DOI: 10.7256/2453-8922.2017.3.24524

Abstract: The research subject is the varieties of subrecent pollen spectra in the unbroken surface layer of bottom sediments of the Laptev Sea shelf, which had been lifted by multicorers in the expeditions ARK 27-3 and Transdrift XXI in 2012-2013 on the shelf and continental slope. The authors substantiate the possibility of reconstruction. The authors consider how the following aspects are reflected in marine pollen spectra: 1) the level of ice coverage of the sea basin, which can be seen in the presence and concentration of index types of marine cysts of dinoflagellates; 2) oscillations of the river flow, assessed by the changes of concentration of organic suspensions of terrigenous genesis in bottom sediments (spores, pollen, fresh-water green algae), transferred mainly from the yedoma sediments; 3) transformed Atlantic water migration, which can traced by index types of microfossils; 4) climate conditions, defining the level of productivity of the flora of the dominating biomes of the shore, pollen to the Laptev Sea shelf comes from. The main research method is the study of marine pollen, which includes the analysis of the species composition and the changes of concentration of terrigenous and water palynomorphs in bottom sediments collected in the southeastern part of the Laptev Sea in the paleovalley of the Lena river, which was drowned during the Postglacial transgression. The obtained varieties of quantitative and qualitative composition of pollen and non-pollen palynomorphs in the unbroken surface layer of bottom sediments and their comparison with the results of the study of pollen from yedoma complex of northeastern Siberia help evaluate the modern conditions of formation of marine pollen spectra. 

DOI: 10.7256/2453-8922.2017.3.24204

Abstract: The article contains the results of field investigations of cryospheric objects – land-based glaciers and permafrost rocks in the area of the Lavrenty Bay, Eastern Chukotka. Glaciers of the Laurentian group were described in the mid-1970s by Rudolf Sedov, later they were studied with the help of space imagery by one of the authors. Since glaciers are of small size, and satellite images can give errors in this case, it was necessary to check in situ their condition. Field studies have made it possible to ascertain the severe degradation of small glaciers of the Chukchi Highlands. Also field studies of the permafrost seasonal thawing, carried out by the authors in the season of 2017, revealed that the difference in thickness of the seasonally thawed layer in the study area at the end of August was, in comparison with the previous year, -0.5 .. + 4.3 cm, depending on local natural conditions. 

DOI: 10.7256/2453-8922.2017.3.24432

Abstract: The object of the study is the palsa located near Abez' settlement, in the Komi Republic, the northeast of European Russia. The authors re-examined the palsa in 2001, 2016 and 2017. The main research methods were: scrutinous fixation of the palsa morphology and its comparison with the photographs of different years; radiocarbon dating of peat; study of stable carbon isotopes in peat profiles. In 15 years' time, almost complete degradation of the palsa is observed. The height of the palsa has reduced by more than 2 m. Now their height does not exceed 1.5 m. During the period of 1960-2015, the average annual air temperature at nearby meteorological stations had been increasing by 2° C averagely. The most probable reason for the rapid degradation of the palsa in the area of Abez' settlement is a combination of a positive climatic trend and significant draining of the lake-marsh basin as a result of the construction of the Bovanenkovo-Ukhta gas pipeline, which crosses the southern part of the palsa. It is shown that the palsa in the southern regions - in the area of the Bugry Polyarnye and Nikita stations - have no signs of degradation.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-8922.2017.3.24541

Abstract: The research object is the isotopic composition of oxygen and hydrogen of ice-wedge casts, surface waters and atmospheric precipitation in Central Yakutia near the Mammoth Mountain, where the conditions are favourable in summer for evaporation and continental salinization of permafrost and subsurface ice. Special attention is given to the analysis of high indexes of isotopic composition of ice-wedge casts of the late Pleistocene, which can’t be explained by higher winter temperatures during the formation of ice wedges. The authors use hydrochemical data showing the signs of continental salinization in the fragments of wedges with heavy isotope composition. The main research method is the definition of isotopic composition of oxygen and hydrogen in the ice. In graphic form, one of the indicators of evaporation is the evaporation line, whose inclination on the dependency diagram δ18О – δ2Н is around 5. The authors show that continental salinization of the landscapes of Central Yakutia can be explained by the combination of the processes of perennial freezing of sediments and evaporation during summer seasons. The authors design the system of indexes of continental salinization of cryogenic lacustrine-boggy landscapes on the basis of isotopic and hydrochemical data of surface waters and subsurface ice: 1 – abnormal heavy isotopic composition; 2 – isotopic composition indexes are on the evaporation line, whose angle of inclination (usually lower than 5) is lower that the angle of inclination of the global meteoric water line (8); 3 – high salinity of ice-wedge casts and sediments with prevailing continental salts. The obtained results are accurate and can be easily reproduced by any isotope laboratory in the world. 

