Avdeyenko Y. The Late Pleistocene and Holocene environments in the karstic regions of the Crimea and Dnister Areas

Object - clastic cave sediments, the aim of the study - palaeogeographical reconstructions the Late Pleistocene and Holocene environments in the karstic regions of the Crimea and Dnister Areas; research methods - palynology and grain-size analysis sediments; theoretical and practical results - The reliability of the results obtained is confirmed by the calibration of the two methodologies, as well as by the comparison of these results with those from palaeontological, lithological and magneto-mineralogical methods. The study proves multiple vegetational and climatic changes during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene in the two studied areas. In both of them, stages of palaeoenvironmental development can be demonstrated for the Last Interglacial, Early Glacial (two interstadials and stadials), Middle Pleniglacial (three interstadials and stadials), Late Pleniglacial (cryohygrophytic and cryoxerophytic phases), Late Glacial (a stadial and an interstadial), and the Holocene. The similar trends and cyclicity of environmental change in the Crimean Mountains and the Middle Dniester region show that palaeoenvironmental development in both areas was controlled by global climate. However, there also existed regional patterns in the vegetational cover and climate that were different in the two areas; novelty - A new approach to palaeogeographical reconstructions of Late Pleistocene and Holocene environments is adopted, using both pollen and grain-size analyses of clastic cave deposits in the karst areas of the Middle Dniester and the Crimean Mountains.