Home – Home – Jornals – Geography and Natural Resources 2020 number 3

Boreholes exposed the structure of the loess cover on four key sites along the line from the Eastern Azov region to the Terek-Kuma plain. In order to obtain the most preserved loess paleoarchives, the profiles and boreholes were established located at subhorizontal flat interfluves unimpaired by modern and relict erosion. A stratigraphic subdivision of sediments was carried out on the basis of the loess-paleosol scheme developed under the direction of A.A. Velichko. A set of laboratory analyses of 411 samples was carried out: granulometric analysis, loss on ignition, and magnetic susceptibility. A gradual decrease in the thickness of the Upper Pleistocene and Holocene loess-paleosol sequence and particle size from east to west was determined. Data obtained indicate that the source of loess material is located east to Ciscaucasia - in the deserts of the Caspian lowland and, possibly, of Central Asia. The main direction of the aeolian transport during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene was from east to west. The differences in thickness and grain size between the loess and paleosol horizons reveals a differentiation in the intensity of aeolian processes. The intensity was higher during cold stages and lower during warm stages. The loess paleo-archives located in the eastern Ciscaucasia have higher temporal resolution and more responsive paleoclimatic indicators than the western ones. They reflect regional climate changes better. In western Ciscaucasia, the sedimentation conditions were more constant throughout the Late Pleistocene and Holocene than in the east of the region.