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Volcanic Soil Series of the Lesser Caucasus as an Archive of Early Pleistocene Paleoecological Information

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Abstract

Early Pleistocene volcanic soil series exposed in archaeological sites of the Lori Plateau and the Upper Akhurian Lowland of the Armenian Upland were studied. The study considers the isotopic composition of organic carbon and the content of n-alkanes, not previously analyzed in this area. Both these parameters indicate the waterlogged conditions of Early Pleistocene soil formation as is also indicated by morphology and magnetic susceptibility values. The reconstructed landscapes were represented by herbaceous biocenoses on hydromorphic soils with prevalence of C3-grasses.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are deeply grateful to the late V.P. Lyubin and E.V. Belyaeva (Institute for the History of the Material Culture of Russian Academy of Sciences) for providing the opportunity to study the archaeological sites, and to A.V. Tiunov for helping with isotope analysis.

Funding

The research was financially supported by Russian Science Foundation, project nos. 17-14-01120, 20-61-46004 and 117031410017-4.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia

    N. O. Kovaleva & E. M. Stolpnikova

  2. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    E. M. Stolpnikova

Authors
  1. N. O. Kovaleva
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  2. E. M. Stolpnikova
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Correspondence to N. O. Kovaleva or E. M. Stolpnikova.

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Translated by T. Kuznetsova

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Kovaleva, N.O., Stolpnikova, E.M. Volcanic Soil Series of the Lesser Caucasus as an Archive of Early Pleistocene Paleoecological Information. Paleontol. J. 54, 872–881 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0031030120080092

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0031030120080092

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