14C dating of late pleistocene-holocene events on Kunashir Island, Kuril Islands

Abstract

Kunashir Island is a very important site for paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Until recently, very little information on Quaternary deposits was available. We studied the environmental evolution of this oceanic island under the influence of geomorphological processes, volcanism and strong marine currents. This paper presents new data that allow a detailed reconstruction of the environmental development of Kunashir Island during the Late Pleistocene-Holocene, based on ca. 80 radiocarbon dates and diatom, pollen and sedimentological data. The vegetation development reflects climate changes and warm/cold current migrations.