Global Palaeoclimate of the Late Cenozoic

Preface to the Russian edition of Palaeoclimates of the Late Cenozoic by V.A. Zubakov and I.I. Borzenkova (Gidrometeoizdat, 1983). Preface to the Russian edition of The Global Climatic Events of the Pleistocene, by V.A. Zubakov (Gidrometeoizdat, 1986). PART I. THE GLOBAL CLIMATIC EVENTS OF THE PLEISTOCENE. Introduction. Section I. Methodological problems of palaeclimatology. 1. The time structure of climate. On the definitions of climate, palaeoclimate and palaeoclimatography. On the terms ``global climatic event'',``climathem'', climatostratigraphy. On the methods of high-resolution climatostratigraphic correlation and chronological scale of global climatic events. The principles of time classification of the global climatic events: Taxonomic differences in the climato - sedimentary cycles and climathems. The two climatic regimes in the history of the Earth. Main features of the glacial climatic regime. Main features of the greenhouse climatic regime. 2. Deep-sea standard for global climatic events. History of climatostratigraphic study of the Pleistocene. The significance of the oxygen-isotope scale for climatostratigraphic reconstructions. Systematic aspects of ``ocean-continent'' climatochronological correlation. The significance of geomagnetic data. Section II. Evidence for climatic changes in the Pleistocene - regional review. 3. Effects of global climatic events in the Mediterranean - Caspian system. The Mediterranean as a new climatoparastratotype region. The Caspian basin as a major record of changes in humidification in interior Eurasia. The Azov-Black Sea basin as a standard for the climatostratigraphic sequence on the shelf off Europe. The Mediterranean-Caspian paleohydrologic system as a record of global and regional climatic changes. 4. The loess assemblage of Eurasia as an indicator of climatic changes in the arid zone. The Loess zone of Europe. Loess in Asia. 5. Middle and high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere as a major record of continental glaciation in Pleistocene time. Russian plain. Glaciated area in western and central Europe. West Siberia. North-eastern Asia and Beringia. North America. The Arctic and sub-Arctic. Section III. The history of climate through the Pleistocene. 6. On the timing of palaeoclimates in the Pleistocene. Debatable problems of inter-regional climatostratigraphic correlation. On correspondence between the numbrs of climathems on land and in the sea. On two stratific lines in the geo-historical classification of the Pleistocene. Comparison of experience in the long-distance stratigraphic correlation of the Pleistocene. Rhythm-chronological approach to the Pleistocene classification. On three types of time classification of the Pleistocene climatic events. The role of the 400 ka cycle for chronological classification of the Pleistocene. 7. Climatic changes in the Early and Middle Pleistocene. Introduction. The sixth (Gunz) kryo-superclimathem, 1.17-1.0 Ma.