Correlation and paleomagnetism of glacial and loess-paleosol sequences on the West Siberian Plain

A complex assemblage of geological, biostratigraphical, paleopedological, magnetostratigraphical, and radiometric techniques has been used for analysis and correlation of deposits on the West Siberian Plain. A series of magnetostratigraphical columns has been constructed, and the glacial, alluvial, lacustrine, and loess-paleosol deposits compared. The data are paleomagnetic boundaries such as the Brunhes/Matuyama boundary, the base of the Jaramillo subchron, and the Blake excursion. Their position in the sections is discussed. A loess-paleosol succession is considered in detail. The number of climatostratigraphic cycles is comparable with the world's standard sections of similar genesis. Special attention is given to the description of the Early Pleistocene stages of soil formation. The Malinovka pedocomplex has been described here for the first time. It is related to the final stage of the Matuyama chron, and is characterized by fauna similar to the Petropavovka (Karai-Dubina) fauna. A scheme is proposed to correlate glacial and loess-paleosol deposits on the West Siberian Plain and to compare them with the oxygen isotope scale. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.