The Middle and Late Pleistocene glacial-interglacial succession of eastern Belarus

The Middle and Late Pleistocene glacial-interglacial succession of eastern Belarus

PavIws@ I. H. -The M U o md hte P ~glacd-interglacial ~ eawcmaion of eastun Marus. Gml. Qwt, 44 (2):

19%2M. wmawa.

-led plogical andpalaeobotmical s* of abwt 400 boreholep through Quateraary d e p i l s in wtm B e l m has cnabld tbe rec- ogaition of a number of Middle asld ]Late Heistmeat inDeFglacial a i k and demmhkd the skdpphical position of Alexandrim fJ-IoIsMuim) aud M m v h I&mirm) IabergLaE'i dime&. These mdasm qmbd by a single glacial qumce, mme- sponding to tha Ilniepea (Wian} Ohciation. This colmadicb prwioas views suggesting the occurrence ofbw glaciations during the Late

M i ~ ~ ~ i n ~ B e l a m s ~ ~ a n d S o z h ) . ~ g t a F i a l ~ r e p r e s e n t ~ ~ m p h a s e g o f ~ ~ s t a g e ~ m a y lm ondated with the -the Substage of tho W a n Glaciation,

Kay word^ Balmnu$ Middle P h W c m q h b PleistocFn~, Dniepa Glaciation, Wgraphy.

INTRODUCTION

The main problem o f h Quatemq skafigqhy ofBelarug concerns the subcliviaion of tbe Middle Heistmenee DBemt c o n q l s dealing with this problem are based mainly on

~ C a t ~ c e . T h e r e a r e t w o m a i a p o i n t s o f v i e w um&g the nuder of glaciations in the h t e Middie

Pl&

towme (Pig. 1). The first suggests two qmmk Dnieper and Sozh Gkiatiolls, as proposed by Makchnd et at. (19701, Gmkij et d. (1986)

and

Maheyw (1990,1W5). The second

~ t h a t o n l y w e ~ t i o n o c c u r r e d b e t w e e n t h e A I e x m d r h and the Muravian Interglacids (Velichkevich

a

d., 1996). The law ^~~~1 is not widely 4 in geological m a p p i n g b e c m e , d y a d v o c a t e d b y ~ ~ i t i s based on isolated interghd d m withwt & c i a d y - ais of their relatiodips with glacial &ants. Geologists en-

&

geologicd mqphg wnuot o h fuad geologicd evi- -den= of this sImtigrapW concept and cannot apply it to t h ~

observed spatial ~ u t i m of sedimentq f o r m ~ t ~ ~ It has k a m e h i n g l y di&ult to correlate gml@ maps, compiled by geologists who follow di&mt graphical

~ vpdcularly where g l a d ~ , dqomts p e s s vary d a r h m t e r i d c s within amas where intaglacia1 sediments b v e not h n found Biosldgrqhic analysis of interglacial

sediments alwe is 0th W c i e n t b M ed ythe

age afthe interglacial arad thereby of the aswiated g l a d &

posits. Precise mlativo agedating of de@ts requim anal&

of spatial dktchiion, sad facie8 xelsltion&ips to be integrated with biostmtigrqhic information.

Here, t h ~ glacial W t s between two W & c mark-

ers, the A h a d r i m otnd M m h Interglacial deposits, are anal+ ^as regards their lith* and chmnosmtigmphic position wilhineastemBelanrs.Speclalattentionispaidtolateralvmia- timawayfmnkeysitcs. Inthepastfewyears,new se&m of i n h g l d deposits

have

b e a d e d during ^{detailed geolog-} idmapphgineastmBelatus in 1995-1998, iavolvingwcten- sive d d h g d e d o u t by the eateqnk'Yiemmi&'(Fig. 2).

This area adjoins, on its westem side, the Sbklov InkrgMd stratoiype (Niizhninsky ROY) (Makcha& 19711, and is a key area for mvdgatiom of the Sozh stratigraphic unit { W j , 1974).

