The late Pleistocene environment of Eastern West Beringia based on the principal section at the Main River, Chukotka
The late Pleistocene environment of Eastern West Beringia based on the principal section at the Main River, Chukotka
Chukotka is a key region for understanding both Quaternary environmental history and transcontinental migrations of flora and fauna during the Pleistocene as it lies at the far eastern edge of Asia bordering the Bering Sea. The now submerged land bridge is the least understood region of Beringia yet the most critical to understanding migrations between the Old and New Worlds. The insect fauna of the Main River Ledovy Obryv (Ice Bluff) section, which is late Pleistocene in age (MIS 3-2), is markedly different from coeval faunas of areas further to the west, as it is characterized by very few thermophilous steppe elements. From the fauna we reconstruct a steppe-tundra environment and relatively cold conditions; the reconstructed environment was moister than that of typical steppe-tundra described from further west. The data from this locality, if typical of the Chukotka Peninsula as a whole, may indicate that a barrier associated with the environments of the land bridge restricted trans-Beringian migrations, particularly the more thermophilous and xeric-adapted elements of the Beringian biota, supporting the hypothesis of a cool but moist land-bridge filter inferred from evidence from several other studies.
2091-2106
Kuzmina, S.A.
cb109aac-54aa-4924-bb53-0a2630ec1650
Sher, A.V.
632d44cd-ee6b-4907-a878-4c9c8d96bc56
Edwards, M.E.
4b6a3389-f3a4-4933-b8fd-acdfef72200e
Haile, J.
b5192d19-6710-4ada-a5ef-061510b9374c
Yan, E.V.
55e31ea8-60cd-4a95-8c2e-5978d0a6f24f
Kotov, A.V.
72cd187f-33f5-4ffb-9725-9b9c4f910b35
Willerslev, E.
a8fd6b59-f601-4ffa-a87d-70596b4a1fe2
8 May 2010
Kuzmina, S.A.
cb109aac-54aa-4924-bb53-0a2630ec1650
Sher, A.V.
632d44cd-ee6b-4907-a878-4c9c8d96bc56
Edwards, M.E.
4b6a3389-f3a4-4933-b8fd-acdfef72200e
Haile, J.
b5192d19-6710-4ada-a5ef-061510b9374c
Yan, E.V.
55e31ea8-60cd-4a95-8c2e-5978d0a6f24f
Kotov, A.V.
72cd187f-33f5-4ffb-9725-9b9c4f910b35
Willerslev, E.
a8fd6b59-f601-4ffa-a87d-70596b4a1fe2
Kuzmina, S.A., Sher, A.V., Edwards, M.E., Haile, J., Yan, E.V., Kotov, A.V. and Willerslev, E.
(2010)
The late Pleistocene environment of Eastern West Beringia based on the principal section at the Main River, Chukotka.
Quaternary Science Reviews, 30 (17-18), .
(doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.03.019).
Abstract
Chukotka is a key region for understanding both Quaternary environmental history and transcontinental migrations of flora and fauna during the Pleistocene as it lies at the far eastern edge of Asia bordering the Bering Sea. The now submerged land bridge is the least understood region of Beringia yet the most critical to understanding migrations between the Old and New Worlds. The insect fauna of the Main River Ledovy Obryv (Ice Bluff) section, which is late Pleistocene in age (MIS 3-2), is markedly different from coeval faunas of areas further to the west, as it is characterized by very few thermophilous steppe elements. From the fauna we reconstruct a steppe-tundra environment and relatively cold conditions; the reconstructed environment was moister than that of typical steppe-tundra described from further west. The data from this locality, if typical of the Chukotka Peninsula as a whole, may indicate that a barrier associated with the environments of the land bridge restricted trans-Beringian migrations, particularly the more thermophilous and xeric-adapted elements of the Beringian biota, supporting the hypothesis of a cool but moist land-bridge filter inferred from evidence from several other studies.
This record has no associated files available for download.
More information
Published date: 8 May 2010
Organisations:
Palaeoenvironment Laboratory (PLUS)
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 343135
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/343135
ISSN: 0277-3791
PURE UUID: fda2098b-047f-4682-ba65-c130638a0df6
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 26 Sep 2012 14:55
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:13
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Author:
S.A. Kuzmina
Author:
A.V. Sher
Author:
J. Haile
Author:
E.V. Yan
Author:
A.V. Kotov
Author:
E. Willerslev
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics