The Holocene paleoenvironmental history of Western Caucasus (Russia) reconstructed by multi-proxy analysis of the continuous sediment sequence from Lake Khuko

A new multi-proxy analysis of a continuous sediment core from Lake Khuko in the Western Caucasus reveals distinct climatic phases over the Holocene, marked by shifts between warm and cold periods. Warm intervals (10.5–6.7, 6.7–5.5, 3.5–2.4, and 0.8–0.5 ka BP) were characterized by high biological productivity, forest expansion, and the dominance of low- to mid-mountain tree species like Quercus, Ulmus, Corylus, and Tilia. Conversely, cold periods (5.5–3.5, 2.4–0.8, and 0.5 ka BP–present) showed reduced organic matter content, suggesting increased erosion and potential downward shifts in vegetation belts with the expansion of high-altitude woodlands. An abrupt ecosystem change between 4.2 and 3.5 ka cal BP, linked to climatic fluctuations during the 4.2 ka event, was identified through variations in sediment grain size, magnetic susceptibility, and organic matter content. This study provides the first continuous Holocene paleoenvironmental record for the Western Caucasus, offering insights into regional climate history influenced by ocean-atmosphere system shifts.

Grachev, A. M., Novenko, E. Y., Grabenko, E. A., Alexandrin, M. Y., Zazovskaya, E. P., Konstantinov, E. A., Shishkov, V. A., Lazukova, L. I., Chepurnaya, A. A., Kuderina, T. M., Ivanov, M. M., Kuzmenkova, N. V., Darin, A. V., & Solomina, O. N. (2020). The Holocene paleoenvironmental history of Western Caucasus (Russia) reconstructed by multi-proxy analysis of the continuous sediment sequence from Lake Khuko. The Holocene, 31(3), 368–379. https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683620972782