The arealiesbetweefl theDnieperd Soahrivervdeys on the S h k t e marainic plateau and is c h a m m i d by a relatively flat relief of

MI

the p s n t d the pre+&mmy surfwe. The Qmemq strata are oommody 70-80 m thi*

reding ^a maximum of 130 m. k i litde evidence of

~ ~ d e f o r m a t m o r o f w i n n o w h g b y g l a c i d m e l t w a - ter. These are, h&le conditions for the preservation of interglacial sediments andnummus welkpresewed and &-

turbed d m of htagIacial s d h m t s have been fomd here

GLACIATIONS AND _{~ G L A ~}

Fw 1. Chmshligrapbi subdivisimoftbo Mid& aad Late Plcistocrmo in&larw(Wrgh&hareingrey)

(Pavbvskya et d, 19976 b; Sav- and Pavf- in

-1.

Recently, over 20 new interglacial sitshave beenrecog-

nkd

INTERGLACIAL SEDLMSNTS

and G z r y ~ (PavIovskaya et ai., 1997a; Rylova et al., 1999). The

d t s o f p o I l m M @ w s oftbe D h y a s d o n s h d a complete v e g e t a t i d succession e x t d i n g to dx -b of the following glaciation (Rylm ^d al., 19991, with a continuous vegetational m s i o n and unintempted sWtScation at most sites.

Muravian sadimeats repmeat the younger h k r g h c l se-

qmme. Numerous sites wifh Muavian lntergla~ial deposits have h e n recogokd norh of the Alexandrian lake Wct area. These deposits are preserved in incisions dhedy cut into a till that omlies the Alexmdnm InkrgIad acc&om.

The Mumvian sdmmb occur at 170-180 m as.L, and their thickness d m not e d7-8 m as a de, but at hated ^sites (Bobrwo, Kdinovka) they are up to 17 m thick. Some

Mum& d m include peat lyjng directly on a till at the ^base of the interglacial sequence (Fig. 3b). Bog dqmsits are r e p l a d mwssively by _clayey, then c a l m u s &a, lacustrim sand and silt in the ~ O Spart tof the s q m c e . Pollen, sedimen- taryandradicmhcmevidence at M c h i (pollendysisby I.

Savchenko) and Kaqmy (pollen analysis by V. Zenitskaya), in* that lacustrine sedimentation in some W ~ h o l e de- pressions might have continued without my d e p o s i t i d break through the Muravian Interglacial and into Poozerian (Weichselian) time until the maximum advance ofthe _last: glaci- ation (PavIovshp d Zumitskaya, 1998; Savchenlm and Pavlovskayrg in press). Numerous sections with Muravian and Pooimim sediments suggest Iacustrine cunditions throughout

T w o ~ I ~ , e b y g ~ w r s ,

havebeendi&gwhedmtbearastudied&ihgtfie~~

the older belongs to the Alexandrian Interglacial. Most Alexan- drim siks are h t e d in the oentraI and southern parts of the m.Commodythesearelak~tsofgy#ja,md,occa-

~ o n a U y s i l t ; m s c r m e p ~ ~ ~ i s f o u n d a t t h e t o p o f t b e b

t h e sequence (Fix. 3a). In mwt mes, A l e x a n d r h h k q l a d s d k n t s occurat 1 ~ 1 6 0 r n a s . l . inshallowincisionsappar- d y fixmed by meltwater erosion cutting the underlying till (Nowselki, C h q m b b , Krivtsy, Do* and othea;). These incisions rn about 10 m in depth and they are generally f l e d w i h b ~ 8 8 n & , o v e r l a i n b y I a k e ~ ~ cwtaiaingor- gank matter, Commonly thm deposits are 5 8 m thick, but

&upto 15mrrtSmoh T h e g e o l o g d ~ o f t h e s e d e p i t s indicate that there were systems of ravine Mes that ex-

isted tbughout the Alexandrian 1 1 1 t q h h l . These Atexan- drian bog and lake sediments are buried beneath g l a c i o k w t r k and glacioflwial d q m t s or b e n d till of he

d s q m t glaciation.

T. Yakubovskaya, T. Rylova, G. Simakova and I.

Sawhedm have underEaken pdamhtmicaf hvestigaths of the h c u d n e deposits. T. Yhbovskaya initially found dm- dsult p l d macmfossils that were g e n d y me in boreholes. In

&a ICrivhy, Nov& and Dobraya d o n s , she identified macrofads of REX ^sp., Cdinia gorefsky a d Abies alba, which together indicated an A l wage (Pavlo* ^et d., 1997a, b). This ~)nelusim was &ed by pollen evi- dence which unequivody demonmated a complete Alexau-

drim d o nwith high d ofdbfes,

w,

Car~rhw _{*ig. 2.} ofMos9-sPchm in Fig. 4 (liw wi& -1 in whitc circles) A h , togetherwithN8ogene xeli~~ such T q a , Jirglar~s md s i t , @ k k circles) mentioned in the paper

The Middle and Late P l e U e glacial

Early and Middle Pooaetim time. The plant-bearing itltergla- ciat witsare hid bend& sandy or sometimes dty lacus- trineanddope *' tsdrrtinghmLatePoozeriaatime.

