The ice dispersal features on the Siberian mainland unanimously indicate that the last ice domes were positioned on the Kara Sea shelf and adjacent coastal plains. The age of the last glacial maximum evokes much controversy. The problem may be solved by sorting out the available radiocarbon dates, both statistically and using geological common sense. Over 200 finite radiocarbon dates have been analysed. 77% of the entire population represent sediments overlying the topmost till, including dating the most reliable organics such as mammoth remains. The rest of the dates (23%) have been obtained from the underlying sediments, mostly on materials readily prone to redeposition and contamination such as driftwood and shells. The last culmination of the shelf ice sheet must have occurred beyond the range of the conventional radiocarbon method and after the last warm-water sea transgression correlative to the Eemian. The Early Weichselian age for the last Kara Sea ice sheet is also supported by the lack of proglacial lacustrine sediments with finite radiocarbon dates in periglacial West Siberia.

Язык оригиналаанглийский
Страницы (с-по)19-28
Число страниц10
ЖурналQuaternary International
Том45-46
СостояниеОпубликовано - 1 дек 1998

    Предметные области Scopus

  • Процессы поверхности земли

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