Reconstruction of Paleoenvironments of Lipetzk Oblast Based on Multiproxy Analysis of Paleosols in the Voronezh River Floodplain

The results of paleosol and paleogeographic reconstructions on the new key site “Bol’shaya Kuzminka” within the northern part of the forest-steppe zone of the East European Plain (the high floodplain of the Voronezh River, the northern outskirts of the Bolshaya Kuzminka village, Lipetsk Oblast) are presented. To determine the age of alluvial deposits at different depths within the soil profiles, we used archaeological artefacts, Pleistocene faunal remains, soil humus, and charcoal. We reconstructed two main stages of floodplain formation during the Holocene: the early phase of low-intensity alluvial accumulation (beginning of the Holocene to the end of the Atlantic period, with mean rate of sedimentation–0.6 cm per 100 yr) and the late phase of increasing alluvial sedimentation (the second part of the Holocene, with mean rate of sedimentation–1.3 cm per 100 yr). Analysis of a closed depression within the floodplain allowed to reconstruct a complex synlithogenic soil profile with relic traces of three paleosols: a dark-colored Chernozem-like paleosol of the first half of the Holocene, the Luvisol of the Subboreal climatic phase (Gray Forest Soil), and the Stagnic Phaeozem (Chernozem-Meadow Soil) of the Subatlantic climatic phase of the Holocene. Flat areas around depressions hosted grassland vegetation; Stagnic Phaeozems (Meadow-Cheronozem soils) were formed here during the entire Holocene synchronic with alluvial sediments’ deposition. Palynological analysis of floodplain soils and deposits indicated that forests developed in the trend of widespread their areas on adjacent watersheds since the beginning of Subboreal period. Anthropogenic impact on soils and plant cover was noticeable from the Subatlantic period, and its intensity was increasing over time. Introduction of anthropochores was the main anthropogenic signal that resulted from utilizing floodplains and gullies as pastures and ploughlands.

1. Aleksandrova K.I. Botanical-geographical zoning. In Atlas Lipetskoi oblasti [Atlas of the Lipetsk Oblast]. Moscow, 1994, 20 p. (In Russ.).

2. Akhtyrtsev A.B. Soils and soil resources. In Atlas Lipetskoi oblasti [Atlas of the Lipetsk Oblast]. Moscow, 1994, 19 p. (In Russ.).

3. Alexandrovskiy A.L. Development of soils in the East Europe during the Holocene. Extended Abstract of Doc. Sci. (Geogr.) Dissertation. Moscow, 2002. 48 p.

4. Alexandrovskiy A. Phases and rates of soil evolution within river floodplains in the center of the Russian plain. Eurasian Soil Sci., 2004, vol. 37, no. 11, pp. 1137–1146.

5. Alexandrovskiy A.L., Gol’eva A.A. Paleoecology of ancient man according to data of interdisciplinary research of soils in the archaeological monuments of the Upper Don Basin. In Arkheologicheskie pamyatniki lesostepnogo Podon’ya. Vyp. 1 [Archaeological Monuments of Forest-Steppe Upper Don Basin. Vol. 1]. Lipetsk, 1996, pp. 176–183. (In Russ.).

6. Alexandrovskiy A.L., Aleksandrovskaya E.I. Evolutsiya pochv i geograficheskaya sreda [Evolution of Soil and the Geographical Environment]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 2005. 223 p.

7. Alexandrovskiy A.L., Chendev Yu.G., Yurtaev A.A. Soils with the second humus horizon, paleochernozems, and the history of pedogenesis at the border between forest and steppe areas. Eurasian Soil Sci., 2022, vol. 55, pp. 127–146. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229322020028

8. Alexandrovskiy A.L., Ershova E.G., Krenke N.A. Buried Late-Holocene Luvisols of the Oka and Moskva River floodplain and their anthropogenic evolution according to soil and pollen data. Quat. Int., 2016, vol. 418, pp. 37–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2015.12.094

9. Barczi A., Tóth T.M., Csanádi A., Sümegi P., Czinkota I. Reconstruction of the paleoenvironment and soil evolution of the Csípo-halom kurgan, Hungary. Quat. Int., 2006, vol. 156–157, pp. 49–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2006.05.024

10. Blaauw M. Methods and code for ‘classical’ age-modelling of radiocarbon sequences. Quat. Geochronol., 2010, vol. 5, no. 5, pp. 512–518. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quageo.2010.01.002

11. Chendev Yu.G. Evolutsiya lesostepnykh pochv Srednerusskoi vozvyshennosti v golotsene [Evolution of Forest-Steppe Soils of the Central Russian Upland in the Holocene]. Moscow: GEOS Publ., 2008. 212 p.

12. Chendev Yu.G., Muravyov E.N., Golotvin A.N., Uvarkin S.V. Ecological transformations of hydrological regime for surface waters on example of river Lipovka in city Lipetsk. Nauch. Vedom. Belgorod. Gos. Univ. Estest. Nauki, 2016, vol. 232, no. 11, pp. 146–157. (In Russ.).

13. Chendev Y.G., Fedyunin I.V., Inshakov A.A., Golotvin A.N., Dudin D.I., Belevantsev V.G. Contrasting variants of soil development at archaeological sites on floodplains in the forest-steppe of the Central Russian Upland. Eurasian Soil Sci., 2021, vol. 54, pp. 461–477. https://doi.org/10.1134/S1064229321040050

14. Eckmeier E., Gerlach R., Gehrt E., Schmidt M.W.I. Pedogenesis of chernozems in central Europe – a review. Geoderma, 2007, vol. 139, pp. 288–299. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2007.01.009

15. Ershova E.G. Spore-pollen analysis of floodplain deposits: problems and opportunities. In Arkheologiya poimy: rel’ef, paleosreda, istoriya zaseleniya: tezisy nauchnogo seminara [Alluvial Archaeology: Relief, Palaeoenvironment, Occupation History: Seminar Proc.]. Moscow: Inst. Archaeology RAS, 2019, pp. 83–87. (In Russ.).

16. Gerasimenko N.P. Evolution of landscapes and soils of Ukraine in Holocene. In Evolutsiya poch i pochvennogo pokrova. Teoriya, raznoobrazie prirodnoi evolutsii i antropogennykh transformatsii pochv [Evolution of Soils and Soil Cover. Theory, Diversity of Natural Evolution and Anthropogenic Transformations of Soils]. Moscow: GEOS Publ., 2015, pp. 421–430. (In Russ.).

17. Gerasimov I.P., Markov K.K. Chetvertichnaya geologiya: Paleogeografiya chetvertichnogo perioda [Quarternary Geology: Paleogeography of Quarternary Period]. Moscow: Uchpedgiz Publ., 1939. 364 p.

18. Grimm E.C. TILIA and TILIA*GRAPH.PC spreadsheet and graphics software for pollen data. INQUA, Working Group on Data-Handling Methods. Newsletter, 1990, no. 4, pp. 5–7.

19. Gromov I.M., Erbaeva M.A. Mlekopitayushchie fauny Rossii i sopredel’nykh territorii. Zaitseobraznye i gryzuny [Mammals of the Fauna of Russia and Adjacent Territories. Lagomorphs and Rodents]. St. Petersburg: ZIN RAN Publ., 1995. 520 p.

20. Hejcman M., Souckova K., Kristuf P., Peska J. What questions can be answered by chemical analysis of recent and paleosols from the Bell Beaker barrow (2500− 2200 BC), Central Moravia, Czech Republic? Quat. Int., 2013, vol. 316, pp. 179–189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2013.06.014

21. Kabała C., Przybył A., Krupski M., Łabaz B., Waroszewski J. Origin, age and transformation of Chernozems in northern Central Europe – new data from Neolithic earthen barrows in SW Poland. Catena, 2019, vol. 180, pp. 83–102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2019.04.014

22. Khotinskii N.A. Paleoecological reconstructions of environment during the Holocene (the model of the contemporary interglacial epoch). In Paleogeografiya Evropy za poslednie sto tysyach let [Paleogeography of Europe During the Last One Hundred Thousand Years]. Gerasimov I.P., Ed. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1982, pp. 123–127. (In Russ.).

23. Klimanov V.A., Serebryannaya T.A. Changes in the vegetation and climate of the Central Russian Upland in the Holocene. Izv. Akad. Nauk SSSR. Ser. Geogr., 1986, no. 1, pp. 26–37. (In Russ.).

24. Lukanina E., Shumilovskikh L., Novenko E. Vegetation and fire history of the East-European forest-steppe over the last 14,800 years: A case study from Zamostye, Kursk region, Russia. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. Palaeoecol., 2022, vol. 605, no. 111218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2022.111218

25. Makeev A.O., Rusakov A.V., Kurbanova F.G., Khokhlova O.S., Kust P.G., Denisova E.A. Dynamics of environment in the south of forest-steppe zone in Russian Plain on data of geoarchaeological archives. In Pochvy – strategicheskii resurs Rossii: Tezisy dokladov VIII s’ezda obshchestva pochvovedov im. V.V. Dokuchaeva. Ch. 3 [Soils – a Strategic Resource of Russia: Theses of Rep. of VIII Congr. of Docuchaev Soil Scientists Society. Part 3]. Moscow, Syktyvkar, 2021, pp. 773–774. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.31140/book-2021-05

26. Medvedev A.P. Sarmaty v verkhov’yakh Tanaisa [Sarmatians in the Upper Tanais]. Moscow: Taus Publ., 2008. 252 p.

27. Novenko E.Yu. Izmeneniya rastitel’nosti i klimata Tsentral’noi i Vostochnoi Evropy v pozdnem pleistotsene i golotsene v mezhlednikovye i perekhodnye etapy klimaticheskikh makrotsiklov [Vegetation and Climate Changes in the Central and Eastern Europe in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene at the Interglacial and Transitional Stages of Climate Macro-Cycles]. Moscow: GEOS Publ., 2016. 228 p.

28. Novenko E.Yu. Reconstruction of arboreal vegetation dynamics of the area of museum-reserve Kulikovo Pole in the Middle and Late Holocene. Zapoved. Nauka, 2017, no. 2, pp. 66–76. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.24189/ncr.2017.034

29. Novenko E.Yu. Landscape-climatic changes in forest zone of the Central and Eastern Europe in Holocene: the retrospective analysis and scenarios of natural environment evolution. Ecosist. Ecol. Dinam., 2020, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 57–80. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.24411/2542-2006-2020-10074

30. Novenko E.Yu., Glasko M.P., Volkova Y.M., Zuganova I.S. Landscape and climate dynamics of the Upper Don River basin in the mid- and late Holocene. Izv. Akad. Nauk. Ser. Geogr., 2013, no. 2, pp. 68–82. (In Russ.).

31. Novenko E.Yu., Tsyganov A.N., Volkova E.M., Babeshko K.V., Mazei Yu.A. Landscape and climate dynamics of the North-Western Srednerusskaya Upland during the Holocene. Vestn. Mosk. Univ., Ser. 5: Geogr., 2014, no. 6, pp. 24–31. (In Russ.).

32. Novenko E.Yu., Tsyganov A.N., Volkova E.M., Babeshko K.V., Lavrent’ev N.V., Mazei Yu.A. Changes of vegetation and climate in the North-West of the Central Russian Upland in the Holocene. Izv. Akad. Nauk. Ser. Geogr., 2016, no. 1, pp. 103–114. (In Russ.).

33. Novenko E.Yu., Zyuganova I.S., Dyuzhova K.V., Volkova E.M. Vegetation dynamics on the southern boundary of the broad-leaved forest zone of the European Plane in the Middle and Late Holocene. Izv. Akad. Nauk, Ser. Geogr., 2017, no. 5, pp. 82–94. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.7868/S0373244417050073

34. Paleopalinologiya. T. 1. Metodika paleopalinologicheskikh issledovanii i morfologiya nekotorykh iskopaemykh spor, pyl’tsy i drugikh pastitel’nykh mikrofossilii [Palaeopalynology. Vol. 1. The Method of Palaeopalynological Research and Morphology of Same Fossil Spores, Pollens, and Other Plant Fossils]. Leningrad: Nedra Publ., 1966, 351 p.

35. Panin A., Matlakhova E. Fluvial chronology in the East European Plain over the last 20 ka and its palaeohydrological implications. Catena, 2014, vol. 130, pp. 46–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2014.08.016

36. Panin A.V., Sidorchuk A.Yu., Vlasov M.V. High Late Valdai (Vistulian) runoff in the Don River Basin. Izv. Akad. Nauk. Ser. Geogr., 2013, no. 1, pp. 118–129. (In Russ.).

