¹⁴C dates of peat in palsas from different regions of Northern Eurasia are represented. The authors apply these dates to determine the age of active palsa growth during different periods of the Holocene in permafrost zone. Climatic conditions are important for permafrost and palsa formation. However, the local environment leads to varying palsa ages even within uniform climatic and geocryologic region. ¹⁴C dating has shown that the palsa age is almost independent of latitude and temperatures of the permafrost. The authors recognize at least four different ways of permafrost mound formation, depending on temperature and drainage conditions. This defines the ¹⁴C date distributions. The cyclic character of the palsa thickness is a result of their pulsating development: repeated freezing with heaving and repeated melting with subsidence.Data was compiled after Vasil'chuk and Lakhtina (1986) with additions from Belorusova and Ukraintseva (1980); O. S. Turkina, personal communication (1980); Starikov and Zhidovlenko (1981); Washburn and Stuiver (1985); F. Z. Glebov, personal communication (1990); Ospennikov (1991); Göttlich et al (1985).

Most of the dates were obtained by ¹⁴C laboratories at different institutes of the Russian Academy of Sciences: the Geological Institute (GIN), the Institute of Geography (IGAN), the Institute of Forest and Wood (KRIL) and the Permafrost Institute (PI).