Chronology and main stages of vegetation development in the central region of the East European Plain during the Mikulino interglacial

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Abstract

The chronology of the Mikulino Interglacial and its individual phases have been the subject of discussion. The goal of this study was to evaluate the time limits of the main stages of the Mikulino Interglacial on the Russian Plain according to ²³⁰Th/U dating and paleobotanical studies of lake and peat sediments from the known sections located within the Tver region on the Bolshaya Dubenka River, Malaya Kosha River, Granichnaya River, and Sizhina River (“Kileshino-2” section). An improved geochronological approach has been applied to identify layers suitable for the ²³⁰Th/U isochronous approximation. In combination with pollen and carpological studies of the deposits, this made it possible to date units corresponding to relatively narrow time intervals in the development of plant formations at different stages of the Last Interglacial. New paleobotanical studies of buried lake and peat sediments from the sections located on the Bolshaya Dubenka River, Malaya Kosha River, and Granichnaya River allowed us to restore the vegetation development during the Mikulino Interglacial in the interval of pollen zones M1–M7, i.e., more pollen zones have been analyzed and in greater detail than in 1960–1970. A chronological scheme of the main stages of vegetation development in the Mikulino Interglacial is proposed based on the results of ²³⁰Th/U dating and paleobotanical studies of organic-rich deposits from the Tver region sections in combination with previously published data obtained for the “Nizhnyaya Boyarshchina” section from the Smolensk region. The Mikulino Interglacial had begun about 130–126 kyr ago. Its first phase, corresponding to the M2 zone, ended ca. 118 kyr ago. The pre-optimal stages of vegetation development (M3 and M4 zones) fit into the time range of ca. 118–112 kyr ago. The climatic optimum of the interglacial (M5 and M6 zones) began ca. 112 kyr ago and ended ca. 100 kyr ago. The duration of the Mikulino Interglacial was probably at least 25 thousand years.

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About the authors

F. E. Maksimov

St. Petersburg State University

Author for correspondence.
Email: maksimov-fedor@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, St. Petersburg

L. A. Savelieva

St. Petersburg State University

Email: maksimov-fedor@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, St. Petersburg

A. P. Fomenko

St. Petersburg State University; Komarov Botanical Institute of the RAS

Email: maksimov-fedor@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, St. Petersburg; St. Petersburg

S. S. Popova

Komarov Botanical Institute of the RAS

Email: maksimov-fedor@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, St. Petersburg

I. S. Zyuganova

Institute of Geography RAS

Email: maksimov-fedor@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, Moscow

V. A. Grigoriev

St. Petersburg State University

Email: maksimov-fedor@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, St. Petersburg

A. Yu. Petrov

St. Petersburg State University

Email: maksimov-fedor@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, St. Petersburg

S. F. Boltramovich

St. Petersburg State University

Email: maksimov-fedor@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, St. Petersburg

V. Yu. Kuznetsov

St. Petersburg State University; Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia

Email: maksimov-fedor@yandex.ru
Russian Federation, St. Petersburg; St. Petersburg

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Supplementary files

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2. Fig. 1. Location of the studied sections. 1 — section (1 — “Bolshaya Dubenka”, 2 — “Malaya Kosha”, 3 — “Granichnaya”, 4 — “Kileshino-2”, 5 — “Nizhnyaya Boyarshchina”); 2 — hydrological network; 3 — direction of the river flow; 4 — administrative center; 5 — settlement.

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3. Fig. 2. Lithological cores of the “Bolshaya Dubenka”, “Malaya Kosha”, “Granichnaya”, “Kileshino-2” (Karpukhina et al., 2020) and “Nizhnyaya Boyarshchina” (Maksimov et al., 2022) sections. 1 — fine-grained sand; 2 — coarse sand; 3 — silts; 4 — loam; 5 — clay; 6 — rhythmically layered heavy loam; 7 — peat; 8 — gyttia; 9 — silty gyttia; 10 — sandy gyttia; 11 — dense gyttia; 12 — dense sandy gyttia; 13 — gravel; 14 — boulder; 15 — boundaries between layers; 16 — stratigraphic unconformity; 17 — ²³⁰Th/U age.

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4. Fig. 3. Spore-pollen diagram of the “Bolshaya Dubenka” section.

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5. Fig. 4. Distribution of organic matter (LOI, loss on ignition), U, and ratios of ²³⁰Th/²³⁴U, ²³⁴U/²³⁸U, and ²³⁰Th/²³²Th activities along the vertical profile of the lacustrine-bog sequence of the “Bolshaya Dubenka” section. The curly brackets show the sites selected for ²³⁰Th/U isochron dating. 1 — closed radiometric system; 2 — geochemical barrier (open radiometric system).

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6. Fig. 5. Graphical representation of isochron age determination according to two calculation methods for organic-rich deposits from the “Bolshaya Dubenka” section. (а, б, в, г) — linear dependences plotted for 6 peat samples from a depth of 90–102 cm; f, g — values of correction indexes, which are used to calculate the isochron age of 6 samples from a depth of 90–102 cm using a linear method. Samples: 1 — samples on which linear dependencies are built, 2 — sample from a depth of 92–94 cm deviating from linearity, 3 — sample from a depth of 96–98 cm assigned to an open radiometric system. (д) — finding the f value required to calculate the isochron age of 6 samples from a depth of 90–102 cm using a non-linear approach.

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7. Fig. 6. Spore-pollen diagram of the “Malaya Kosha” section.

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8. Fig. 7. Carpological diagram of deposits from the “Malaya Kosha” section. The horizontal axes show the number of residues in a sample. 1 — single carpological remains (less than 5). See designations on the lithological column in fig. 2.

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9. Fig. 8. Spore-pollen diagram of the sediments from the “Granichnaya” section.

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10. Fig. 9. Linear dependences according to the analytical data of the studied sections in the coordinates ²³⁰Th/²³²Th — ²³⁴U/²³²Th.

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