Oxygen Isotope Composition of Holocene Ice Wedges of Eastern Chukotka

Abstract

The isotope-oxygen composition of ice wedges, ground ice, ice of the intrusive-segregated seasonal mound, and segregated ice of Eastern Chukotka near Koolen Lake, the settlement of Lavrentiya on the Chul’kheveem River, the settlement of Lorino, and the city of Anadyr on the Onemen Bay coast was studied. The comparison of isotopic diagrams showed that the variations in δ¹⁸O of the Holocene ice wedges of Eastern Chukotka did not exceed 2‰, which indicates the insignificant variability of climatic winter conditions in the late Holocene. The long-term mean-January temperature values varied less than 3°C according to calculations from the equations of interrelation between air temperature and the isotopic composition of the wedges.