ИСТИНА

The most extensive and powerful loess areas are located on the territory of the East European Plain and the Chinese Loess Plateau, where uneven-age Pleistocene paleosols are revealed. Thanks to the preserved paleosols in loess, it is possible to trace how the environment evolved or changed in past epochs. The proposed study will be conducted with colleagues from China, who in 2017-2018, together with us in the framework of the RFBR and GFEN projects, studied changes in vegetation and climate over the past 20,000 years on the territory of the Russian Plain and the Chinese Loess Plateau. In continuation of these works, the proposed project will consider loess-soil sections located to the east of the previously jointly studied Beglitsa, Strelitsa and Bakhcheevo sections. In addition, the time interval for the study of paleosoil levels will be extended, which will affect the periods from early to late Pleistocene (0.8 million years). A detailed study of the loess-soil sequences (LSS) in selected areas according to a single and up-to-date methodology will allow progress in understanding the response of modern ecosystems of certain regions of Eurasia to global environmental changes. Analysis and comparison of the paleoclimatic reconstructions of the European part of Russia and the Chinese Loess Plateau with the existing studied sections will provide an opportunity to clarify the trends of ecosystem development in the temperate and subtropical zones of continental Eurasia. A comprehensive study of the structure, composition and properties of LSS in these areas is necessary for understanding the processes of loess accumulation, paleopedogenesis and relief formation, as well as the identification of global and regional climate signals in sediments. To improve the accuracy of reconstructions of the evolution of the environment, it is necessary to recreate the zonal structure of the soil and vegetation cover of various time sections, first of all, interglacials and interstadials. Improving the accuracy of such scenarios for short-term climate change is necessary for the development of sustainable land use methods based on the application of water and soil-saving technologies and the adaptation of agricultural plants to adverse climatic influences, primarily increasing aridization.