The Muraviansites occur at a consistent altitude dinsimi- lslr geologid settings thughmt the m q as do the Aim- drian wts(see above). Thus, there arewW l & fields i n t h e a r e a t h a t o r i ~ i n t h e m a r g i n a l ~ ~ oftwodi&rmt

g l a c i ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ It should be empbised that, dmph the fawnaslble preservationd conditions for both the Alexandrian and Muravian 1nf;ergIdl sediments, there is no'evidam of any ''warm" deposits which might c m e q o n d to the in-g

Shklov Interglacial unit in the _area M e d (see Fig. 1).

Velidhvich (1979) studied the plant mamfods b m the Nizhninslry Rov s d m , a r e g i d stmtoiyp far the Shklw hterghd and considered this _flora to be much older than that ofthe Alexandrian Inksglacial, -1 him to ^neg.ilte the con- cept of a Shklov Inkqhcial. Despite this, though, t2K subdivi- sion of the ^yo- Middle Pleistocene into a Dnieper G h i - ation, a Shklov &@acid and a Sozh Glaciation remained the prevailing concept for several

decades.

GLACIAL SEQUENCE

The glacial deposits separating the Ale~~ndrian and Muravian

I n m w

s d b m t s 4 o f g h c i o l a c ~ and

~ ~ f l u v i a l ~ ~ d t i l f ~ . N ~ ~ d b o r e - holes spud 1.5-2

Irm

apart

deanonstrated

the mnlhuity of

each lithofogicd lmit and provided idomation on texture, li- thology, s e d h e d q sbwture and phwproperties.

The till o c w at 150-1 70 m u . l . , ha d k h d v e and uni- fwm li~logicat c h a m k h t i i c s throughout the area and is a d o m h d y dm, dense and pebbly loam, 1520 rn- A.

Kazaryan@exs.coxrrm)hasnotedunifmphyaicalpmPet.tes as regards resistance, density, ^{m e 5 8} and permeabUy. The

physical and lithological chamckristics oftbetill Wex sign&

d yh m those of the 3- @tmimf till which rmderlies the AlexatdrhIntergbial diments.

The sedimentary texture, s t w t m d

ocaurerace

ofthe till indicate its subglacial origin In general, the tiU is densely p k d , with a h o b n h l lower umtact lackg d d m n a h

and injections at its lower sltrface. ?k Novoselki and Do-

sites only a series of smalI lenses 1-1.5 m long, composed of sandy material derived from the underlying ghciofluvid sedi- mentq hve beenreoog&edwithin?hetill. However, long-axis orientatims of these ledses cmmspmd to those of the till hb

rics. The latter orientation shows slight between-site variability of 1&15O and occasionally to 20'. m echmkstw

. .

_fi-

cate that the tilI was deposited by lodgement u r u k relatively fast moving ice.

The till can be traced coirtinuoudy across almost the whole area (Fig. 4a, b), ex* ⁱⁿ the south where glaciduvial di- ments (Fig 4c) raplace it.

t .

d~ of inkrbdded sartds, gravels and _silfs which vary both latedy and vertically. They are often &lain by ~ a c i odts and I ~clays, and over-

lain by b g m h d kame sands interbedded with sdb. The glaciofluvial sediments include tiin of mudy till which pbabIy fmmd subaqumdy, The ghioflud-kame se

qwcp.

Bas

been folmd above local b d c & highs where the

Fig. 3. Exampla of Aiexmdrian (a) and Mmvisn @) IntmgMal sections Genesis of sedimentr: glacial 0, gkiofh~pid (Q, +glacial polygooetk

@g), Iake 0, bog 0; qp: E%r- B dOlaFistion, Ak- AleKaadrian Intqtaci& Dn - Dnieper Qlschh, fi - Mumvim htmghirrl, P;s -

Pooaaie Olaciation, H

-

^HoIocene

~ e s s o f h ~ h n o t e x c e e d 3 4 m a n d m o s t l y cons& of glacidwial deposits.

