The Pleistocene-Holocene aquatic molluscs as indicators of the past ecosystem changes in Transbaikalia (Eastern Siberia, Russia)

Abstract

Data on the historical change of the Transbaikalian malacofauna in the Neopleistocene and Holocene is presented. Aquatic mollusc shells from archaeological excavations of the ancient settlements dating from the Neolithic period to Medieval and also from a drill hole of the Neopleistocene alluvial deposits were collected. In total eight species of bivalve molluscs from the families Margaritiferidae, Unionidae, Lymnocardiidae, Glycymerididae [marine], and two gastropod species from families Viviparidae and Planorbidae were identified. These species were aged using radiocarbon dating. It was found that the species ranged in age from more than 50.000 to 2.080–1.210 years BP. Five species inhabited the Transbaikal region which are locally extirpated today. Their disjunctive ranges in the past included southern Europe and Western and Eastern Siberia to Transbaikalia and in the east to Far East and Primorye Territory of Russia. A remarkable finding is that of the bivalve genus Monodacna, which was found very far from its native range, the Ponto-Caspian region. The time of existence and extirpation of the thermophilic species of genera Monodacna, Planorbis, Lanceolaria and Amuropaludina corresponds to cycles of the warming and cooling in Pleistocene and Holocene according to regional climate chronological scales. These species can be used as palaeoclimate indicators. Change of the regional malacofaunal species composition is connected with the natural climatochron cycles in the Pleistocene and Holocene resulting in evidence for succession. In the course of this succession, these stenothermal species became extirpated on a regional level, decreasing their global ranges.