Continuous Late Quaternary proxy climate records from loess in Beringia

Loess deposits in eastern Beringia contain continuous proxy records of the effects of past climatic change on terrestrial landscapes at high latitudes . Variations of environmental magnetism and sedimentology of high-latitude loess deposits indicate that the timing and pattern of responses to local v ariations in wind intensity, storminess, and pedogenesis in eastern Beringi a closely resemble the pattern of global climate change during the Late Qua ternary deduced from studies of marine and ice core records. The age of pal eoclimatic fluctuations, permafrost features, volcanic ash horizons, buried forest layers and paleosols, and other features of the eastern Beringian l oess record can be determined using a variety of Quaternary dating methods. Tephrochronologic correlations between the loess record and the glacial hi story of eastern Beringia indicate the Delta Glaciation occurred during mar ine isotope stage 6. Several other middle and Late Quaternary glaciations a cross eastern Beringia can be tephrochronologically tied to the loess recor d, and appear to have been in phase with episodes of global cooling recorde d in deep-sea records. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.