Late Pleistocene spore-pollen record and climatic change at the Chongphadae Cave Site, Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Abstract

We present a detailed pollen record and interpretations of late Pleistocene climatic change at the Chongphadae Cave Site, Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The mean annual paleotemperature and mean annual paleoprecipitation of the site were calculated using the temperature index and precipitation index based on ecological features and geographical distribution of each taxon. Temperature index and precipitation index range from 8.8 °C to 10.4 °C and from 805.0 mm to 963.1 mm, respectively. Four dates (radiocarbon, uranium series, fission track, and paleomagnetic excursion dating) of the deposit profile investigated yield a range of ∼21.3 ka BP to ∼117 ka BP, geochronologically corresponding to the late Pleistocene, and extend from the last interglacial highstand through the Last Glacial Maximum. Our results are thus consistent with the climatic shift from interglacial to glacial conditions, provide evidence that the environments of the region, which was reconstructed from the paleoclimatic index, changed from a mild and humid to a cool and dry climate during the late Pleistocene, and suggest trends similar to those of several parts of the Northern Hemisphere which lie in the same latitudinal zone as our study area.