The Late Cenozoic of northern Transbaikalia and paleoclimates of southern East Siberia

Comprehensive studies have been applied to a core from well 126 in the Chara basin (eastern Baikal-Stanovoy upland). The 1180 m thick drilled section comprises Upper Pleistocene sediments (0-173.1 m) with two intervals of varved silt coeval with the Wurm Glacial, two Middle Pleistocene glacial intervals at 180-263.5 m and 337-424.7 m, earliest Pleistocene (424.7-550 m), Pliocene (550-1036 m), and Miocene (1036-1180 m) strata. The core records the history of Late Cenozoic climate and vegetation for the past 20 Myr ( with two large gaps), which has been reconstructed using the pollen analysis. Interpolation of long- and medium-period climate oscillations tied to the time scale allows predicting a trend of possible climate change for the future 2-2.5 kyr. (C) 2008, IGM, Siberian Branch of the RAS. Published by Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.