In spite of the above-mentioned structural dif%mnca in glacial deposits that mut between the Alexandrian and Muraviaa slmtigmphic markers, they q p a r ^t~ be the m e

l i t f i d g r q h k d L This beconaes ^evident if the setling and

t h e p a l a e g e o ~ c a l f a c t m f h a t ~ t o ~ ~ o f -its are considered. The extensive Muravian lake U c t

s e e m s t o h v e ~ t o t h e ~ p l n e o f t h e p n w i - ow gh&ion, mthesamewayasthepment&&cts mark the mugid regions of ihe last glaciation. Thus, mixed mar- ginal

-

^{of glacial and} ghch0uvial origin mi&t be ex- pwtd swrth of the Muravian lake d&ri& The gIaciduvia1 sediments mtahhg small 1- of reworked till, together with kame might d e c t the melting and retreert of an ice fmnt, most p b b l y of relatively p i v e l a k d mzagins where wit &I& of dead-ice with local pools and meltwater chandwerefirrmed. TheghiofIuvial ~ t s a n d w e r l y i n g kame sediments were deposited from the melting of slow-mo* or stamioe. The setting of these deposits vis-a-vis IocaI be!dmk e k d m mgpsts tbat g l a d tipam- icsdepdedonsub~topopphy.l%eIatterplqedanes-

s m i a l r o l e i n d i ~ i c e i n t o l ~ l o b e a a n d ~ ~ ~ o n e d t h e reddoas m ice t h i c h m and velocity, that led to ice margin

staption.

U Loess-like deposlts

r Kame s i b and sands

Gfadal d e m b Interglacial and interstadia1 s%s

m- v

^{w - w q}

I - v

^WJI

M e w I-~rhl-na

V-

Fig 4. Gaologid m ~ mH sand gemdiked ~ ~ td; W o n i wsee P i i l

] - - m y , 2 - ~ 3 - D o b r y n , 4 - P o l n a , S - ~ v k $ 6 - ~ ~ , 7 - ~ y a . 8-S-9-Subotlca, 10- Azarichi; f0rshTdipphi~

Legad ses Fig. 3

Thus, the deposils ofmixed glacial-glaciofluvial origin con- prolmbly repmats ms- fhm moving ice as a 1- fm to a m r g i d facies. In caw the deposition of the mas- ment till. The ghcial swcasi~18 thus reflect different p h a s ~ of she, dense till of the northern and cenhd parts of the area ^glacier d o n .

The M Wmd Latc P l dglacial-inbergleciat nwcwion of eash-41 B d a m 203

FINAL REMARKS

Twoassmptimshave~madeinoonsideringtheageof the g l a d dqmsits, F a y , theglad deposits wedying Alex-

andrisn

sediments and der1ying Muraviaa sedinaents are ^as- s

& only with a glaciation which must be younger fhan the Bexeziaa @I&rh) Gbiation and older h the Pmzuie (Weichselian) Glaciation. Secondly, despite the litho1oghI va- riety ofthese -its tbe g l a d succession separating Alexan- drian and Mumvim &eats appears to represent a single dqmsitional unit (Rig, M).

This glacial succession, including till, ghciofluvid, g l a c i o l a c u s t r i n e a n d b m e ~ i t s , s e e m s t o b e ~ w i t h the Dniqer Glaciatioo andxelated only to a single @ml siage

in the chro~lstmtipqhic maning of this term. The evidence doanotconfirmthenoticmoftwo~v~glaci&m@nie per and Sozh), t least in eastem Belam.

Howevek,thestdatadonatsuficidy determinetnorepre- cisely the stratigraphid equivalence of the. gl& sequenoe. It mi& have been deposited during either the Dm& or the

Warte g l a d episode8 of the ~ a & ~ I a c i ~ ~ n . ~ e m t h e l w , thesedimemtationbistorysuggests~attheeadofthe A f e x d r h Interglacial and at the beginning of the following glachim withut significant k q o m l hkmptioa In some kettle-hole sequences (e.g. Dobraya &) the Alexandrian pollen sumasion is superseded by an sly @d m e and this also implies continwus sedjmen&on. On the other hand, the Muravianhkrghdsadiments inthe sits studiedhave as&- mentary break at their base in a number of sections. Thmfore, there is a little evidence to mppose that ^the glacial sequence coutd be of Dmnihe age. Ifintenndak intmtdkd dimen@

were to be located, then these may Grthex mnstrain the precise stratigraphical ^age of the g h l d o n .

