RECONSTRUCTION OF PAST CLIMATE BASING ON THE ISOTOPIC COMPOSITION OF CARBON FROM FOSSIL REMAINS

Abstract

The areas of Northern Eurasia and the Far North regions with a sharply continental climate are of particular interest to paleoclimatologists. The nature of these areas preserves many features of the Late Glacial period. However, the reliability of the classical paleoclimatic methods in these areas is low. It is known that climate may affect the δ13C value of plants, causing isotopic variations of up to 3‰. The authors propose to use the carbon isotope compositions of bone carbonate of herbivorous animals as a paleoclimatic indicator for the Polar Regions.To test the potential of the proposed paleoclimatic indicator, the authors studied the carbon isotopic composition of carbonate of bone (reliably dated by the radiocarbon method) of Late Pleistocene mammals (mammoth mostly) from the area of the Lena River delta—the New Siberian Islands—Oyagossky Yar (the total of 43 samples). These data suggest that the Late Pleistocene climate in North Yakutia was not stable. Instability was expressed in the sharp, short-term (500–2000 years), occasional episodes of relatively warm climate that may be ranked as interstadials based on their intensity.

Keywords

• stable carbon isotopes
• paleontological relics
• reconstruction of palaeoclimate
• mammoths