Evgeny Konstantinov

• PhD
• Head of lab at Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences

The article presents preliminary results of a new stage of studying the multilayered Middle and Upper Paleolithic site Biryuchya Balka 2, located in the Seversky Donets River’s lower reaches, the Don’s largest right tributary. Based on the stratigraphy and correlation of paleosoils, the age of the lower part of the subaerial sedimentary sequence co...

The Middle Paleolithic, as an epoch in the development of human society, was characterized by the homeostasis between the socio-cultural systems and their natural environments. Middle Paleolithic сommunities settled in the areas with the most favorable combinations of basic resources. At that time, almost the entire territory of the southern part o...

In the south of the East European Plain, within the boundaries of the city of Elista, a loess-paleosol sequence has been discovered in which the Late Pleistocene of the Salyn interglacial paleosol has been uncovered. The aim of the study is to obtain new knowledge about pedogenesis and conditions of paleosol formation in one of the poorly studied r...

В статье рассматриваются материалы нового памятника палеолита, выявленного в 2020 г. на правом берегу Миусского лимана недалеко от его устья на южной окраине с. Николаево-Отрадное Неклиновского района Ростовской области. Культурные остатки были обнаружены на двух участках пляжа и включали разновременные находки, в том числе изделия раннего, среднег...

Based on the lithostratigraphic and geomorphological approach, the study of lake level fluctuations in Nero and Seliger over the past 15,000 years was conducted. Common features of level changes were revealed: deep regression at the end of the late glacial period and early Holocene, intensive rise in level in the early-middle Holocene, stabilizatio...

The article presents the results of a palynological study of Lake Chukhlomskoye bottom sediments. Pollen analysis in combination with the results from 14 C and 137 Cs dating made it possible to reconstruct the main stages of changes in plant communities in the Kostroma Volga region at the end of the Pleniglacial and during the Late Glacial: 19.5-16...

Bottom sediments of the Lake Plescheevo is a valuable lake record for the central part of the East European Plain. During this study, we analyzed the lithological characteristics of the upper 4 m of the lake sediment and calculate the sedimentation rate and mass accumulation rate of the lace sediments during last 3500 years. We established that the...

The climatostratigraphic scale of the Upper Middle Pleistocene in the northwest of the East European Plain contains a number of controversial issues, one of which is the position of the Likhvin (Holstein) Interglacial and lesser warm (interstadial) climatic events. To approach this problem, we have studied two sections of Quaternary deposits, Bolsh...

The article presents the results of a multiproxy study of a sedimentary sequence located on the lacustrine-alluvial plain west of Lake Nero (Yaroslavl region). The investigated 2 m-long core made it possible to reconstruct environmental changes since the Allerød to the Late Holocene. Previously poorly studied Preboreal deposits in this area have a...

The article discusses the first results of studying the structure of the bottom topography and bottom sediments of Chukhlomskoe Lake (Kostroma Region, Chukhlomsky District). We analyzed the lake bottom topography based on the results of our bathymetric survey and discovered two hollows with maximum depths diverging from the lake’s center towards th...

We describe materials from a new Paleolithic site, discovered in 2020 on the right bank of Mius estuary, near its confluence with the Taganrog Bay of the Sea of Azov, in the southern outskirts of the village of Nikolaevo-Otradnoye, which is in the Neklinovksky District of the Rostov Region. The clearing of a 10-meter-high river-bluff revealed a com...

This issue considers new and only partially previously published data on the Late Pleistocene landscapes and deposits of the Moscow glaciation marginal zone, which has experienced dynamic periglacial conditions during the Valdai epoch. The manuscript is arranged as a guidebook for the Valdai Perglacial Field Symposium, which was held on 27–30 Augus...

The paleoclimatic reconstruction of the last 14 ka was carried out by GPR sounding, spore–pollen analysis, and radiocarbon dating of a peat section (7 m) located in the model bog of Valdai National Park (Novgorod oblast). The peat accumulation rates varied from 0.075 mm/yr during the Late Glacial to 0.15–1.15 mm/yr during the Boreal stage (when the...

В 2020 г. в ходе разведок на правом берегу Миусского лимана на юго-западной окраине с. Николаево-Отрадное (Н-О) Неклиновского района Ростовской области обнаружены два новых местонахождения, разделенных небольшой балкой. Высота берегового обрыва достигает здесь 9–10 м. Пункт Н-О II детально обследовался в 2021 г., пункт Н-О III – в 2022 г

Палеогидрологическая обстановка в Ростовской низине (Ярославская область) является предметом многолетних дискуссий. Представления о голоценовых колебаниях уровня озера Неро существенно расходятся у разных авторов. Нами исследовано строение донных отложений и рельефа дна в наиболее глубокой северо-восточной части акватории озера. Палеогидрологическа...

По материалам георадиолокационного зондирования, спорово-пыльцевого анализа и радиоуглеродного датирования торфяного разреза (7 м) модельного верхового болота национального парка Валдайский (Новгородская область) проведена палеоклиматическая реконструкция последних 14 тыс. лет. Скорости торфонакопления колебались от 0.075 мм/год в позднеледниковье...

The results of morphometric analysis based on the SRTM digital elevation model of large enclosed depressions (LEDs) of controversial origin, commonly found on the loess interfluves in the Northern Black Sea region, around the Sea of Azov, at the Western flanks of Caucus Mountains and in the Lower Don basin, are presented in the paper. We have regis...

Представлены материалы нового памятника палеолита, обнаруженного в 2020 г. на правом берегу Миусского лимана недалеко от места впадения реки в Таганрогский залив Азовского моря, на южной окраине с. Николаево-Отрадное Неклиновского р-на Ростовской обл. Зачисткой участка берегового обрыва высотой до 10 м выявлена сложная стратиграфия субаквальных и с...

Knowledge of temporal patterns of past explosive eruptions is necessary to understand possible future eruptive behavior. However, volcanic records based on geological reconstructions remain incomplete. This inference is true not only for remote and sparsely populated areas like the Aleutian or Kurile-Kamchatka arcs, but also for Europe, where past...

The paleohydrological settings in the Rostov lowland (Yaroslavl oblast) have been the subject of long-standing of disputes. The concepts for the Holocene fluctuations in the level of Nero Lake differ considerably among researchers. We have studied the structure of bottom sediments and bottom relief in the deepest, northeastern, part of the lake. A...

The article discusses the first results of geomorphological and paleolimnological study of Lake Chukhlomskoe (Kostroma region). We analyzed the topography of the lake bottom using new bathymetric data from 2021 fieldwork. The structure of the lake basin slopes was studied using hand drilling. Analytical characteristics of the bottom sediments core...

A tephrochronological study of the core HOR-1 of bottom sediment from Lake Khorlakel, located 24 km northwest of the Elbrus summit, was carried out. The core was 253 cm length. Deposits are represented by interbedding of thin-layered loams and bio-mineral silt. Six intervals of increased content of cryptotephra from 37,000 to 111,000 shards g dry w...

According to the study of bottom sediments, the Belye Lakes (near the famous mound Arzhaan-2) begun to exist about 16.5 ka. The lakes formed in a local depression at the site of the alluvial fans of temporary rivers, which is marked by red sands in cores. A three-meter lacustrine stratum overlies the sands, in some places with interbeds of peat, wi...

A comprehensive lithological analysis of bottom sediments from the central part of the Sarskaya depression was carried out. We determined that a shallow lake existed in the Sarskaya depression as least from 22500 to 12400 years ago. The bottom sediments potentially contain traces of global climate change - in particular, a presumable trace of the B...

Our reconstructions of vegetation changes are based on the results of pollen analysis that was carried out for the sedimentary sequence located on the lacustrine-alluvial terrace west of Lake Nero. To clarify our conclusions, six 14C dates were obtained and an age-depth model based on these dates was constructed. It is established that open spruce-...

