MICROTHERIOFAUNAL RECONSTRUCTION OF THE KAZANTSEVO INTERGLACIAL CLIMATE IN THE SOUTH OF WEST SIBERIA Available to Purchase

The West-Siberian fauna of small mammalians of the Kazantsevo time is reviewed. The ranges of microtheriofauna species in five localities related to paleosoils of the Berd’ soil assemblage and alluvial deposits of the Kazantsevo time are analyzed in detail. The Ust’-Charyshskaya Pier, Belovo, and Tatarka localities, dated to the Kazantsevo optimum on pale ontological, ESR, and TL evidence, are dominated by remains of steppe species (gophers, meadow mice, and yellow lemmings). This is indicative of steppe landscapes and limited occurrence of other biotopes. The temperature varied within the modern range or was slightly higher. Eolagurus luteus, abundant in Tatarka and characteristic of arid steppes and semideserts, is indicative of more arid climatic conditions than the modern ones. Microtheriofaunal evidence suggests that the Kazantsevo optimum in the south of West Siberia did not differ significantly from the modern climate. If the environmental conditions and the climate of the Kazantsevo optimum are considered to be a conceivable analog of the natural conditions in the first third of the 21st century, no dramatic environmental changes in the steppe and forest-steppe zones of West Siberia should be expected. In other localities (Novotroitskoe, Ryazanka, and Krasnyi Yar), the range and relative abundances of Kazantsevo small mammalian species were different; they included tundra species (lemmings). By the joint occurrence of steppe and tundra forms, rodent associations of these localities can be classified with “mixed faunas” having no analogs. Such faunas are usually assigned to tundra-steppe landscapes and climates cooler than the modern ones. It is likely that these faunas are related to either the initial or final stages of the Kazantsevo environment rather than to its optimum.