纪巨厚沉积物所充填的半地堑箕状盆地,海水由东海向黄海海侵,造成陆架上箕状盆地在短时期内与海水相通。苏北盆地在晚白垩世泰州组—古新世阜宁组沉积形成了以全盆地阜二段、阜四段为主,局部泰二段的富含介形虫的暗色泥岩,成为该盆地的主力烃源岩。古生物以及岩矿、地球化学等方面的证据可以确定苏北盆地晚白垩世—古新世发育的湖盆环境可统称“近海湖泊”或将海侵层段称“海侵湖泊”,而至始新世戴南和三垛组沉积时则可统称内陆湖泊和河流冲积平原环境。通过对苏北盆地晚白垩世—古新世海侵湖泊的确切与充分的认识分析,不仅对苏北盆地晚白垩世—古新世时期的湖盆古地理重建,而且对烃源岩的发育与分布以及生油气潜力评价都具有重要的意义。     

Origin of the Sea of Marmara as Deduced from Neogene to Quaternary Paleogeographic Evolution of its Frame

The Sea of Marmara Basin (SMB) is connected to the fully marine Mediterranean by the Dardanelles strait and to the brackish Black Sea by the Thracian Bosporus. This linkage to two different marine realms with contrasting water chemistry has been a prime control on the sedimentary history of the SMB, which in turn was controlled by its tectonics. Isolation from any of these realms resulted in drastic changes in its paleoceanographic conditions and made it a part either of the global ocean system or of a brackish-marine environment, depending on the realm from which the connection was severed.

The SMB represents the inundated part of the northwestern Anatolian graben system that resulted from the interaction between the North Anatolian fault (NAF) zone and the present N-S extensional tectonic regime of the Aegean. The geologic history of this basin began during the late Serravallian when the NAF was initiated. The first inundation of the basin coincided in both time and space with this initiation. The invading sea was the Mediterranean, which stayed there for a short period and subsequently was replaced by the Paratethys during the late Miocene. Paratethyan conditions prevailed in the basin until the latest Pliocene, when the second flooding from the Mediterranean occurred through the Dardanelles. Owing to glacio-eustatic sea-level changes during the Pleistocene, Paratethyan/Black Sea and Mediterranean conditions alternated. In the last (Würm) glaciation, the SMB was completely isolated and turned into a euxinic lacustrine environment, similar to the Black Sea at that time. Following the Würm glaciation, the Mediterranean Sea broke its way once more into the SMB and filled it with salt water. When sea level in the basin rose above the Bosporous sill at 7.5 Ka B.P., the present dual flow regime was established.     

The Early Jurassic to Aalenian paleobiogeography of the Arctic realm: Implication of microbenthos (Foraminifers and Ostracodes)

Stages in evolution of the Early Jurassic to Aalenian foraminifers and ostracodes are established based on the analyzed diversity dynamics of respective microfauna associations. Evolution of foraminifers is divided in two, the Hettangian-initial early Toarcian and the late early Toarcian-Aalenian stages, while the identical first stage in evolution of ostracodes has been followed by the late early Toarcian-Callovian stage. During the Jurassic, periodic migrations of foraminiferal and ostracod genera and species, which were interrelated with large transgressions and climatic changes, took place in the initial late and mid-late Pliensbachian, initial early Toarcian, and the late Toarcian-early Aalenian. Being isolated to the maximum extent in the second half of the late Aalenian, the Arctic basin lost connections with seas of northwestern Europe. The Early Jurassic to Aalenian biogeography of the Arctic basin is established based on the results of cluster analysis (group average link method, Jaccard coefficient, presence or absence of foraminifers and ostracodes genera) with due account for preceding and subsequent formation history of microbenthos structure in biochores. The distinguished biochores are ranked as realms and provinces of foraminifers and ostracodes. As is established, contours of the realms and provinces populated by different groups of microbenthos did not coincide and changed with time. Ecotones between the realms (e.g., the North Sea province) changed their localitization to be a part of the Arctic or Boreal Atlantic realms in different epochs. The Early-Middle Jurassic sedimentary successions of the Arctic basins reveal several levels of sharp taxonomic changes in composition of microbenthos under influence of the first-order abiotic factors.     