High-resolution multi-proxy studies of lake sediments, including AMS 14C dating, lithology, loss-on-ignition measurements, pollen analysis and identification of plant macrofossils, of Lake Seliger (57°17'N, 33°04'Е) and five other lacustrine records from the adjacent areas used for comparison, make it possible to reconstruct the main changes in the...

The problem of the source of mineral dust, which makes up the loess-paleosol sequence of Ciscaucasia, remains relevant. One of the main approaches to solving the problem is the spatial analysis of the structure and composition of the loess. Based on the core analysis of three boreholes, a sublatitudinal cross-section of the loess-paleosol sequence...

A proglacial lake system formed during the Late Valdai (Weichselian) Ice Sheet recession on the East European Plain. Poor knowledge about chronology, levels and the drainage pathways of ice‐dammed lakes does not allow us to fully evaluate their palaeogeographic significance. This study focuses on the Izborsko‐Malskaya Valley where fingerprints of a...

The origin of the loess deposits of the Cis-Caucasus Region, which form an almost continuous cover on the plains from the Sea of Azov to the Peri-Caspian Depression, is one of the controversial issues of paleogeography of the southern part of European Russia. The remarkably high thickness (up to 140 m) and extended coastal outcrops in the west and...

Происхождение лёссовых отложений Предкавказья, образующих практически сплошной покров на равнинах от Азовского моря до Прикаспийской низменности, остаётся одним из дискуссионных вопросов палеогеографии юга Европейской России. Феноменально высокая мощность лёссовопалеопочвенных серий (ЛПС) на востоке региона (до 140 м) и протяжённые береговые обнаже...

The Rostov‐Kostroma lowland is a depression stretched between the end‐moraine ridges of the Moscovian (MIS 6) glaciation crossed by the Upper Volga River. According to the theory accepted since the 1970s, in the Last Glacial epoch (MIS 2) this lowland was occupied by a glacially dammed lake that drained about 15 000 years ago, allowing the modern r...

Drilling recovered the upper part (23 m) of the upland loess-paleosol series (LPS) on the right bank of the Kuma River near the Otkaznoe Settlement. Description of cores and laboratory analyses made it possible to carry out lithostratigraphic subdivision of the loess sequence in the summary column. Four paleosol units separated by loess horizons ar...

Three paleosols buried in the left lateral moraines of the Greater Azau Glacier (Northern Caucasus) were identified in an excavated outcrop (43.2658 N, 42.4766 E, 2370 m a.s.l.). When the glacier was overlying the surface of the lateral moraines at this site, the thickness of the ice was 50 m and more above the valley floor. Fragments of charcoal f...

Loess-paleosol sequences are the most intensively studied terrestrial archives used for the reconstruction of Late Pleistocene environmental and climatic changes in the Azov Sea region, southwest Russia. Here we present a refined chronostratigraphy and a multiproxy record of Late Pleistocene environmental dynamics of the most complete and represent...

A set of analyzes was carried out to reconstruct the Late Quaternary history of the Lake Belye Ozera (Western part of the Turano-Uyuk basin). A granulometric analysis, determination of loss on ignition, measurement of specific magnetic susceptibility, diatom and spore-pollen analysis were performed n a bottom sediment core with a total length of 34...

This article presents new data from geochronological study the lake-bog organic-rich layer from of the “Ilya Prorok” sequence (Upper Volga Basin, Tver Region) that is a one of the reference sections located on the Russian Plain. Ideas concerning the age and climatic conditions of these organic-mineral deposits formation changed significantly over t...

Volcanic ash layers (tephras) dispersed over large areas may offer important time markers in the geological record provided their age and geochemical fingerprint can be established. Accurately dated and geochemically characterized tephras are essential in correlation of temporally and spatially discontinuous geological records, which is key for pal...

