RECONSTRUCTION OF QUATERNARY HISTORY OF SOUTHERN KURIL ISLANDS

Many researchers refer to uplifted marine terraces on the Kuril Island s (North Western Pacific), but there is no single opinion of their num ber, ages and altitudes. This study, which investigates this problem t hrough field studies an the Kunishir, Iturup and Urup Islands of the K uril Are, found that, the age of the low level terraces (2-10 m) lies in a time range from present to 5,000 BP. The peak of the Holocene tra nsgression occurred near 4,000 BP and sea-level did not exceed the pre sent level. Higher terrace levels range from 10 to 60 m above present levels. They were formed just before the last Glaciate (17,000 BP). Th eir radiocarbon C-14 age is about 27,000 BP. For planation surfaces at higher levels, there is no evidence to support marine origin except f or the central part of the Urup. In the Southern Great Kuril Islands, evidence of marine sedimentation ended by the Pliocene-Early Pleistoce ne. In the southern Kunashir, there was no evidence of marine sediment ation after the Early-Middle Pleistocene. Local peripheral submergence occurred in the period 40 to 27 ka, when marine terraces obviously fo rmed on Iturup and possibly on Urup. There are no traces of the Last I nterglacial (125 ka) transgressions in the South Kuril Islands.