Environmental changes recorded in deposits of the Izyubrinye Salontsi Lake, Sikhote-Alin

Abstract

Paleoecological changes during the development of Lake Izyubrinye Solontsi from the Solontsovskie (Shanduyskie) Lakes located in the midlands of the Eastern Sikhote-Alin have been reconstructed. Lake formation is related to landslides on the paleovolcano slopes. A complex study of the peat-bog section (botanical, diatom, spore-pollen, and radiocarbon analysis) allows reconstructing paleoenvironmental changes with high resolution. A considerable variability of lake and swamp environments highly responsive to climate changes in the late Holocene has been revealed. Peat accumulation began about 4000¹⁴С BP. The main peat-forming plants were Sphagnum mosses and herbs, except for the period 2330‒1530 ¹⁴C BP (2360‒1480 cal. BP), when a swamp overgrown by larch forests and predominantly woody peat accumulated. Forest ecosystems on the lake coasts were quite stable. The role of fir and broadleaved species increased in the composition of dark coniferous forests with Korean pine during the warm phases and the role of birch, in the cold phases; secondary forests occupied the low slopes during the last 1000 years. The age of paleofires has been determined.