Loess deposits are widely spread all over Eastern Europe, extending as far south as the Sea of Azov and the northern Black Sea. For many decades these regions have been noted for series of key sections. However, despite prolonged investigations, a lack of absolute dating and detailed lithological data has left many unresolved problems in the correl...

The paper considers the origin of terraces that often complicate the slopes of abnormally deep buried valleys in the northwest of the East European Plain. The Izborsk-Maly valley (Pskov Region, Russia), which is half filled with Quaternary sediments, was chosen as the object of study. Since the upper part of the valley remains unfilled, it is possi...

На основе использования комплекса полевых методов и расчетов по эрозионным моделям выпол-нена оценка перераспределения наносов и транспортируемого совместно с ними 137 Сs на водосборе Щекинского водохранилища (Тульская область) и определено изменение содержания 137 Сs в почвах различных типов, произошедшее за период 1986-2018 гг. Темпы смыва почв н...

Redistribution of sediments and Chernobyl-derived 137 Сs transported with them were estimated using a set of field methods and erosion model calculations for the Shchekino reservoir (Tula region) catchment, and changes in the contents of 137 Сs in soils of various types that occurred over 1986-2018 were determined. The rate of snowmelt soil erosion...

Vast areas of Europe were contaminated by the fallout of 137Cs and other radionuclides, as a result of the Chernobyl accident in 1986. The post-fallout redistribution of Chernobyl-derived 137Cs was associated with erosion and sediment transport processes within the fluvial system. Bottom sediments from lakes and reservoirs can provide a valuable so...

Рассмотрены проблемы происхождения террас, которые нередко осложняют склоны аномально глубоких долинообразных понижений на северо-западе Восточно-Европейской равнины. В качестве объекта исследования была выбрана Изборско-Мальская долина (Псковская область, Россия), заполненная наполовину четвертичными отложениями. Благодаря отсутствию заполнения в...

This paper presents new multi-proxy records of the Holocene environmental and climatic changes in the Western Caucasus revealed from a continuous sediment sequence from mountainous Lake Khuko (Caucasus State Natural Biospheric Reserve, 1744 m a.s.l.). Palaeoecological analyses of a sediment core for grain size, magnetic susceptibility, loss on igni...

Due to the high preservation of the loess series and the availability of coastal outcrop sections loess cover of Western Ciscaucasia has ample opportunities for spatial paleogeographical reconstructions for the Middle and Late Pleistocene. Currently, the level of knowledge on the structure and composition of the loess-paleosol sequences of Western...

Представлены литолого-стратиграфическая характеристика, результаты палеоботанических исследований и радиоуглеродного датирования ключевого, но недостаточно изученного разреза Килешино-2 на Верхней Волге (Тверская область), приуроченного к краевой зоне последнего оледенения. Разрез представляет собой толщу разновозрастных лимно-гляциальных, озерных...

Networks of dry valleys (or balkas) and hollows in the upper reaches of fluvial basins in extraglacial areas in the Penultimate Glaciation (Marine Isotope Stage 6—MIS 6) regions of the East European Plain demonstrate clear incision/aggradation rhythms corresponding to global glacial/interglacial climate cycles. The first phase of each incision/aggr...

Boreholes exposed the structure of the loess cover on four key sites along the line from the Eastern Azov region to the Terek-Kuma plain. In order to obtain the most preserved loess paleoarchives, the profiles and boreholes were established located at subhorizontal flat interfluves unimpaired by modern and relict erosion. A stratigraphic subdivisio...

Abstracts of the 4th Paleolimnological Conference, Irkutsk, Russia, 2-4 September 2020

Large paleochannels are widespread in the surroundings of Lake Nero, they are larger than modern ones. Their presence indicates an increased river run-off in the past and a likely impact on changes in lake level. The study of paleochannels was carried out using hydro-morphological analysis and drilling cores. The results showed that their sizes are...

