Russian-German cooperation: the expedition TAYMYR 1994

Abstract

At the northernmost region of the Eurasian continent, the Taymyr Peninsula is a particularly interesting region of the Arctic. Together with the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago, it covers the entire spectrum of arctic landscapes from the northern boreal forest and forest tundra across the typical tundra to the northern arctic desert, including the high altitude mountain regions. Alternate interglacial periods with marine transgressions and glacial periods with continental glacial and periglacial processes influenced the Quaternary environmental history of the region. The course of these events was especially complicated by a transitional climate between those of east and west Siberia. As yet, no generally recognized scenario for the region's last Pleistocene glaciation exists. There is a lack of information concerning its periglacial development. Well-founded proposals for the paleogeography of the Taymyr-Severnaya Zemlya region are particularly important because they provide important premisis for the reconstruction of the Late Quaternary environmental history of the 'Laptev Sea System'. The 1994 Taymyr Expedition had a multi-disciplinary program. It is intended to provide information concerning the processes at work in the 'Permafrost-soil-hydrosphere-biosphere' system, and thus to contribute to an understanding of the peculiarities of and changes in these processes in the Late Quaternary. The results will also contribute to an understanding of sedimentary and permafrost processes with respect to global change. (orig.)Available from TIB Hannover: RN 9219(175) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman