Palynological substantiation of stratigraphic division and correlation of Belovezhian deposits of the Pleistocene of Belarus

The Belovezhian stage is a part of the Middle Pleistocene of Belarus. It is located between the Narevian and Berezinian glacial stages and consists of three substages: Borkovian, Nizhninian and Mogilevian. Belovezhian stage corresponds to the Muchkapian one in the stratigraphic scheme of the Pleistocene of the European part of Russia, which is also subdivided into the Glazovian, Podrudnyanian and Konakhovian substages and located between the Donian and Okian glacial stages. Generalization and analysis of the results of accumulated palynological and geological studies indicate that the Borkovian, Nizhninian and Mogilevian substages can be assigned a higher status - stages. Arguments in favor of such a division are presented in this paper. This point of view was repeatedly expressed earlier, but was not accepted in the modern stratigraphic scheme of the Pleistocene of Belarus. Another topical issue of the stratigraphy of this part of Pleistocene, considered within this article, is the validity of the Korchevian substage within the Narevian glacial stage. According to the available palynological data, the deposits of the Korchevian substage are characterized by a similar sequence and features of pollen zones as the Mogilevian accumulations within the Belovezhian stage, and therefore their age should be determined as Mogilevian. To substantiate the conclusions, a detailed interregional correlation of the studied deposits with the corresponding deposits of other regions of Europe by pollen zones was carried out and presented in this article.