The response of the environment of the Angara–Lena Plateau to global climate change in the Holocene

Abstract

Abstract The paper is focused on the regularities and character of the response of the regional landscapes of the Angara–Lena Plateau to variations in the global climate system during the Holocene. They were revealed by integrated studies of four peat bogs of the plateau—an important area for the understanding of the environmental dynamics in the entire Baikal region. Age models for the records obtained were provided by 16 radiocarbon dates. A spatiotemporal correlation of spore–pollen indices with the trend of δ18O records from the global stratotypes was used to find out the possible causes of changes in the landscapes and climate of the Angara–Lena Plateau in the context of past changes in the global climate system. The plateau environment showed a dramatically varying response to global climate variations in the Middle–Late Holocene. Moreover, the observed intervals of reorganization in the regional environment took place in a quasi-millennial regime, in accordance with global climate rearrangement. However, not all the studied regions of the Angara–Lena Plateau exhibited a synchronous or analogous response to global environment change. This emphasizes the complicated character of regional climate manifestations in the Holocene and necessitates the use of paleogeographical data from a wider range of territories.