Large mammals from the Upper Neopleistocene reference sections in the Tunka rift valley, southwestern Baikal Region

• Published in: Stratigraphy and geological correlation Vol. 23; no. 2; pp. 214 - 236
• Main Authors: Shchetnikov, A. A., Klementiev, A. M., Filinov, I. A., Semeney, E. Yu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01-03-2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Archaeology; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Extinct species; Fossils; Geophysics/Geodesy; Historical Geology; Mammals; Pleistocene; Rare species; Rift valleys; Sedimentology; Sediments; Structural Geology; Lake Baikal; Tunka rift valley; Baikal rift zone; fossil macrotheriofauna; mammoth fauna complex; Upper Neopleistocene; C dating
• ISSN: 0869-5938; 1555-6263
• DOI: 10.1134/S0869593815020057

This work presents the data on new finds of fossil macrotheriofauna in the reference sections of the Upper Neopleistocene sediments in the Tunka rift valley (southwestern Baikal Region). The osteological material of a number of Late Neopleistocene mammals including extinct species rare for the Baikal region such as
Crocuta spelaea
,
Panthera spelaea
, and
Spirocerus kiakhtensis
(?) was directly dated with a radiocarbon (AMS) method. The obtained
14
C data (18000–35000 years) allow one to rejuvenate significantly the upper limit of the common age interval of habitat of these animals in southern part of Eastern Siberia. Cave hyena and spiral-horned antelope lived in the Tunka rift valley in the Baikal region in Late Kargino time (37–24 ka), and cave lion survived the maximum in the Sartan cryochron in the region (21–20 ka). The study of collected paleontological collections provides a basis for selection of independent Kargino (MIS 3) faunal assemblages to use them for regional biostratigraphic analysis of Pleistocene deposits. Radiocarbon age dating of samples allows one to attribute confidently all paleofaunal remains available to the second half of the Late Pleistocene.