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Quaternary glaciations in the Verkhoyansk Mountains, Northeast Siberia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Georg Stauch  and
Frank Lehmkuhl
Georg Stauch*
Affiliation:
RWTH Aachen University, Templergraben 55, 52056 Aachen, Germany
Frank Lehmkuhl
Affiliation:
RWTH Aachen University, Templergraben 55, 52056 Aachen, Germany
*
⁎Corresponding author. Fax: + 49 241 8092460. E-mail address:gstauch@geo.rwth-aachen.de (G. Stauch).
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Abstract

Geomorphological mapping revealed five terminal moraines in the central Verkhoyansk Mountains. The youngest terminal moraine (I) was formed at least 50 ka ago according to new IRSL (infrared optically stimulated luminescence) dates. Older terminal moraines in the western foreland of the mountains are much more extensive in size. Although the smallest of these older moraines, moraine II, has not been dated, moraine III is 80 to 90 ka, moraine IV is 100 to 120 ka, and the outermost moraine V was deposited around 135 ka. This glaciation history is comparable to that of the Barents and Kara ice sheet and partly to that of the Polar Ural Mountains regarding the timing of the glaciations. However, no glaciation occurred during the global last glacial maximum (MIS 2). Based on cirque orientation and different glacier extent on the eastern and western flanks of the Verkhoyansk Mountains, local glaciations are mainly controlled by moisture transport from the west across the Eurasian continent. Thus glaciations in the Verkhoyansk Mountains not only express local climate changes but also are strongly influenced by the extent of the Eurasian ice sheets.

Keywords

SiberiaPaleoclimateQuaternaryGeomorphologyGlacierDating
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 74 , Issue 1 , July 2010 , pp. 145 - 155
Copyright
Univesity of Washington. Elsevier Inc.

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