Paleontological records indicate the occurrence of open woodlands in a dry inland climate at the present-day Arctic coast in western Beringia during the Last Interglacial

Permafrost records, accessible at outcrops along the coast of Oyogos Yar at the Dmitry Laptev Strait, NE-Siberia, provide unique insights into the environmental history of Western Beringia during the Last Interglacial. The remains of terrestrial and freshwater organisms, including plants, coleopterans, chironomids, cladocerans, ostracods and molluscs, have been preserved in the frozen deposits of a shallow paleo-lake and indicate a boreal climate at the present-day arctic mainland coast during the Last Interglacial. Terrestrial beetle and plant remains suggest the former existence of open forest-tundra with larch (Larix dahurica), tree alder (Alnus incana), birch and alder shrubs (Duschekia fruticosa, Betula fruticosa, Betula divaricata, Betula nana), interspersed with patches of steppe and meadows. Consequently, the tree line was shifted to at least 270 km north of its current position. Aquatic organisms, such as chironomids, cladocerans, ostracods, molluscs and hydrophytes, indicate the formation of a shallow lake as the result of thermokarst processes. Steppe plants and beetles suggest low net precipitation. Littoral pioneer plants and chironomids indicate intense lake level fluctuations due to high evaporation. Many of the organisms are thermophilous, indicating a mean air temperature of the warmest month that was greater than 13 °C, which is above the minimum requirements for tree growth. These temperatures are in contrast to the modern values of less than 4 °C in the study area. The terrestrial and freshwater organism remains were found at a coastal exposure that was only 3.5 m above sea level and in a position where they should have been under sea during the Last Interglacial when the global sea level was 6–10 m higher than the current levels. The results suggest that during the last warm stage, the site was inland, and its modern coastal situation is the result of tectonic subsidence.     

Disseminated gold–sulfide mineralization at the Zhaima deposit,eastern Kazakhstan

The Zhaima gold–sulfide deposit is located in the northwestern part of the West Kalba gold belt in eastern Kazakhstan. The mineralization is hosted in Lower Carboniferous volcanic and carbonate rocks formed under conditions of marginal-sea and island-arc volcanic activity. The paper considers the mineralogy and geochemistry of primary gold–sulfide ore and Au-bearing weathering crusts. Au-bearing arsenopyrite–pyrite mineralization formed during only one productive stage. Disseminated, stringer–disseminated, and massive rocks are enriched in Ti, Cr, V, Cu, and Ni, which correspond to the mafic profile of basement. The main ores minerals are represented by finely acicular arsenopyrite containing Au (up to few tens of ppm) and cubic and pentagonal dodecahedral pyrite with sporadic submicroscopic inclusions of native gold. The sulfur isotopic composition of sulfides is close to that of the meteoritic standard (δ³⁴S =–0.2 to +0.2). The ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age of three sericite samples from ore veinlets corresponds to the Early Permian: 279 ± 3.3, 275.6 ± 2.9, and 272.2 ± 2.9 Ma. The mantle source of sulfur, ore geochemistry, and spatial compatibility of mineralization with basic dikes allow us to speak about the existence of deep fluid–magmatic systems apparently conjugate with the Tarim plume.     

Invertebrates of the relict steppe ecosystems of Beringia,and the reconstruction of Pleistocene landscapes

Studies of invertebrates from steppe patches in the tundra and taiga zones of Beringia provide additional evidence that these areas could be relict steppes. A number of insect species common to both modern relict steppes and fossil Beringian insect faunal assemblages have been found. These provide important information on the moisture and temperature preferences of some of the surviving members of Pleistocene steppe-tundra insect communities. The most significant species of West Beringian insects are weevils in the genus Stephanocleonus (Coleoptera, Curculionidae), indicators of thermophytic steppe, and the pill beetle Morychus viridis (Coleoptera, Byrrhidae), the indicator of hemicryophytic steppe. The East Beringian invertebrate population of relict steppe is substantially different. Fossil evidence suggests that biotic exchange between the two parts of Beringia was limited during the Pleistocene; populations of steppe insects did not move across the Bering Land Bridge (BLB), while tundra species had more flexibility. The tundra environment reconstructed for the Pleistocene BLB should have facilitated amphi-beringian distributions for most tundra invertebrate species, but apparently only a few species achieved this.     

