REVIEW OF STRATIGRAPHY OF EASTERN PARATETHYS 
Vegetation 
Type 
Vegetation 
Belt (N-S) 
Ferns, Mosses 
Tundra 
Taiga (Coniferous) 
Taiga (Deciduous) 
cS 
Ss) 
= 
jaa) 
D 
£& 
o 
= 
O 
x< 
So 
2 
Cc 
& 
oO 
= 
o) 
ne) 
© 
® 
= 
Broad-Leaved 
Grasses 
Shrubs & 
Semi Shrubs 
Fig.3 Distribution of principal vegetation types in relation to vegetation belts. Compiled from various sources. Bar width provides a measure of 
abundance. 
(the former in response to permafrost development). This is also 
indicated by palaeoclimatic reconstructions for the Late Valdai 
Glacial and Mikulino Interglacial (Grichuk, 1984; Savina & 
Khotinskiy, 1984; Velichko, 1984b). An alternative explanation 
envisages a time lag between the onset of glaciation and the 
response of vegetation (belts being displaced by up to 2000km.). 
Similar disequilibrium phenomena have been described from 
interstadial complexes in the United Kingdom. 
MAGNETOSTRATIGRAPHY 
Much magnetostratigraphic data is available from Eastern 
Paratethys (e.g., Zubakov & Kochegura (1971), Trubikhin 
(1977), Semenenko (1979), Semenenko & Pevzner (1979), 
Grishanoy et al. (1983), Rogl & Steininger (1984), Steininger & 
Rogl (1984), Chepalyga (1985), Chepalyga et al. (1985), 
lossofova (1985), Pevzner & Vangengeim (1985a, 1993), Senes 
(1985), Skalbdyna (1985), Vass (1985), Zubakov & Borzenkova 
(1990) and Trubikhin et a/. (1991a—b)). Theoretically, this sort of 
data ought to enable a correlation between Eastern Paratethys 
and the rest of the world (which, as noted above, is difficult to do 
using the available biostratigraphic data). However, in practice 
the process is complicated by apparently inconsistent definition 
and usage of magnetostratigraphic units (polarity epochs). It is 
beyond the scope of this paper to address this problem in any 
more detail (instead, we simply quote the published 
magnetostratigraphic (polarity epoch) ranges for the various 
regional stages). It is nonetheless evident that the potential exists 
for a refined magnetostratigraphic subdivision of critical 
intervals using short-lived polarity reversal ‘episodes’ within the 
longer-term epochs. 
OXYGEN ISOTOPE STRATIGRAPHY 
Theoretically, the ages of the Plio-Pleistogene sediments of 
Eastern Paratethys are resolvable using oxygen isotope 
stratigraphic techniques. However, 1n practice, what data there is 
exists in widely disseminated form and is not particularly useful. 
SEQUENCE STRATIGRAPHY AND 
PALAEOGEOGRAPHY 
Introduction 
No published sequence stratigraphic schemes exist for the 
Oligocene-Holocene of Paratethys, although relative sea-level 
changes and associated aspects of sequence stratigraphy are 
discussed by Rog] & Steininger (1983), Chepalyga (1985, 1991), 
Demarcq (1985), Krhovsky (1985), Nevesskaya et al. (1985), 
Pogacsas (1985), Pogacsas & Revesz (1985), Skalbdyna (1985), 
Andalibi (1991), Zubakov & Borzenkova (1990) and 
Klopovotskaya (1991). 
This section attempts to place the regional stratigraphy of 
Eastern Paratethys in a (global) sequence stratigraphic 
framework. It is written in the form of a geological history. 
Stratigraphic (bio-, climato-, magneto- and sequence- 
stratigraphic) data are summarised on Figs 5-6. 
Palaeogeographic reconstructions for selected time-slices are 
given on Figs 7-12. These are based in part on previously 
published maps (Podobina et al, 1956; Muratov, 1960; 
Sheydayeva-Kuliyeva, 1966; Ushakova & Ushko, 1971; Senes, 
1973; Azizbekova, 1974; Senes & Marinescu, 1974; Luttig & 
