The Oxygen Isotope Composition of Late Pleistocene and Holocene Ice Wedges of Kotelny Island

• Published in: Doklady earth sciences Vol. 482; no. 1; pp. 1216 - 1220
• Main Authors: Vasil’chuk, Yu. K., Makeev, V. M., Maslakov, A. A., Budantseva, N. A., Vasil’chuk, A. C., Chizhova, Ju. N.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Moscow Pleiades Publishing 01-09-2018; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Annual temperatures; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Frozen ground; Geography; Holocene; Holocene ice; Ice formation; Ice wedges; Isotope composition; Isotopes; Oxygen; Oxygen isotopes; Pleistocene; Soil; Temperature; Temperature effects; Wedges
• ISSN: 1028-334X; 1531-8354
• DOI: 10.1134/S1028334X18090192

The aim of the work was to perform paleotemperature reconstructions for the Late Pleistocene and Holocene of Kotelny Island according to oxygen isotope analysis of syngenetic ice wedges. Variations of δ
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O in the Late Pleistocene ice wedges formed on Kotelny Island are significant, exceeding 8‰ (from –30‰ to –22.9‰), while they are insignificant at –1.5‰ (from –23.1‰ to –21.6‰) for those in the Holocene. Reconstructions showed that the mean January temperature in the Late Pleistocene changed over 8 to 13°C. The mean annual temperature of frozen soils was about –19 or –20°C in the Late Pleistocene, and about –13 to –15°C in the Holocene, while the current temperature is about –14°C.