Structure of intrusions and fronts in the deep layer of the Eurasian basin and Makarov basin (Arctic)

Numerous CTD data obtained in the Eurasian and Makarov basins in the Arctic during the Polarstern (1996), Oden, and Louis S. St. Laurent (1994) international polar expeditions are analysed to describe fronts and intrusions observed in the deep layer (600–1300 m). The hydrological parameters were estimated from available CTD data, which made it possible to identify different types of fronts (baroclinic, thermohaline, and compound types of fronts) and analyze intrusive layering taking into account the peculiarities of the thermohaline structure of fronts. The field data are interpreted using an interleaving model describing the formation of intrusions on the baroclinic and pure thermohaline fronts under conditions of absolutely stable stratification. It is assumed that differential mixing is the main instability mechanism. Estimates of the vertical and lateral diffusivities in the frontal zones of the deep Arctic layer are presented.     

Reasons for the outbreak of microphytoplankton productivity in the late Oligocene Turtas Lake–Sea,Western Siberia

Palynological (dinocysts) and geochemical data were compared for the first time for Paleogene sediments of borehole no. 8 (settlement of Russkaya Polyana, Omsk oblast). The layers with a concentrated amount of dinocysts of the genus Pseudokomewuia (20.5% of the palynocomplex) are characterized by higher contents of Fe, P, Ti, Nb, Ta, and W. The microphytoplankton bloom (an analog of the present-day red tides) in the late Oligocene Turtas Lake–Sea was probably caused by a greater contribution of nutrient substances from the continent during the transgression of this basin. Comparative analysis of the geochemical features of marine and continental Paleogene sediments from borehole no. 8 showed that the Turtas basin was either freshwater or had brackish water.     

New data on the lithology of coastal facies of the Turtas formation (Upper Oligocene,Southwestern Siberia)

Peculiarities of the material composition and microstructure of coastal facies of Turtas Lake–Sea were studied in its marginal southwestern part for the first time. Interpretation of the lithological data showed that the deposits considered were formed under the conditions of a slightly saline basin and nearby full-flow river network. Based on the lithological, geochemical, and micropaleontological studies of clay–siliceous rocks of the Lower Turtas Formation (the boundary zone between the Tyumen and Sverdlovsk regions), additional support for the freshwater lake regime of the Late Oligocene Turtas basin is given.     

Late pleistocene sedimentation history of the Shirshov Ridge, Bering Sea

The analysis of the lithology, grain-size distribution, clay minerals, and geochemistry of Upper Pleistocene sediments from the submarine Shirshov Ridge (Bering Sea) showed that the main source area was the Yukon-Tanana terrane of Central Alaska. The sedimentary materials were transported by the Yukon River through Beringia up to the shelf break, where they were entrained by a strong northwestward-flowing sea current. The lithological data revealed several pulses of ice-rafted debris deposition, roughly synchronous with Heinrich events, and periods of weaker bottom-current intensity. Based on the geochemical results, we distinguished intervals of an increase in paleoproductivity and extension of the oxygen minimum zone. The results suggest that there were three stages of deposition driven by glacioeustatic sea-level fluctuations and glacial cycles in Alaska.     

Early Wisconsinan (MIS 4) Arctic ground squirrel middens and a squirrel-eye-view of the mammoth-steppe

Fossil arctic ground squirrel (Spermophilus parryii) middens were recovered from ice-rich loess sediments in association with Sheep Creek-Klondike and Dominion Creek tephras (ca 80 ka) exposed in west-central Yukon. These middens provide plant and insect macrofossil evidence for a steppe-tundra ecosystem during the Early Wisconsinan (MIS 4) glacial interval. Midden plant and insect macrofossil data are compared with those previously published for Late Wisconsinan middens dating to ～25–29¹⁴C ka BP (MIS 3/2) from the region. Although multivariate statistical comparisons suggest differences between the relative abundances of plant macrofossils, the co-occurrence of steppe-tundra plants and insects (e.g., Elymus trachycaulus, Kobresia myosuroides, Artemisia frigida, Phlox hoodii, Connatichela artemisiae) provides evidence for successive reestablishment of the zonal steppe-tundra habitats during cold stages of the Late Pleistocene. Arctic ground squirrels were well adapted to the cold, arid climates, steppe-tundra vegetation and well-drained loessal soils that characterize cold stages of Late Pleistocene Beringia. These glacial conditions enabled arctic ground squirrel populations to expand their range to the interior regions of Alaska and Yukon, including the Klondike, where they are absent today. Arctic ground squirrels have endured numerous Quaternary climate oscillations by retracting populations to disjunct “interglacial refugia” during warm interglacial periods (e.g., south-facing steppe slopes, well-drained arctic and alpine tundra areas) and expanding their distribution across the mammoth-steppe biome during cold, arid glacial intervals.     

Transfer of Lightning Optical Radiation into Space through the Cloud Layer

Izvestiya, Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics - Mathematical models are developed and simulations are performed of the transport of short optical impulses through the cloud layer into space. The...