Abstract:
New evidence from the Asov Sea-Black Sea region shows that after the Cobb Mountain magnetic event (1.1 myr) there were 8 saline water events, with Mediterranean molluscs penetrating into the Asov Sea (five times farther than the western Manych Strait), and 7 or 10 cold freshwater events. During the freshening phase, the Caspian Sea molluscan fauna penetrated into the Black Sea; each time the Caspian mollusc assemblage was characterized by a new species of Didacna. Thus, some 18-20 bioclimatostratigraphic units can be distinguished in the Asov Sea-Black Sea section for the last 1 myr. Their numerical age is estimated by some dozen thermoluminescence dates and 12 magnetic-polarity datum planes. The Karangatian s. lato corresponds to the interval 300,000-50,000 yr, the Uzunlarian to 580,000-300,000 yr, and the Chaudian to 1,100,000-600,000 yr. The Karangatian and Tyrrhenian marine terraces correspond to marine isotope stages 5 and 7, the Uzunlarian and Milazzian to stages 11-15, and the Chaudian and Sicilian to stages 16-28. The number and ages of glacial-interglacial cycles in continental Europe are identical to the climatic cycles in the Black Sea and Mediterranean