The palynological base of stratigraphical subdivision of late cainozoic deposits of the Western Transcaucasus

Abstract

The work presents the result of a palynological study of the Pliocene (Egrissian and Gurian) deposits of Western Transcaucasus. On the basis of pollen and spore assemblages the flora, the vegetation and the climate are reconstructed. The question of subdivision of the Egrissian Stage and the Gurian Horizon are considered. To the end of the first half of the Pliocene the flora of the Western Transcaucasus was developing in more or less stable palaeogeographical conditions. Climatic variations began to show themselves more clearly from the beginning of the late Pliocene. From the end of the Cimmerian to the Pleistocene, the climate of Western Transcaucasus passed through a complex evolution towards a gradual decrease of temperature and increase in precipitation. This process was complicated by a variation in the basic climatic characteristics. Periods of moderate and relatively dry climate were of short duration, suggesting a deviation from the general tendency in the evolution of the climate of the Western Transcaucasus.