Siberian Federal University: SibFU geographers study how the Yenisei valley has changed in the last 50 thousand years
Back in 2020, this project won the regional competition for the best projects of fundamental scientific research jointly conducted by the RFBR and the Government of Krasnoyarsk Territory.
The research team of the Department of Geography of the School of Ecology and Geography headed by Professor Galina Yamskikh conducted field research on the territory of the Krasnoyarsk forest-steppe in the river valley, studied the sections on the Camp Terrace, on Afontova Gora, in the valleys of the Berezovka, Bazaikha, and Esaulovka rivers, and got unique results on changes in paleoecological conditions on the basis of a comprehensive study of a continuous section of the Late Neopleistocene and Holocene (more than 20 thousand years) in the Krasnoyarsk forest–steppe. The team reconstructed the paleogeographic conditions at the end of the Middle and Late Holocene in the valleys of the Talaya and Bartat rivers on the basis of malakofaunistic and palynological analyzes of floodplain deposits and radiocarbon dating.
During the geochemical study of the reference section Berezovka, the team noted an excess of the content of some macroelements and trace elements relative to the clarke of the earth’s crust, which is due to the composition of the underlying and surrounding rocks, and is proved by the mineralogical composition.
The species diversity of the malacofauna in the territory of the Krasnoyarsk depression in the second half of the Holocene is represented by 13 freshwater and 20 terrestrial species. The fossil communities are dominated by gastropods land molluscs, which have the widest spatial distribution and are found throughout the Middle and Late Holocene.
“The first results have been accepted for publication in first quartile journals included in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. Our direction is relatively young for Siberian Federal University, and such results prove that geography is a science that continues to develop,” said Galina Yamskikh, head of the Department of Geography.
In 2020, the initiative of the Russian Geographical Society founded the Day of the Geographer as a professional holiday in Russia which is celebrated on 18 August. Today, thanks to the support of the Russian Geographical Society, the issues of the development of geographical education in schools and universities are beginning to be overcome, the prestige of the profession of a geographer is increasing, and a professional standard was adopted.