A complex of field, laboratory and analytical and cameral works was carried out to reconstruct the Holocene history of Lake Plescheevo. We drilled the bottom sediments and got six cores from the different parts of the lake. The grain size analysis, LOI and magnetic susceptibility measurement, geochemical and diatom analysis were carried out. The st...

A new technology for coring of weakly consolidated sediment is proposed. The technology includes the original drilling system and the way it is operated. The technology is based on a number of original solutions: 1) unification of the elements of the drill string, where household pipes made of PVC are used as a sampler and rods; 2) the use of the v...

During the Holocene, interfluvial landscapes of European plains have experienced alternating periods of relative stability and significant shifts in climate, soil and geomorphological development. Assumed to be an arena of major transformation their evolutionary model is not entirely resolved yet. Based on lithostratigraphic, geomorphologic and soi...

Integrated paleogeographic studies have been performed on the loess and soil sequence in the lower reaches of the Orkhon R., northern Mongolia. The samples were taken continuously through the sequence and studied using a broad assortment of field and laboratory analyses. There are five paleosols exposed in the section under study crowned with the p...

The results of an assessment of siltation and accumulation of particulate 137Cs of Chernobyl origin in the Shekino reservoir located in the upper reaches of the Upa River downstream from the most polluted part of its basin – the central part of the “Plavsk hot spot”. The changes of 137Cs concentration in discharge of the Upa River based on the anal...

Представлены результаты гранулометрического и минералогического анализов пород лессовопочвенных комплексов верхнего плейстоцена и голоцена Приазовья. Их сопоставление между собой позволило выявить глинистость гранулометрическую и глинистость минералогическую Асташков, 2010, и несоответствие между ними по содержанию так называемой глинистой составля...

We made laboratory analysis (LOI, graine-size, magnetic susceptibility) of the core from the Khuko Lake. Radiocarbon data show that the deposits accumulated during the hole Holocene.

We made a drilling profile and a georadar sounding through the Lake Nero. The laboratory analysis (LOI, graine-size, magnetic susceptibility) were made in the Laboratory of the Environmental Paleoarchives, Inststute of Geography, RAS. We have established a hiatus in the sediment. It might be connected with the lake level drop in the subatlantic per...

Geological and geomorphological structure of the “Chervonaya Pad’”, one of the largest orientated depressions of Eastern Azov region, was considered. The study is based on the results of the analysis of remote-sensing data and new geological data obtained during manual drilling and studying the coastal outcrops. Features of the morphological simila...

Two cores of bottom sediments were collected in 2018 to a depth of ∼200 cm in the deepest part of the Scheckino reservoir on the Upa River (9500 km2), Tula region, Russia. This area was severely contaminated by radiocesium (r-Cs) after the Chernobyl accident in 1986. The fact that 137Cs activity concentrations in a specific horizon of the bottom se...

In the context of shifting the boundary of the Quaternary down to the level of 2.6 Ma and including the Gelasian Stage in the Quaternary System, the systematization of the original and published data on the geology and paleogeography of the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene of Eastern Europe has been carried out. It was established that, at the b...

Three cores of bottom sediments were collected in 2018 to the depth of about 200 cm in the deep part of Schekinskoe dam reservoir on the Upa river, Tula region, Russia, severely contaminated by radiocesium (r-Cs) after the Chernobyl accident in 1986. The Upa river basin, selected as an analog of Abukuma river in terms of size and Cs-137 deposition,...

The loess-paleosol sequence exposed in the Beregovoye section (southwest of the Crimean Peninsula) has been thoroughly studied. Detailed analysis of the paleosol morphology, physical properties and chemical composition, micromorphology and other characteristics made it possible to identify types of paleosols formed in the Pliocene and Pleistocene....

Lake Belaya Struga, Lake Bolshoe, Lake Chernoe are located in the central part of Pskov Lowland, on both sides of the Luga stage marginal formations (the Late Valday ice sheet) and confined to the different genetic types of relief. Analyses of the lake sediment lithology in borehole cores and the position of lakes in the relief allowed to reconstru...

