A section of frozen Quaternary sediments of the Middle Pleistocene-Holocene age is located on the southern shore of the Bolshoy Lyakhovskii Island. This long (several tens of km) outcrop with a variety of underground ice, many paleontological findings and a relative accessibility has been investigated since the end of the XIX century. The more detailed studies were focused around the river Zimovyo mouth. In recent years detailed studies of Quaternary deposits of the region (including this section) advanced significantly due to the activity of multidisciplinary expeditions organized by the Russian-German «Laptev Sea System» and Russian-American «Zhokhov-2000» projects.

We present a new detailed interpretation of the Quaternary sequence of this section. The relationships between earlier known units are refined, and some new ones are identified and traced (Table). A climate driven nature of the succession is substantiated. A Rodent fauna found in the Middle Pleistocene deposits enabled us to compare individual horizons with adjaunt areas, with the European zonal scale and general stratigraphic scale. There are biostratigraphic data on megafauna and rodents, micropaleontologic, paleoentomologic and paleobotanic data; grain-size distributions, dates by ¹⁴C, U/Th and OSL methods, the oxygen-isotope values of ground ice, paleomagnetic profiles, etc. The facies diversity of terrestrial deposits, the lack of significant hiatuses, numerous analytical results attest this site as a key section for the southern part of the Novosibirskie Islands Archipelago and northern part of the Yana-Indigirka coastal lowland.

Reference:

Tumskoy V.E., Basilyan A.E. A key Quaternary section on the Bolshoy Lyakhovskii Island (Novosibirskie Islands). Correlation of Pleistocene Events in the Russian North. International Workshop Abstracts. 4-6 December 2006. Saint-Petersburg, 2006, p. 106.