The Carpathian Basin contains some of the best preserved loess deposits in Europe, including some of the continent's longest and best resolved climate records. Large areas of the basin have been intensively investigated in recent years, although deposits in the east remain largely unstudied, despite considerable regional variation in climate records. Here we discuss the sedimentary record exposed in the Orlovat brickyard using detailed litho‐ and pedo‐stratigraphic, enviromagnetic parameters and luminescence dating. The results show an atypical Late Pleistocene succession for the Carpathian Basin. Notably, the normally widespread pedocomplex V‐L1S1 is missing. This contrasts with other parts of the sequence, which appear highly resolved, such as the thicker pedocomplex V‐S1 and the detailed transitions between modern pedocomplexes V‐S0 and the last glacial loess unit V‐L1. The luminescence chronology demonstrates a lack of intensive pedogenesis during the Early Holocene and raises an important general question about the beginning of Holocene soil formation in the region. The later Holocene soil formation adds to a growing body of evidence that suggests more complex terrestrial responses of climate to global climate change. This evidence weakens the validity of previously generalized direct stratigraphic correlations between regional terrestrial environmental archives, and global marine and ice core records.

In this paper we introduce the term "loess pyramid" for an unusual form of relief in thick loess deposits. From a distance, the loess pyramid resembles a haystack; this is why it is known as "the haystack" by the local residents. Its erosional origin is conditional, occurring only where loess deposits are thick and gully erosion changes direction significantly. We describe a loess pyramid on a thick loess section near the Tisa (Tisza) River in Titel province, Serbia. The pyramid has a maximum altitude of 111.6 m, a width of 82 m and a length of 52 m. It is framed by two smaller gullies that belong to one hydrological system, but each has different morphological properties. The gullies output directly to the floodplain of the Tisa River, which cut the escarpment that the pyramid is set within. Given the relatively small number of references from the international and geomorphological literature on such landforms, this study represents an interesting contribution to the geomorphology of loess landscapes.

The loess sequence preserved in the Požarevac brickyard in north-eastern Serbia comprises eight loess units separated by seven paleosols. Geochronological investigation using amino acid racemization and luminescence dating support stratigraphic correlations of loess units L3, S2LL1 and L1 at the Požarevac section with loess of glacial cycles E [Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 10], D (MIS 9-8), C (MIS 7-6) and B (MIS 5-2) across central Europe. Correlation with the marine oxygen-isotope stratigraphy and associated paleoclimatic inferences are further supported by magnetic susceptibility, particle size and carbonate content measured in Požarevac sediments. Malacological investigations at the Požarevac section reveal the continuous presence of the Chondrula tridens and Helicopsis striata faunal assemblages throughout the last 350 ka. The loess malacological fauna, which is characterized by the complete absence of cold-resistant and cold-preferring species, suggests a stable, dry and relatively warm glacial and interglacial climate, compared with other central European loess localities. Together these data suggest that the south-eastern part of the Carpathian (Pannonian, Middle Danube) Basin was a refugium for warm-preferring and xerophilous land-snails during the generally unfavorable glacial climates of the late Middle and Late Pleistocene.

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