37. Pietsch D. Krotovinas – soil archives of steppe landscape history. Catena, 2013, vol. 104, pp. 257–264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2012.12.003

38. Rusakov A., Makeev A., Khokhlova O., Kust P., Lebedeva M., Chernov T., Golyeva A., Popov A., Kurbanova F., Puzanova T. Paleoenvironmental reconstruction based on soils buried under Scythian fortification in the southern forest-steppe area of the East European Plain. Quat. Int., 2019, vol. 502, pp. 197–217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2018.05.016

39. Shumilovskikh L., Novenko E., Giesecke T. Long-term dynamics of the East European forest-steppe ecotone. J. Veg. Sci., 2017, vol. 29, no. 3. https://doi.org/10.1111/jvs.12585

40. Shumilovskikh L.S., Rodinkova V., Rodionova A., Troshina A., Ershova E., Novenko E., Zazovskaya E., Sycheva S.A., Kiselev D., Schlütz F., Schneeweiß J. Insights in the late Holocene vegetation history of the East European forest-steppe: case study Sudzha (Kursk region, Russia). Veg. Hist. Archaeobotany, 2019, vol. 28, pp. 513–528. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00334-018-00711-4

41. Sverchkova A.E., Khokhlova O.S. Soil evolution and landscape-climatic changes in the Bronze Age for the steppe zone of the Kuban-Azov Plain based on the study of a large mound. Izv. Akad. Nauk. Ser. Geogr., 2021, no. 1, pp. 70–83. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.31857/S2587556621010143

42. Serebryannaya T.A. Dynamics of the central forest-steppe boundaries in the Holocene. In Vekovaya dinamika biogeotsenozov. Chteniya pamyati akademika V.N. Sukacheva [Secular Dynamics of Biogeocenoses: Lectures in Memory of Academician V.N. Sukachev]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1992, pp. 54–71. (In Russ.).

43. Spiridonova E.A. Evolyutsiya rastitel’nogo pokrova basseina Dona v verkhnem pleistotsene-golotsene [Evolution of the Plant Cover in the Don River Basin in the Late Pleistocene-Holocene]. Moscow: Nauka Publ., 1991. 221 p.

44. Sycheva S.A. Little climatic Holocene optimum and Little Ice Age in the memory of soils and deposits of rivers floodplains of the Russian plains. Izv. Akad. Nauk. Ser. Geogr., 2011, no. 1, pp. 79–93. (In Russ.).

45. Sycheva S.A. Palaeosoil and archaeolodical evidences of the rhythmical development of river floodplains in Holocene. In Arkheologiya poimy: rel’ef, paleosreda, istoriya zaseleniya: tezisy nauchnogo seminara [Alluvial Archaeology: Relief, Palaeoenvironment, Occupation History: Seminar Proc.]. Moscow: Institute of Archaeology RAS (Publ.), 2019, pp. 83–87. (In Russ.).

46. Sycheva S.A., Bessudnov A.N., Bessudnov A.A., Sedov S.N., Semakova A.N. Divnogorie pedolithocomplex of the Russian Plain: Latest Pleistocene deposits and environments based on study of the Divnogorie 9 geoarchaeological site (middle reaches of the Don River). Quat. Int., 2016, vol. 418, pp. 49–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2015.11.006

47. Velicko A.A. Periglacial environment as a resource basis of the late mammoth existence over the Late Paleolithic epoch in the East European Plain. In Evolutsionnaya geografiya: problemy i resheniya [Evolutional Geography: the Problems and Decisions]. Moscow: GEOS Publ., 2012, pp. 430–453. (In Russ.).

48. Volkova E.M., Novenko E.Yu., Yurkovskaya T.K. The age of mires of the Central Russian Upland. Izv. Akad. Nauk. Ser. Geogr., 2020, no. 4, pp. 551–561. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.31857/S2587556620040135

49. Williams J.W., Shuman B., Bartlein P.J. Rapid responses of the prairie–forest ecotone to early Holocene aridity in mid-continental North America. Glob. Planet. Chang., vol. 66, pp. 195–207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2008.10.012