Late Quaternary Paleoclimatic Change in the Ulleung Basin, East Sea, Korea

Abstract

Paleoclimatic changes in the late Quaternary sediments deposited in the East Sea were analyzed by studying diatoms. A total of 95 species belonging to 47 genera were identified from the Core02GHP-02 of the Ulleung Basin in the East Sea, Korea. In the Core 02GHP-02, U-Oki (169–181 cm; 9.3 ka), AT (464–465.5 cm; 22 ka) and U–Ym (556–559 cm; 33 ka) tephra layers were recognized. The chronological divisions of 02GHP-02 may be correlated with the climatic changes from the glacial interval (730–620 cm; MIS3), to interstadial (620–500 cm; MIS3), to the last glacial maximum (500–390 cm; MIS 2), to the deglaciation (390–290 cm; MIS 2), to the late glacial (290–190 cm; MIS 1), and to the Holocene (190–10 cm; MIS 1). It is speculated that diatoms were rarely found during the glacial interval when the 02GHP-02 core was deposited; during the interstadial (MIS 3) and deglaciation, a mixture of warm-water and cold-water species were found. In particular, Fragilariopsis doliolus seems to have appeared in the East Sea after 8 kaBP. In the lower layers of the Holocene deposits, cold-water species such as Neodenticula seminae were frequently found, while in the upper layers, warm-water species such as Hemidiscus cuneiformis were found in relatively large abundance. Therefore, the findings indicate that the climate became warmer during the transition from the lower layer to the upper layer of the Holocene deposits.