A 1300-year multi-proxy palaeoecological record from the northwest Putorana Plateau (Russian Subarctic): environmental changes, vegetation dynamics and fire history

A recent increase in fire frequency on the northwest Putorana Plateau, a remote and human-untouched region of subarctic Siberia, has been linked to climate-driven environmental changes. The study, spanning 1300 years, revealed that dry conditions during the Medieval Climate Anomaly (680–1200 C.E.) led to high fire activity and spruce expansion beyond its current range, while the Little Ice Age (1200–1850 C.E.) brought cooling, moistening, tundra expansion, and a sharp decline in fires. Post-1990, peat accumulation and water table rise coincide with a surge in charcoal deposition, indicating heightened fire activity. Multi-proxy analysis—including pollen, macrofossils, testate amoebae, and charcoal—provided these insights, offering a rare glimpse into natural climate-vegetation-fire dynamics in this pristine subarctic landscape.

Novenko, E. Y., Mazei, N. G., Kupriyanov, D. A., Babeshko, K. V., Kusilman, M. V., Zyuganova, I. S., Tsyganov, A. N., Mazei, Y. A., Phelps, L. N., & Davis, B. A. (2022). A 1300-year multi-proxy palaeoecological record from the northwest Putorana Plateau (Russian Subarctic): environmental changes, vegetation dynamics and fire history. The Holocene, 33(2), 181–193. https://doi.org/10.1177/09596836221131693