New Middle Pleistocene records from the North-East foothills of Carpathian Mountains

Two kinds of paleogeographic records from the Middle Pleistocene were recently first discovered in the Bukovinian foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, not far downstream from the confluence of the Prut and Cheremosh Rivers.The area of investigation is associated with the lower Brusnytsia River, the right tributary of the Prut River (fig. 1). Due to the active tectonic uplift, wide spread of dispersal Neogenic and Quaternary sediments, and comparatively wet climate, the whole area of the Prut and Siret rivers’ interfluve is strongly damaged by landslides. Therefore it is quit problematic to find undisturbed Quaternary river terrace sequences in the area. Generally, the territory is characterized by the lack of Quaternary records at all. Only few Late Paleolithic sites without geological sequence were known few kilometers downstream the Prut R. Moreover it was important to look for the evidence of the Middle Pleistocene ther

The Quaternary lions of Ukraine and a trend of decreasing size in Panthera spelaea

The fossil record of the cave lion, Panthera spelaea, suggests a gradual decrease in body size, the process peaking just before the extinction of the species at the end of the Late Pleistocene. Such an evolutionary trend appears rather unusual for a large felid species and requires further investigation. This study reviews the cave lions of Ukraine, whose fossils are known from 46 localities dated from 800 kyr to 18–17 kyr ago, with a special emphasis on size changes through time. We describe several important finds including those of Panthera spelaea fossilis from Sambir, Panthera spelaea ssp. from Bilykh Stin Cave and Panthera spelaea spelaea from Kryshtaleva Cave. We make subspecific identifications of specimens from the region and focus on their size characteristics. Our analysis of Ukrainian cave lions agrees with the temporal trend of decreasing size, particularly accelerating during MIS 2, as exemplified by the extremely small female skull from Kryshtaleva Cave. We provide a direct AMS date for this specimen (22.0–21.5 cal kyr BP), which suggests that the Kryshtaleva lioness must have belonged to a Panthera spelaea spelaea population forced south by the spreading ice sheet. We discuss some palaeoecologi- cal aspects of the evolutionary history and eventual extinction of the cave lion. Finally, we review the subfossil records of the extant lion Panthera leo known from several Ukrainian sites archaeologically dated to 6.4–2.0 kyr BP. These finds most probably represent the Persian lion Panthera leo persica

Ancient DNA reveals interstadials as a driver of common vole population dynamics during the last glacial period

Aim Many species experienced population turnover and local extinction during the Late Pleistocene. In the case of megafauna, it remains challenging to disentangle climate change and the activities of Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers as the main cause. In contrast, the impact of humans on rodent populations is likely to be negligible. This study investigated which climatic and/or environmental factors affect the population dynamics of the common vole. This temperate rodent is widespread across Europe and was one of the most abundant small mammal species throughout the Late Pleistocene. Location Europe. Taxon Common vole (Microtus arvalis). Methods We generated a dataset comprised of 4.2 kb long fragment of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from 148 ancient and 51 modern specimens sampled from multiple localities across Europe and covering the last 60 thousand years (ka). We used Bayesian inference to reconstruct their phylogenetic relationships and to estimate the age of the specimens that were not directly dated. Results We estimated the time to the most recent common ancestor of all last glacial and extant common vole lineages to be 90 ka ago and the divergence of the main mtDNA lineages present in extant populations to between 55 and 40 ka ago, which is earlier than most previous estimates. We detected several lineage turnovers in Europe during the period of high climate variability at the end of Marine Isotope Stage 3 (MIS 3; 57-29 ka ago) in addition to those found previously around the Pleistocene/Holocene transition. In contrast, data from the Western Carpathians suggest continuity throughout the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) even at high latitudes. Main Conclusions The main factor affecting the common vole populations during the last glacial period was the decrease in open habitat during the interstadials, whereas climate deterioration during the LGM had little impact on population dynamics. This suggests that the rapid environmental change rather than other factors was the major force shaping the histories of the Late Pleistocene faunas.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Diversity of muskox Ovibos moschatus (Zimmerman, 1780) (Bovidae, Mammalia) in time and space based on cranial morphometry

