Biostratigraphy of the Late Upper Pleistocene (Upper Neopleistocene) to Holocene deposits of the Belaya River valley (Southern Urals, Russia)

Cave and terrace localities containing Upper Pleistocene and Holocene deposits have been biostratigraphically investigated in the mountainous part of the Southern Urals, in the latitudinal oriented valley of the Belaya River (Russian Federation). The main fieldwork was undertaken in 1999-2000. Its purpose was to save all the possible geological information before the building of the Yumaguzino reservoir. Nowadays, most of the localities described in the paper are under water. Biostratigraphical and archaeological data were studied at the same time (artefacts from the Late Palaeolitic to the Early Iron Age were found in the caves). The main characteristics of the Upper Quaternary terraces and of the cave deposits as well as the results of the paleontological investigations are given.