Late Cretaceous-Eocene marginal seas in the Black Sea-Caspian region: Paleotectonic reconstructions

A series of seven reconstructions is presented to illustrate the evolution of marginal seas in the Black Sea-South Caspian segment of the margin of the Tethys Ocean from the Late Jurassic to the middle Eocene. After Middle Jurassic inversion and until the Aptian Age, no marginal (backarc) basins were formed in the region, while the Pontides-Rhodope margin developed in the passive regime. The retained relict of the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic backarc basin includes the southeastern part of the Greater Caucasus, the northern part of the South Caspian Basin, and the shallow-water Kopetdagh Basin. The basins of the southern slope of the Greater Caucasus, Balkans (Nish-Trojan Trough), and Dobrogea developed as flexural foredeeps in front of the Middle Jurassic fold systems. The next, Aptian-Turonian epoch of opening of marginal seas was related to the origination of subduction zones at the Pontides-Rhodope margin and to the incipient consumption of the Vardar Basin lithosphere with formation of the West Black Sea Basin and its western continuation in the Bulgarian Srednogorie. The backarc rifting in the Greater Caucasus resulted in transformation of the foredeep into the backarc basin. Two basins approximately 2000 km in total extent were separated by the bridge formed by the Shatsky and Andrusov rises. The last, late Paleocene-middle Eocene epoch of the formation of backarc basins was associated with the newly formed subduction zone south of the Menderes-Taurus Terrane that collided with the active margin in the early Paleocene. The Greater Caucasus Basin widened and deepened, while to its south the East Black Sea Basin, the grabens in the Kura Depression, and the Talysh Basin, all being separated by a chain of uplifts, opened. The Paleogene South Caspian Basin opened in the course of the southward motion of the Alborz volcanic arc at the late stage of closure of the Iranian inner seas.     

Non-glacial paleoenvironments and the extent of Weichselian ice sheets on Severnaya Zemlya, Russian High Arctic

The extent of the Barents-Kara Sea ice sheet (northern Europe and Russia) during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), in Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 2 is controversial, especially along the southern and northeastern (Russian High Arctic) margins. We conducted a multi-disciplinary study of various organic and mineral fractions, obtaining chronologies with ¹⁴C and luminescence dating methods on a 10.5 m long core from Changeable Lake (4 km from the Vavilov Ice Cap) on Severnaya Zemlya. The numeric ages indicate that the last glaciation at this site occurred during or prior to MIS 5d-4 (Early Middle Weichselian). Deglaciation was followed by a marine transgression which affected the Changeable Lake basin. After the regression the basin dried up. In late Middle Weichselian time (ca 25–40 ka), reworked marine sediments were deposited in a saline water body. During the Late Weichselian (MIS 2), the basin was not affected by glaciation, and lacustrine sediments were formed which reflect cold and arid climate conditions. During the termination of the Pleistocene and into the Holocene, warmer and wetter climate conditions than before led to a higher sediment input. Thus, our chronology demonstrates that the northeastern margin of the LGM Barents-Kara Sea ice sheet did not reach the Changeable Lake basin. This result supports a modest model of the LGM ice sheet in northern Europe determined from numeric ice sheet modelling and geological investigations.     

Properties of Continental Margin and its Hydrocarbon Exploration Significance in Cambrian in the Southern Ordos Kratogen of North China

It is important to determine the properties of the tectonics in Cambrian period for the sake of prospecting deep hydrocarbon in the near future in the southern Ordos Kratogen of North China. Authors chose the marginal areas of the southern Ordos basin as the object of research, avoided the effects of both the Qinling Orogenic Belts (QOB) and Weihe River Graben (WRG) whose geological structures are too complicated. By surveying typical Cambrian outcrops and profiles in the basin edges and based on the cores of 57 wells which penetrated the Cambrian in the basin, combined with the seismic profiles, the field gammaray measuement results and the carbon isotope analysis, Authors conclude that the southern margin of the Ordos Kratogen during Cambrian was a passive continental margin which resulted from sea-floor spreading of the Ancient Qinling Ocean. Epicontinental sea carbonate sediments formed in the south Ordos continental margin during Cambrian, and were predominant as tidal flat and o litic shoal. Both transgression-regression process and the change in palaeostructure have the obvious cyclicity. Using the junction between the late Nangao age of Qiandong epoch and the early Duyun age of Qiandong epoch as a boundary, each had a full transgression cycle at the upper and lower stages. The early cycle is characterized by high energy clastic littoral facies while the late cycle is characterized by carbonate ramp on which clear water and muddy water developed alternately changing to carbonate platform last. During the early stages, An aulacogen was formed in the middle section of the southern margin. The southern Ordos margin was uplifted and denudated by the Huaiyuan Movement which occurred from the late Furongian age to the middle Flolan age and the history of the passive continental margin ended and entering into a new tectonic cycle. The unconformity surface caused by the Huaiyuan Movement, along with its neighborhood areas where dissolved pores and cavities are developed, may be another important district for good hydrocarbon reservoirs (excluding the unconformity surface on the top of the Ordovician in the Ordos basin).     

