The study of the Gursky peat bog provided a continuous record of the environmental development in Lower Priamurye during the Late Glacial and the early Holocene. Three stadials (Early Dryas (DR I), Middle Dryas (DR II), and Younger Dryas (DR III)) and two interstadials (Bølling (BØ) and Allerød (AL)) were identified. Besides, short-term climatic events, such as the Susak Warm Episode (16.1–15.9 ka BP) and the Intra-Allerød Cold Period (IACP) or the Killarney/Gerzensee Oscillation (13.3–13.1 ka BP), were identified for the first time in the region. Quantitative climate parameters were reconstructed based on the present-day plant analogues. During the Younger Dryas, the average annual temperature in the study area was 7.5–9.0°C lower than today, and the average annual precipitation was approximately 50 mm less. During the Allerød interval, the average annual temperature was 0.5–1.0°C lower than today and the average annual precipitation was 100 mm less. During Dryas cooling (DR I, DR II, and DR III), elements of the Okhotsk flora penetrated to the latitude 50°–51° N with the boundaries of vegetation zones shifted southward by approximately 500–700 km. Permafrost was widespread in the Middle Amur Lowland, the dominant vegetation being birch and larch forest tundra with alder and thickets of frigid shrubs. Boreal forests occurred fragmentary on the mountain slopes. The populations of oak and elm survived the glaciations in small refugia to spread from them during the interstadial events (BØ and AL), as did dark coniferous and birch forests. About 11.8 ka BP a significant warming began, marking the beginning of the Holocene. In the Middle Amur Lowland, the zonal landscape became dominated by birch forests with alder, larch and a rare admixture of elm, oak, and hazel, with mixed forests of spruce and dwarf pine as the second most important landscape.
Bazarova et al. (Mon,) studied this question.