DOI: 10.7256/2453-8922.2017.3.24433

Abstract: The subject of the study is the yedoma, which is found in the Batagaika crater (67°34'49 "N, 134°46'19" E), located 10 km southeast of Batagay settlement, Verkhoyansk settlement, the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic. The crater is located about 1.5 km downslope of the Kirgillyakh mountain; its absolute height is about 325 m. The main research methods are: fieldwork, analysis of oxygen and hydrogen stable isotopic composition, analysis of ion composition and content of dissolved forms of trace elements and their distribution in ice-wedges of the yedoma. Oxygen and hydrogen stable isotopic composition, ion composition and the content of the dissolved forms of minor and major elements were studied for the first time in ice-wedges of the Batagaika crater. It has been revealed that the ice-wedges of the Batagaika crater are of hydrocarbonate-calcium composition, a uniform content of minor and major elements is observed within each ice-wedge. The isotopic composition of the ice-wedges located in the upper (the average values of δ18O is –34.4‰, the value of δ2H is –266 ‰) and lower (the average value of δ18O is –35.7 ‰, the value of δ2H is –276‰) parts of the Batagaika crater indicates that the average January air palaeotemperature was from –51 to –55 °C.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-8922.2017.3.24402

Abstract: The object of the study is the isotopic composition of the January snow on the slopes of the Aibga and Psekhako mountains in Krasnaya Polyana in 2010 (29 snow samples) and 2017 (58 snow samples). In 2010, the snow cover was sampled on the Aibga ridges and the Psekhako Ridge. In 2017, on the slope of the Aibga ridge, fresh snow was sampled. Along the ski run Rosa Khutor, surface snow was also sampled. Isotopic composition measurements were performed using the Delta-V (Finnigan) mass spectrometer in the isotope-geochemical laboratory of the Faculty of Geography of Lomonosov Moscow State University. The authors of the study conclude that high values of the deuterium excess can be caused by three reasons: 1) the air mass itself, which had been above the inland areas for a long time, has changed its isotope characteristics due to re-evaporation and moisture condensation, 2) the conditions of condensation, when adiabatic cooling of the air mass leads to isotope depletion in the precipitation, more prominent for δ18O than for δ2H and 3) post-sedimentation processes on the snow surface. Perhaps the isotopic composition of the snow cover in Krasnaya Polyana is formed under the influence of all these three factors.

DOI: 10.7256/2453-8922.2017.3.24399

Abstract: The author of the article considers the formation of the polar marinism concept and describes the biography of N.A. Kulik, a bright and original researcher of the Arctic. Almost without supporters, he defended the ideas of marinism in the first quarter of the 20th century, when the ideas of "glacialists" seemed to have defeated the ideas of "marinists". The article contains the facts, on which the views of N.A. Kulik as a marine scientist were formed. Boulder loams have been the subject of scientific discussion for 300 years. The article presents the views of particular scientists who prove the correctness of the ideas of marinism.The article highlights the scientific merits of N.A. Kulik in substantiating the paleogeography of the post-Pliocene of the Arctic. He supported the new methods of studying boulder loam (foraminiferal analysis), applied the ideas of A.P. Karpinsky about alternating-latitudinal-meridional oscillations of the earth’ crust and the related climate changes the glaciation in the north. He raised the question of the southern boundary of continental and marine morains, defended the idea of glaciation during the marine transgression. N.A. Kulik had revived the scientific ideas of modern marinism.