中-新生代塔里木与中亚盐湖链蒸发岩沉积及其控制因素初探

全球性的构造运动末期一般伴着海退和干旱的气候环境,而蒸发岩沉积与大地构造条件紧密相关。中亚卡拉库姆盆地、阿富汗_塔吉克盆地、塔里木盆地自晚侏罗世至中新世以来至少发生了3次大规模海侵_海退旋回,每次海侵_海退均受特提斯构造事件控制。卡拉库姆盆地、阿富汗_塔吉克盆地为晚侏罗世—早白垩世蒸发岩沉积、塔里木盆地的莎车次级盆地为晚白垩世—古新世蒸发岩沉积,库车次级盆地为古新世—中新世蒸发岩沉积,形成特提斯构造域自西向东蒸发岩沉积时代逐渐变新的盐湖链。中亚及塔里木盐湖链在海侵_海退旋回的控制下,至少发生5次大规模的蒸发岩沉积,发育2种不同的蒸发岩沉积序列,分别对应3次海退期蒸发岩沉积序列及2次断续海侵期蒸发岩沉积序列,具体为晚侏罗世晚期(海退期)卡拉库姆盆地、阿富汗_塔吉克盆地蒸发岩沉积;早白垩世—晚白垩世早期(断续海侵期)阿富汗_塔吉克盆地蒸发岩沉积;晚白垩世晚期(海退期)莎车次级盆地蒸发岩沉积;古新世—中新世(断续海侵期)莎车次级盆地、库车次级盆地蒸发岩沉积;中新世晚期—上新世早期(海退期)库车次级盆地蒸发岩沉积。塔里木与中亚古盐湖发育受控于特提斯构造事件及海侵_海退旋回,而海侵_海退旋回又控制2种不同的蒸发岩沉积序列。蒸发岩沉积序列、古盐湖演化阶段、蒸发岩物质来源、沉积环境决定了盐类矿物沉积类型(单一化学岩型、陆缘碎屑岩_化学岩型),卡拉库姆盆地、阿富汗_塔吉克盆地盐类矿物与塔里木盆地相比,种类简单,反映了盆地化学岩与陆源碎屑_化学岩沉积的区别及后期构造运动对盐类矿物种类的主控作用。     

我国东部晚白垩世和早第三纪海侵与油气关系

本文综合我国有关沉积和古生物资料，尤其对有孔虫的研究和对各门类化石资料的综合分析，认为我国东部晚白垩世和早第三纪各受过两期海侵，晚白垩世海侵主要发生在松辽盆地，，与早期海侵相应的半咸水沉积为青山口组一段，晚期相应的半咸水沉积如嫩江组一，二段，早第三纪古新世到始新世早期，与其相应的半咸水沉积，如：苏北－南黄海盆地泰州组二段和阜宁组，三水盆地布心组，江汉盆地洞庭坳隐沅江组。始新世晚期到渐新世，与其相应     

Modern diversity of the macroalgae of the Sea of Azov,the Black Sea,and the Caspian Sea

Currently, the species list of the macroalgae (excluding Charales) inhabiting the southern seas of Russia includes 388 species, specifically, 362 species in the Black Sea, 46 species in the Sea of Azov, and 70 species in the Caspian Sea. The species list has been increased by approximately 30% (96 species, most of them are registered in the Black Sea), compared to the data obtained 30 years ago. The green and red macroalgae of warm-water Mediterranean and tropical origin (Ceramium, Polysiphonia, Laurencia, Ulva, and Chaetomorpha) and brown algae (Sargassum and Cytoseira) were the key invaders. Nowadays the maximal species diversity is found on the Crimean coast and the Turkish coast of the Black Sea; and the species list of the Turkish coast differs significantly from all the other studied sites of the Black Sea. The number of the algae of the warm-water complex increased the most in 1990s–2000s in the Black Sea; species of boreal-tropical and subtropical origin dominate. However, such a tendency was not observed in the Sea of Azov and in the Caspian Sea, but expansion of the habitats of the brackish green algae has been registered.     

River inflow and salinity changes in the Caspian Sea during the last 5500 years

Pollen, spores and dinoflagellate cysts have been analysed on three sediment cores (1.8–1.4 m-long) taken from the south and middle basins of the Caspian Sea. A chronology available for one of the cores is based on calibrated radiocarbon dates (ca 5.5–0.8 cal. ka BP). The pollen and spores assemblages indicate fluctuations between steppe and desert. In addition there are some outstanding zones with a bias introduced by strong river inflow. The dinocyst assemblages change between slightly brackish (abundance of Pyxidinopsis psilata and Spiniferites cruciformis) and more brackish (dominance of Impagidinium caspienense) conditions. During the second part of the Holocene, important flow modifications of the Uzboy River and the Volga River as well as salinity changes of the Caspian Sea, causing sea-level fluctuations, have been reconstructed. A major change is suggested at ca 4 cal. ka BP with the end of a high level phase in the south basin. Amongst other hypotheses, this could be caused by the end of a late and abundant flow of the Uzboy River (now defunct), carrying to the Caspian Sea either meltwater from higher latitudes or water from the Amu-Daria. A similar, later clear phase of water inflow has also been observed from 2.1 to 1.7 cal. ka BP in the south basin and probably also in the north of the middle basin.