Muskox Ovibos moschatus is a Pleistocene relic, which has survived only in North America and Greenland. During the Pleistocene, it was widely distributed in Eurasia and North America. To evaluate its morphological variability through time and space, we conducted an extensive morphometric study of 217 Praeovibos and Ovibos skull remains. The analyses showed that the skulls grew progressively wider from Praeovibos sp. to the Pleistocene O. moschatus, while from the Pleistocene to the recent O. moschatus, the facial regions of the skull turned narrower and shorter. We also noticed significant geographic differences between the various Pleistocene Ovibos crania. Siberian skulls were usually larger than those from Western and Central Europe. Eastern Europeanmuskoxen also exceeded in size those from the other regions of Europe. The large size of Late Pleistocene muskoxen from regions located in more continental climatic regimes was probably associated with the presence of more suitable food resources in steppe-tundra settings. Consistently, radiocarbon-dated records of this species are more numerous in colder periods, when the steppe-tundra was widely spread, and less abundant in warmer periods

Holocene seismodislocations of Kelmentsy part of the Dniester area, Ukraine

Holocene landslide-gravitational seismodislocation of Kelmenetsky part of the Dniester area formed due to strong platform tremor M_w>4.5, which took place in between 1.000 BC and XVI-XVII centuries. They are presented as different sizes fragments of limestone oncoid. The results of seismodislocation’s measurements, mechanism and causes of their formation should be considered in seismicity of the territory to protect the environment and population from serious consequences of future earthquake

Pollen and lithological data from the Bukovynka Cave deposits as recorders of the Late Pleistocene and Holocene climatic change in the eastern foothills of the Carpathian Mountains (Ukraine)

The study of clastic sediments of the BukovynkaCaveshows biotic and climatic changes during the Middle Pleniglacial (the Trapeznyi Chamber), Late Glacial and Holocene (the Sukhyi Chamber) in the south-eastern part of the Ukrainian Carpathians. The artesian BukovynkaCaveis located near the villageof Stal’nivtsi(the Chernivtsi region), in the PrutRiver basin. It is developed in the Miocene gypsum strata. The Quaternary clastic infilling of the cave, as well as mammal taphonomy has been previously studied in the Trapeznyi Chamber (Vremir et al., 2000; Ridush, 2004; Ridush et al., 2012), whereas palaeomagnetic research and its palaeoenvironmental implication has been provided for the Sukhyi Chamber (Bondar and Ridush, 2014). The results of pollen and grain-size studies of clastic deposits in both chambers, supported by mammal finds, are presented in this paper. In the Chernivtsi region, the pollen study has been previously performed (without 14C-dating) on the Upper Pleistocene loess-paleosol section of Snyatyn and on the Onut site of the Holocene flood-plain deposits of the River Prut (Artyushenko et al., 1982). 39 samples from the cave sediments have been processed for grain-size analyses using the ‘pipette’ technique by Kachinsky (1965). In order to get pollen from clastic sediments, the following technique has been applied: heating with 10% HCl and 10% KOH, cold treatment with HF, disintegration in a solution of Na4P2O7 and separation in heavy liquid (CdI2 and KI) with a specific gravity 2.2. The abundance and good preservation of pollen show that the cave chambers turned periodically into sedimentation traps. Mammal bones are also mostly well preserved. Re-deposited pollen are abundant in the Trapeznyi Chamber but occur very rarely in the Suchyi Chamber. The present-day vegetation near the cave is a meadow-steppe surrounded by Carpinus-Quercus forest. The high proportion of Pinus sylvestris pollen in the surface soil samples (30-40%) does not correspond to the limited role that pine has in the modern vegetation. On the basis of this fact, pine pollen in the cave deposits are also regarded as over-represented because of its ability to travel farther on the wind than other pollen and its better preservation in rocks.</p

Middle and Late Pleistocene terrestrial snails from the Middle Dniester area, Ukraine (based on Mykola Kunytsia’s collections)

