Objetivo Understanding global changes in the past contributes towards the prediction of changes expected in the future. Thus detailed information must be retrieved from those natural archives which accurately record a detailed history of environmental changes through geological time. Loess, consisting of wind-blown silt-sized clastic minerals and covering about 10% of the land surface of the Earth, contains a valuable proxy climate record comparable to that of deep sea sediments and potentially provides the most complete and detailed record of environmental changes over continental areas. Thick loess deposits are widespread on river terraces and foothills in central Asia, particularly in Tadjikistan. A striking feature of the loess deposits in Tadjikistan is the alternating occurrence of loess and buried soil horizons, which record fluctuations of past climates. It is essential to place accurate chronological constraints on the loess sequence in order to understand the rate of environmental changes recorded. The present joint project aims to establish a new chronology for the Late Pleistocene loess in Tadjikistan through a systematic luminescence dating study and to investigate the palaeoclimatic records by means of sedimentology, palaeopedology, magnetism, geochemistry, mollusc analysis and palynology. The loess sequences in central Asia contain numerous Palaeolithic artefacts. This study will, therefore, also be of considerable significance for understanding the timing of human evolution and changes in Man's environment in the region. The collaboration between the research teams is well established. Three of the four participating research institutes from the NIS have visited Cambridge University for short-term research, with support from the Royal Society during the last twelve months. The analyses of experimental data and the palaeoclimatological implications from central Asian loess will result in scientific reports and papers. This project will not only provide a new regional chronology for the very important loess sequences in Tadjikistan, but will also have significant implications for evaluating the validity of published thermoluminescence-based chronologies for other loess regions in the NIS. As such it will contribute to the understanding of past global change. Programa(s) IC-INTAS - International Association for the promotion of cooperation with scientists from the independent states of the former Soviet Union (INTAS), 1993- Tema(s) 51 - Evolutionary, Exploratory and General Geology Convocatoria de propuestas Data not available Régimen de financiación Data not available Coordinador University of Cambridge Aportación de la UE Sin datos Dirección Trinity Lane CB2 1TS Cambridge Reino Unido Ver en el mapa Coste total Sin datos Participantes (5) Ordenar alfabéticamente Ordenar por aportación de la UE Ampliar todo Contraer todo Academy of Sciences of Tadjikistan Tayikistán Aportación de la UE Sin datos Dirección 734028 Dushanbe Ver en el mapa Coste total Sin datos Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography Tayikistán Aportación de la UE Sin datos Dirección 734000 Dushanbe Ver en el mapa Coste total Sin datos Russian Academy of Sciences Rusia Aportación de la UE Sin datos Dirección 109017 Moscow Ver en el mapa Coste total Sin datos Scientific Agricultural Research Institute Rusia Aportación de la UE Sin datos Dirección 442730 Penza Region Ver en el mapa Coste total Sin datos Universität Köln Alemania Aportación de la UE Sin datos Dirección 50674 Köln Ver en el mapa Coste total Sin datos
