The Age of the Karginsky Interglacial Strata on the Lower Yenisei

摘要

New geochronometric data on a key section of the Karginsky terrestrial sediments on the Malaya Kheta River, a western tributary of the Yenisei, demonstrate that the corresponding warm Pleistocene interval is significantly older than has previously been assumed. The Karginsky warm interval is considered to be a representative of marine isotope stage 3 (MIS 3) in Siberia. Accordingly, the subsequent glaciation has been related to the last glacial maximum, MIS 2 (the Late Weichselian by the European scale). This geochro-nological convention is based on two key sections in the Ust'-Yenisei port area of Siberian Quaternary strato-types: the marine formation at Karginsky Cape and alluvial sediments of the "Karginsky terrace" on the Malaya Kheta River. Finite radiocarbon dates obtained for both sections led N. Kind to propose the "Karginsky interglacial" (nowadays often called the great "Karginsky interstadial"), which occurred in the interval 50 to 22 ka B.P. and featured a climate that was not worse than the present one. An MIS 3 age for the marine formation was later invalidated by an ESR date of 121.9 ka, and the Karginsky Cape was therefore rejected as a stratotype.