Achmledgwwlls. I am grateful forthe ~ o ~ t i o n and discwion c o l l c m i q this paper to geologists of the amprise

"d' including

A.V.

m a n , S. P.

La&

and V, Q,

h*. I wouldlike to thank dso V, _I. Mad&& and L.

V.

S h v a , who carried out drilling rmd allowed s q h g of the d i m e m fbrpdmbohicaldysb.Iamptlyindebtedt0 Dr.

P. L.

Gibbard for durlbh-ts improving thepap.

GURsKIJ B. N. (1 974) - Lowa aa61 Mddle QMermy stratigraphy in Bclonwik N a b i Tddmika. Minsk

GURXU B. N., MAKCWNAQI N. A,, LEVKOV E, A, andLKEWCH G.

I, (1986)- SWgraphic s c h m of thaQuatemsuy deposits of B e l m . In: Protrtcmy i ~ ~ e m n o i k o r y 3 e I o m p s i i i mpmddaych taritooii (m Ruasim with Bnglih annnnaary): 30-37. Do- b e l m k i k h gmlogw na 27 ~ s i i M d m m m c b p gcologickhgo Kmgaa.

Maskva. 1984. Nauka i TPkhnika Miask.

M C H N A C H N. A. (1971) -W of !he Antropogenic vegebti~n de- wlopmmt in Bolorwia (in R d ) . Nauka i Tekhnh Miaak.

MAKCHNACHN. A., LBVKOVE. A. andGURSKUB.N. (1970)-Strati- gmpMc subdivision of the Qnatematy in l3elwussia (in Russim with Eaglisb summary]. Doltt. AN BeIanrsi, I4 (I): 4547.

MATVWBV A.V. (1990)

-

I-&tory of thc landfomr development ⁱⁿ

%eIarus. Nanka i TF%haika M i

MATVEYEV A.V.(1995)-01acid historyofBoWusa In: OIacialdeposit%

in nmh-castem h m p o (&. J. fitem, 5. Koearski and P. L. Gfbbard):

267-276. - - B ~ k d ~ l d

RYLOVA T., PAVLOVSKAYA 1. and SAVCHENKO I. (1 999) - The age of thc Weistocene W i C o f the Dobraya d o n (Eastem B c l ~ ) (in M i a a with English summy), Dokl. AN Belami, 43 (6) 84-97.

P A W V S K A Y A L, SIMAKOVA G. and YAKUBOVSKAYA T. (1Wa)

-

A l r x d r h (EIobWan) lacushine in eastwa Befanrs. In:

Quaternary deposits and neotectonics in thc area of Pteistooanc gkiatiom, Abstrect wlum of the field p i u r n : 49-50. M~iask PAVLOVSKAYA L, SfMAKOVA G. mdYAKUBOVSWAT. (1997b)

- NCW sections with Atexandrim interglacial deposits in castem

l3ehs (in Russian with hgLish B-1. Dokl, AN Belarus4 41 (2):

95-99.

PAWVSKAYA I. d ZRRNITSKAYA V. (1998) - P a p e r y - glacjalne i ~ r a do s d y ~ w cprofilu Ka+ny @Mn-wscbo&a Bialdm6]. In: Paleogeografia gbrnogo plujstoeenu i holocenu wscbohkj Polski i B ~ ~3 9 4 0 . Semmarium i : Polsko-Bialde.

Krak6w.

SAVCWNKO I. and PAWVSKAYA I. (m --Mumvim (&mian) and EarIy P o o z e a (Weicbselian) deposits at Azarichi (am

klams).Amptcd for publication in: M u g s of the 5 EPPC, Ach P d W . , Supp., 1999.

VELI-W F. Yu. (1979)- History d the PIdstwene d m m thc midc of the m-~ur~pean plain.

rn:

swetsbp w r ~ g i a : 76121. IUauks Moscow.

VELICHKEVICH P., SANK0 F,, RYLOVA T., NAZAROV V., KHURSEVICH G. andLITVMWK G. (1996)- -graphic dm of the Qltatemary (Anthropogmc) deposits id Bclanrs (in M a n ) . Str& Geol. C m l . , 4 (B): 7547.