The most recent (682-792 C.E.) volcanic eruption in the Jombolok lava field, East Sayan, Central Asia triggered exodus of Mongolian pre-Chinggis Khaan tribes (778-786 C.E.)

International audienceThis study presents new data on one of the most recent (historical) volcanic eruptions in Central Asia. The Jombolok lava field located in the East Sayan Mountains (Southern Siberia) was formed during Late Pleistocene and Holocene times. At least four phases of volcanic activity have been identified and evidences associated with the last phase have been found in the upper reaches of the Khi-Gol valley and in the Oka-Jombolok basin. The volcanic activity is represented by young basaltic lava located among older lavas. Live and dead trees have been sampled in the young lava field. Nine fragments of wood have been found embedded in lavas of the latest eruption. Dendrochronological analysis, radiocarbon dating and the analysis of historical chronicles have shown that the latest eruption occurred during the period 682-792 A.D. The volcanic activity possibly triggered the migration of Mongolian tribes out of the locality known in historical chronicles as Ergune-Kun towards the Onon River, which, 400 years later, became the place of birth and rise of Chinggis Khaan

Late Pleistocene glaciations in southern East Sayan and detection of MIS 2 terminal moraines based on beryllium ( 10 Be) dating of glacier complexes

International audienceAnalysis and summary of publications on southern East Sayan, eastern Tuva, and northern Mongolia have shown that the late Pleistocene glaciation covered a large area and had a complicated dynamics of glacier advance and retreat. Starting with MIS 5, the Todza Basin and, partly, the Oka Plateau, Azas Volcanic Plateau, Mondy Basin, and river valleys in southern East Sayan were periodically covered with ice. The thickness of ice in the eastern Todza Basin was 700 m, on the Azas Volcanic Plateau it reached 300–600 m, and in the valleys of southern East Sayan it is estimated as 700–800 m. The thickness of ice in the Mondy Basin was 300–350 m. Geological and geomorphological studies and isotope surface exposure dating (10 Be method) of boulders from terminal moraine complexes have provided evidence for extensive MIS 2 glacier advance in the Mondy Basin and in the Sentsa, Jombolok, and Sailag river valleys (southern East Sayan). The average age of exposure for three groups of samples is 14, 16, and 22 k

Tectonic evolution of the Transbaikal region (Siberia) from Late Jurassic to Present. Implications for the Mongol-Okhotsk orogeny

International audienceThe Transbaikal region extends over several hundreds of kilometres east of the Baikal Rift System. It is characterized by a number of sub-parallel Mesozoic grabens or half grabens generally filled with late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous clastic sediments interbedded with coal layers (1). Similar basins occur on an even larger area spanning from the Transbaikal region down to Korea implying a large-scale extensional process affecting most of the Amuria plate during the Mesozoic. In the Transbaikal region, the normal faults controlling the edges of the Mesozoic basins are generally superimposed to Palaeozoic ductile shear zones implying a strong localisation of the extensional deformation on inherited structures. Recent studies, associated to our own fieldwork demonstrated that some of the faults were again activated (2), still as extensional faults, during the Tertiary or Quaternary, and that some of them are presently active. The closure of the Mongol-Okhotsk ocean separating the Siberian plate from the Amurian block during the Mesozoic corresponds to a major event in the growth process of the East Asian continent. The oceanic suture zone is situated on the southern edge of the Transbaikal region and its roughly SW-NE direction is parallel to the basins (3). The timing of the closure of the Mongol-Okhotsk ocean is still highly debated: while sedimentological and tectonic data suggest that the oceanic closure and the following collision occurred in early Middle Jurassic (4), paleomagnetic studies advocate for a Early Cretaceous collision (5). Furthermore, several other questions remain on the localization, the size and the fate of the relief that most probably formed during the collision between the Amuria block and the Siberian craton. In order to answer those questions we used low temperature thermochronology data associated to tectonic, sedimentology and palinology to investigate the evolution of the Transbaikal grabens from Mesozoic to Present. Tectonic and thermochronology data provide evidences of exhumation and erosion along the eastern edge of the Siberian craton during the Middle Jurassic as well as a potential continuum of deformation between the Mesozoic extension and the initiation of the Baikal Rift System (6). Sedimentology and palinology reveals that the sediments deposited in the Transbaikal basin did not registered large-scale compressive deformation during or after their Late Jurassic - Early Cretaceous deposition and that they do not correspond to the dismantling of a strong compressive relief

Late Jurassic - Early Cretaceous paleoenvironmental evolution of the Transbaikal basins (SE Siberia): implications for the Mongol-Okhotsk orogeny

International audienceThe Late Jurassic - Early Cretaceous tectonic evolution of SE Siberia was marked by the closure of the Mongol-Okhotsk ocean. While this geodynamic event led to compressive deformation and denudation in a wide area encompassing the North-Altay, Sayan and Baikal Patom ranges, it was contemporaneous to widespread extension from the Transbaikal region situated immediately north of the suture zone to the Pacific plate, affecting eastern Mongolia and northeastern China. In this study we review the paleontological and sedimentological data available in the Russian literature and provide new macro-floral and palynological data from the Mesozoic sediments of three Transbaikal basins. These data are used to describe the paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic evolution of the Transbaikal area in order to assess the topographic evolution of the region in relation with the closure of the Mongol-Okhotsk ocean. We establish that the Transbaikal basins evolved in a continuously extensional tectonic setting from at least the Early-Middle Jurassic to the Early Cretaceous. The associated sedimentary environments are characterized by retrogradation from alluvial fan –braided river dominated systems prevailing during the Early to Middle Jurassic initial opening of the basins to meandering river–lacustrine systems that developed during the Late Jurassic - Early Cretaceous interval. No evidence of high relief topography was found and we conclude that, while compression and denudation occurred in the North Altai, Sayan and Patom ranges, in the Transbaikal region, the docking of the Mongolia-North China continent to Siberia was a “soft collision” event, possibly involving a major strike-slip displacement that did not lead to an orogenic event implying strong compressive deformation, crustal thickening and topography building