Palynostratigraphy of the Pliocene-Quaternary beds in Vyatka-Kama Cisuralia based on the Upper Kama Upland

Abstract

On the basis of a comprehensive study of eight reference sections, palynological data were obtained for the first time for the Pliocene-Quaternary beds of Vyatka-Kama region of Cisuralia (based on the Upper Kama Upland). Floristic assemblages from the sections studied (from the Pliocene to the Late Pleistocene and Holocene) clearly show the decline of subtropical floristic elements, most ecologically sensitive to the general climate cooling, in the Pliocene-Pleistocene and a simultaneous increase in the role of phytocoenotic boreal species of arboreal vegetation in the Pleistocene. On this basis, a successive (discrete) series of floristic assemblages and host rocks were recognized in the sections studied. For the first time for the Vyatka-Kama region of Cisuralia, evidence is obtained to confirm glaciations, represented in the Krasny Yar section by moraine and glaciofluvial sediments which are overlain by alluvium with typical Likhvin flora. On the basis of material from the reference sections studied and published data, we were able to recognize regional features of changes in floristic assemblages in Pliocene-Quaternary time associated with latitudinal and meridional differentiation of the vegetation. Stages in the landscape evolution of this period are recognized, and the sections studied are linked to the general stratigraphic scale of the Pleistocene of the East European Plain.