Abstract
Poor pollen preservation in cave deposits is due to oxidation and increasing scarcity of pollen with distance from the cave entrance. After an attempt to obtain pollen grains from the sediments in Azokh 1 (Lesser Caucasus) failed, two coprolites from Unit II were investigated for their microfossil contents. They contained few diatoms (including the rare Pliocaenicus), even less pollen but numerous phytoliths that were compared with those in selected levels of cave deposits and modern soil from outside. Grass silica short cell phytoliths give evidence of vegetation typical of a temperate climate for Unit II, which included C3 grasses. Not only the coprolites from Azokh are useful but the whole sequence of deposits has good potential for palaeoclimatic reconstruction based on for phytolith studies. The diatoms observed indicate feeding from a relatively moist terrestrial environment and availability of lake and/or running water.
Резюме
Для изучения экологической ситуации в процессе возникновения отложений в пещере Азох 1 (Малый Кавказ) химическому анализу были подвергнуты два образца копролитов. Исследование было предпринято после попытки получения пыльцы из мелкозернистого седимента, которая окончилась неудачей по причине продолжительной оксидации и разложения в условиях постоянного изменения влажности в пещере, а также возрастающей нехватки переносимой по воздуху пыльцы от входа в глубь пещеры. В качестве альтернативного источника пыльцы и других микроископаемых элементов были исследованы два копролита, обнаруженных в подразделении II. Они содержали редко встречающиеся виды диатомеи, включая Pliocaenicus sp., немного пыльцы и большое количество фитолитов. Фитолиты в копролитах были сопоставлены с образцами, отобранными из нескольких слоев отложений внутри и из современной почвы за пределами пещеры. Различные типы фитолитов рода Poaceae (силицированные короткие клетки травы) в пределах подразделения II указывают на типичную для умеренного климата растительность, которая включает C3 травы и несколько отличается от современной смешанной флоры. Плотность лесного покрова не может быть определена без дальнейшего изучения нетравяных фитолитов в копролитах и седименте. Последние указывают на то, что мелкозернистая седиментная последовательность в Азох 1 имеет одинаково хороший потенциал для анализа фитолитов в копролитах и, следовательно, для палеоэкологической реконструкции всей последовательности отложений, в том числе и для более обширного региона. Обнаруженные диатомовые водоросли свидетельствуют об относительно влажной почве и наличии озерной или речной воды в качестве источника питания.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Yolanda Fernández-Jalvo for providing the coprolites, initiating the study and providing relevant information. We are also grateful to the authorities of Nagorno-Karabakh for the support and permissions to work on these specimens. We are grateful to Tania King and diggers for careful work collecting these fossils, as well as field assistants for modern soil sampling on the slope of the cave. Thanks are extended to Karen Hardy for collecting sediment samples from the section of Azokh.
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Scott, L., Rossouw, L., Cordova, C., Risberg, J. (2016). Palaeoenvironmental Context of Coprolites and Plant Microfossils from Unit II. Azokh 1. In: Fernández-Jalvo, Y., King, T., Yepiskoposyan, L., Andrews, P. (eds) Azokh Cave and the Transcaucasian Corridor. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24924-7_13
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