New insights into Southern Caucasian glacial–interglacial climate conditions inferred from Quaternary gastropod fauna
New insights into Southern Caucasian glacial–interglacial climate conditions inferred from Quaternary gastropod fauna
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DOI：
10.1002/jqs.3204
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发表时间：
2020-05
影响因子：
2.3
通讯作者：
C. Richter;D. Wolf;F. Walther;S. Meng;L. Sahakyan;H. Hovakimyan;T. Wolpert;M. Fuchs;D. Faust
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
C. Richter;D. Wolf;F. Walther;S. Meng;L. Sahakyan;H. Hovakimyan;T. Wolpert;M. Fuchs;D. Faust
在本研究中，我们进行了腹足类分析，从东北亚美尼亚（南高加索），覆盖至少三个冰期-间冰期周期的黄土-古土壤序列。详细的生态地层学显示了显着的模式，物种组成有关的土壤复合体和黄土的继承，分别。土壤复合体包括与高草到森林草原生物群落相关的物种，表明与黄土层相比，这些部分的湿度增加。相反，与冰期有关的黄土层与半荒漠环境中的腹足类物种有关，有灌木和矮草草原，表明半干旱到干旱的条件。此外，黄土沉积物没有显示出任何适应寒冷的腹足类物种的证据。因此，我们认为，即使在黄土沉积期间，研究地区7月的平均气温也在10 °C以上。因此，我们提出，在冰川时期树木生长的限制因素是干旱，而不是温度。此外，我们还观察到不同冰期之间的环境差异，我们的研究结果表明，在南高加索地区中更新世至晚更新世期间，干旱程度呈稳步增加的趋势。
In the present study, we performed gastropod analyses on loess–palaeosol sequences from northeast Armenia (Southern Caucasia) covering at least three glacial–interglacial cycles. The elaborated ecostratigraphy shows significant patterns of species composition related to the succession of pedocomplexes and loess, respectively. Pedocomplexes included species that can be associated with high‐grass to forest‐steppe biomes, indicating increased humidity for these sections compared to the loess layers. In contrast, loess layers that relate to glacial periods are associated with gastropod species of semidesert environments with shrub‐ and shortgrass‐steppes, indicating semiarid to arid conditions. Furthermore, the loess deposits do not show any evidence for cold‐adapted gastropod species. Therefore, we suggest that average July temperatures in the study area were above 10 °C, even during periods of loess deposition. Consequently, we propose that the limiting factor for tree growth during glacial periods was aridity, rather than temperature. In addition, we observe environmental differences between the various glacial times, with our results indicating a trend towards steadily increasing aridity in Southern Caucasia across the Middle to Late Pleistocene.