The loess-palaeosol deposits at the Beglitsa section in the East European Plain play an important role in the understanding of climate and environmental changes in Eurasia. However, the absence of absolute geochronology has restricted the interpretation of the loess sedimentation process and its relevance to palaeoenvironmental change. In this pape...

An integrated study of the loess–soil sequence in the coastal exposure near the settlement of Beglitsa (Rostov oblast) allowed us, for the first time, to reconstruct the landscape-climatic changes that occurred in the eastern Azov region over the course of the Late Pleistocene. In the south of the periglacial zone, considerable differences between...

The article considers the structure and composition of sediments in the Ilya Prorok section. A refinement of the facial accessory of the organogenic deposits in this section was made.

Based on the study of bank outcrops and cores of boreholes, the geological structure of series tree-like hollow systems in the interfluves of the eastern Azov Sea region has been analyzed. It has been revealed that the hollows are a gully network partially filled with slope deposits at the end of the late Pleistocene (late valdai, MIS 2).

Multi-proxy studies of loess-soil sequences in the eastern Azov Sea region (Beglitsa‑2 section) and the northwestern Loess Plateau of China (Caoxian section) let us to suggest the correlation of the main stratigraphic horizons and to provide the comparison of landscape and climatic changes in these regions during the last interglacial-glacial clima...

Abstract. Based on the complex studying 10 meter thick loess-soil sequence in the Beglitsa section (47°08° N, 38°31° E), the landscape and climate changes in the north-eastern Azov Sea Region in the Late Pleistocene were reconstructed. The intensity of loess accumulation decreased in the interglacial and interstadial conditions, when the soil-formi...

MIS) 5 и (MIS) 4, происходило после завершения формирования мезинского педокомплекса и до начала брянского этапа почво-образования (MIS 3), т.е. в течение более чем 20 тыс. лет. В существенно менее продолжительном (10–12 тыс. лет) поздневалдайском криохроне (MIS 2) величина аккумуляции лёсса достигла 5 м. Основанные на этих данных оценки показывают...

The structure of loess-soil sequences of the North-Eastern Azov region was studied in coastal outcrops and boreholes within four key areas of the terraces of different age. Based on the positions of paleosols in geological sections of interfluve areas, the palaeotopography during interglacial epochs of the last 500 ka was reconstructed. The analysi...

The Guidebook presents the morphological, micromorphological, chemical and physical characteristics of Late Pleistocene and Holocene soils of the Central Chernozemic zone (Kursk and Voronezh regions). The information on the modern environmental conditions of the Central Russian Upland is also provided. The environmental dynamics of the area are pre...

The loess-soil series structure of Melekino key area was studied in detail in the coastal outcrop and the drill profile. It is possible to reveal specific features of watershed morphodynamics in the Northern Azov region since the Muchkap time (MIS 13, ~ 470-500 kyr). The position of paleosols and textural features of deposits indicate leading role...

Lake Tere-Khol (50.6150°N, 97.3853°E; area 33 km², average depth 0.5 m, maximum depth 1.9 m) occupies a south-eastern edge of a small pull-apart basin. Permafrost occurs in the bottom o the basin, in lake banks and islands; a through talik exists under the lake. In the interval between LGM and the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary, river runoff increas...

Herbaceous communities in forest ecosystems on the southern part of the Russian Plain appeared in the Middle Miocene (∼10 Ma BP). In the Late Miocene (∼7 Ma BP), feather-grass steppe associations appeared among them. In the time span of 2.7 to 2.1 Ma BP (i.e., in the Early Quaternary, according to the current chronostratigraphic scale), the steppe...

This research is concerned with the problem of application of newest methods in study of grain size distribution of fine-grained sediments. The comparison of two methods (laser diffraction method and traditional pipette method) is made on the example of the analysis of the sediments of loess-soil formation of the Northern Azov sea region. It was re...