Extensive collections of land molluscs from the many sections of Middle and Late Pleistocene deposits in the region of the Middle Dniester River were made by Professor Mykola Kunytsia (1925–2002). These collections, now at the Natural Museum, Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University, were for the most part analysed, but remained partially unpublished. M. Kunytsia used them for regional reconstructions of palaeolandscapes during various stages of the Pleistocene. In our study, we used these collections to assess the land snail diversity in the region during consecutive stages of the Middle and Late Pleistocene. Our analysis of faunas of cold and warm stages showed that the latter were more diverse. While all or most of the cold stages had many species in common, the faunas of the warm stages were more heterogeneous. Such a feature may play an essential role in Quaternary biostratigraphy

Rockmagnetic correlation between Holocene cave sediments at the mountain and loess soil deposits in Piedmont Crimea (on example of the trap cave Emine-Bair-Khosar and archaeological site Biyuk-Karasu-XIX)

Modern soils and paleosols, loess and uncemented aeolian caves sediments are carriers of a paleoclimatic signal (Evans, Heller, 2003). The saturation degree of a layer with humus material, depending on the temperature, correlates well with magnetic susceptibility and different types of magnetization of deposits (Tang et al., 2003, Bosak&amp;Pruner, 2011).On the base of rockmagnetic measurements of soil-containing samples, collected from sections at Biyuk-Karasu-XIX (Piedmont Crimea) and Emine-Bair-Khosar Cave (lower plateau of Chatyrdag mountain massive in Crimea) (Ridush et al., 2013), correlation of sediments done in the context of common climate changes in the region during Holocene.The process of sediments accumulation in the sections covers roughly the same period. The loess soil section Biyuk-Karasu-XIX contains findings of hand shaped pottery and flintstones. The section structure has characteristic features of Holocene soil formation for which received a definite chronological anchor. The section of cave deposits in the Emine-Bair-Khosar Cave was dated by radiocarbon and paleomagnetic methods (Ridush et al., 2013). For saiga bone from the depth of 2.0 m radiocarbon (14C) date 10,490 +/- 170 (Ki-13063) obtained. At -1.1 m deep the paleomagnetic excursion, dated 2.8 kyr BP, was recorded (Bondar, Ridush, 2010).Sediments of both sections are horizontally-layered. They contain darker units, which color is controlled by organic material, and lighter units of loess-like loam.Section Biyuk-Karasu-XIX consists of the following lithofacial units: 1, 2 - hlb2 – meadow alkaline chernozem, where unit 1 - horizon Hegl, unit 2 - horizon Hp, Pikgl, Pkgl; 3, 4 - hlb1 - the soil has features of grey or sod-calcareous soil forming, unit 3 combines horizons He and Eh, unit 4 – illuvial horizons Ihp and Pigl; 5 - pc-bg? - silty-sandy light loam. Lithofacial units are named according to “Stratigraphic scheme of Quaternary deposits of Ukraine” (Veklich et al., 1993), soil horizons are named according to Dokuchaev soil classification (Dokuchaev, 1883).Section of unconsolidated sediments in the Emine-Bair-Khosar Cave consists of the following lithofacial units: unit A - dark gray, loose, structureless, moist, light-loamy texture, contains much of organic matter. Unit B - sequence, which consists of eight packs of clay+clastic layer, reddish-brown in color, size of limestone rubbles in clastic layers increases from 1-2 mm at the top of unit, to 1 cm at the bottom. Unit C is light, fawn, homogeneous clay, with a low content of clastic material. There are two clastic units in the section, D and F, and they are formed by chaotically accumulated acute limestone debris up to 5 cm in diameter. Unit E has similar morphology as unit C. Unit G composed with the grayish-brown clay with thin clastic beds.</p

Patterns of snow avalanche activity during the last century in Chornohora Range (Eastern Carpathians, Ukraine): Tree-ring reconstruction coupled with synoptic conditions analysis

International audienceThis contribution presents a first comprehensive study of snow-avalanche activity in three paths of the Chornohora range, located in southwestern Ukraine, based on historical chronicles and dendrochronology. The results are combined with a statistical analysis of meteorological drivers conducive to snow-avalanche release. While the written chronicles last from 1966 to 2015, the dendrological approach offers results back to the end of the 19th century; however, if the information covers a longer time-lapse, it loses accuracy as only the winter scale is documented through the analysis of tree-ring growing patterns. Weather data highlight the synoptic scenarios over some of the avalanche events that have been recognized as major, as the three paths were concerned