There is little information about moisture changes in different altitudinal belts in mountainous regions of the southern Russian Far East. We present ecological and taxonomic compositions of the diatom flora and identify the botanical composition of peat in small mountain lake/mire complexes located in the Central Sikhote-Alin Mountains, within large landslides on the paleovolcanic slopes. Frequent changes in diatom assemblages and peat-forming plants indicate unstable hydroclimatic conditions with varying degrees of wet and dry conditions up to the overgrowth of the lakes. Frequent change in sphagnum mosses with different trophic preferences was identified. The chronology is based on 11 radiocarbon dates. Accumulation rates reached 1.7-1.9 mm/year, and the temporal resolution for the reconstructions was up to 30-40 yr. The tendencies of lake evolution depended on different scale hydroclimatic changes over the last 4400 yr. The most detailed data for the last 2600 yr were obtained from the Nizhnee Lake sequence, which is more sensitive to climatic changes. The main reason for the change in the hydrological regime of the lakes was variations in precipitation during short-term climatic changes. The sediment record of moisture fluctuations is relatively well correlated with regional patterns reflecting summer monsoon intensity and cyclogenesis activity.
Keywords: botanical composition; cyclogenesis; diatoms; inundation and dry periods; monsoon; mountain lake/mire complexes.