C-14 DATING OF LATE PLEISTOCENE-HOLOCENE EVENTS ON KUNASHIR ISLAND, KURIL ISLANDS

Kunashir Island is a very important site for paleoenvironmental recons tructions. Until recently, very little information on Quatarnary depos its was available. we studied the environmental evolution of this ocea nic island under the influence of geomorphological processes, volcanis m and strong marine currents. This paper presents new data that allow a detailed reconstruction of the environmental development of Kunashir Island during the Late Pleistocene-Holocene, based on ca. 80 radiocar bon dates and diatom, pollen and sedimentological data. The vegetation development reflects climate changes and warm/cold current migrations .