ARAL Sea & Caspian Sea

Biostratigraphy and chronostratigraphy.
Paleovegetation and paleoclimate.
Timing of connections with Mediterranean Sea.
Organic matter characterization.
Biostratigraphy and chronostratigraphy.
Paleovegetation and paleoclimate.
Timing of connections with Mediterranean Sea.
Organic matter characterization.
Aral Sea

©CLIMAN Project member Prof. N. Aladin, St. Petersburg, Russia

Impagidinium caspienense

 Endemic dinoflagellate cysts from the Aral and Caspian Seas.

Aral Sea

Desert environment, ©CLIMAN Project member Prof. N. Aladin, St. Petersburg, Russia

Aral Sea

Steppe to desert environment, ©CLIMAN Project member Prof. N. Aladin, St. Petersburg, Russia

Aral Sea

Steppe environment, ©CLIMAN Project member Prof. N. Aladin, St. Petersburg, Russia

Aral Sea

Steppe environment, ©CLIMAN Project member Prof. N. Aladin, St. Petersburg, Russia

Aral Sea

Pollen Grain – Taxodium type

Caspian Sea

at Baku (Azerbaijan)

Caspian Sea

Coastal vegetation

Caspian Sea

Kura Delta vegetation

 

 

Aral Sea

Academic Project: The Aral Sea: a paleoclimate archive (PhD Philippe Sorrel, 2006) 

The main objective of this work was to establish the paleoenvironment changes during the Holocene. High-resolution palynological (pollen grains, dinoflagellate cysts and palynofacies), microfacies and geochemical analyses were performed on two sediment cores from the Chernyshov Bay (NW Aral Sea). To quantify the climatic parameters a « probability mutual climatic spheres » method was applied to pollen record. The dinoflagellate cyst analyses allowed to establish the sea-surface salinity changes during the last 2,000 years. The multi-proxy performed analyses suggest that climate dynamics controlled environmental changes in the Western Central Asia and probably some changes in solar activity impacted the some extent and hydrological balance of the Aral Sea.

 

 

 

Caspian Sea

Academic Project: The Holocene record of the Caspian Sea level and changes in the Kura Delta, Azerbaijan. 

Based on seismic profiles and multy-proxy analyses five major stratigraphic units have been distinguished. (1) A Last Glacial sequence (>45 ka – 27 ka) of reddish muds with high Fe, Ni, V contents and low Ca and Sr contents, with large amounts of Volga-derived Pinus pollen, representing a Khvalyn highstand (+50 m?); (2) a Late Glacial sequence (17-12 ka) of organic rich muds (low content in Fe and high content in Ca) deposited in salt marshes close to the coast and high content of halophyte pollen, correlated to the Mangyshlak lowstand (– 90 m); (3) a thick Holocene sequence of grey marine muds (9.2 – 1.4 ka) with predominating pollen of warm-temperate plants, suggesting rising sea level (with high content in Ca, low content in Fe) ; (4) a lithologically grey mud unit with high content in pollen of steppe elements correlates with the deep Derbent regression in the Warm Mediaeval Period; (5) the uppermost grey mud unit shows cooler climatic conditions and probably represents the transgression leading to the Little Ice Age highstand.

Industrial Project: Biostratigraphy and paleoenvironmental reconstructions of five cored sections, (offshore, Central Caspian Basin).

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