Pleistocene climatic stratigraphy and environments of the Terek-Kuma Lowland (NW Caspian sea region) inferred from palynological, paleomagnetic and rodent records of the long Otkaznoye sediment sequence

The paper presents the results of a high-resolution palynological, paleomagnetic, and microtheriological study of the Pleistocene sediment sequence at Otkaznoye in the Eastern Ciscaucasian foreland; a sequence which is unique in its stratigraphic completeness and thickness (similar to 160 m). The sequence includes loess-paleosol, alluvial, and alluvial-proluvial beds. The detailed climatostratigraphic subdivision of the Otkaznoye sequence allows a correlation of the established paleoclimatic record with the global marine isotope stages. The past climatically induced variability in the landscape of the Terek-Kuma Lowland is reconstructed for all Neopleistocene (i.e., Middle and Late Pleistocene) interglacial and glacial periods and for some intervals during the later Early Pleistocene stages. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.