Аласы протоки Стадухина, Колымская низменность

Palynological and radiocarbon analyses of alas sediments from the Stadukhin Canal valley confirm the occurrence of a climatic optimum in the Early Holocene, with an upper boundary of 8.000 14C yrs. B.P., and another optimum in the Middle Holocene. The cooling period separating these optima spans the interval 7.100-8.000 14C yrs. B.P. During these climatic optima, the vegetation cover was dominated by widely spread larch forests, including high shrub birch. The forest understory included birch, alder, and willow shrubs. Shrub birch also formed dense thickets on valley slopes. Shrub alder and willow were abundant in river valleys. During the cooling period, the vegetation consisted of open larch forests, followed by forest-tundra communities.