“…11), values that unequivocally indicate surrounding river valleys (Južna, Zapadna and Velika Morava Rivers) as the source areas (for more details see Supplementary material). This is also supported by the higher contribution of the coarser grain-size particles, when compared to middle Danube basin263637. Such geochemical and textural characteristics suggest limited or completely suspended contribution of the particles from the Danube catchment area, which is the main source area for the terrestrial sediments in the Middle and Lower Danube Basins.…”
Loess-palaeosol sequences are valuable archives of past environmental changes. Although regional palaeoclimatic trends and conditions in Southeastern Europe have been inferred from loess sequences, large scale forcing mechanisms responsible for their formation have yet to be determined. Southeastern Europe is a climatically sensitive region, existing under the strong influence of both Mediterranean and continental climates. Establishment of the spatial and temporal evolution and interaction of these climatic areas is essential to understand the mechanisms of loess formation. Here we present high-resolution grain-size, environmental magnetic, spectrophotometric and geochemical data from the Stalać section in the Central Balkans (Serbia) for the past ~350,000 years. The goal of this study is to determine the influence of the Mediterranean climate during this period. Data show that the Central Balkans were under different atmospheric circulation regimes, especially during Marine Isotope Stages 9 and 7, while continental climate prevailed further north. We observe a general weakening of the Mediterranean climate influence with time. Our data suggest that Marine Isotope Stage 5 was the first interglacial in the Central Balkans that had continental climate characteristics. This prominent shift in climatic conditions resulted in unexpectedly warm and humid conditions during the last glacial.
“…11), values that unequivocally indicate surrounding river valleys (Južna, Zapadna and Velika Morava Rivers) as the source areas (for more details see Supplementary material). This is also supported by the higher contribution of the coarser grain-size particles, when compared to middle Danube basin263637. Such geochemical and textural characteristics suggest limited or completely suspended contribution of the particles from the Danube catchment area, which is the main source area for the terrestrial sediments in the Middle and Lower Danube Basins.…”
Loess-palaeosol sequences are valuable archives of past environmental changes. Although regional palaeoclimatic trends and conditions in Southeastern Europe have been inferred from loess sequences, large scale forcing mechanisms responsible for their formation have yet to be determined. Southeastern Europe is a climatically sensitive region, existing under the strong influence of both Mediterranean and continental climates. Establishment of the spatial and temporal evolution and interaction of these climatic areas is essential to understand the mechanisms of loess formation. Here we present high-resolution grain-size, environmental magnetic, spectrophotometric and geochemical data from the Stalać section in the Central Balkans (Serbia) for the past ~350,000 years. The goal of this study is to determine the influence of the Mediterranean climate during this period. Data show that the Central Balkans were under different atmospheric circulation regimes, especially during Marine Isotope Stages 9 and 7, while continental climate prevailed further north. We observe a general weakening of the Mediterranean climate influence with time. Our data suggest that Marine Isotope Stage 5 was the first interglacial in the Central Balkans that had continental climate characteristics. This prominent shift in climatic conditions resulted in unexpectedly warm and humid conditions during the last glacial.
“…This is also reflected in the geophysical characteristics and geochemistry of the section, showing extraordinary high magnetic susceptibility and several times higher values of Ni and Cr (Obreht et al, 2016) when compared to other LPS in Southeastern Europe (e.g. Buggle et al, 2009Buggle et al, , 2008Marković et al, 2015;Obreht et al, 2015;Újvári et al, 2008 andZeeden et al, 2016, in press). This clearly points to a mainly local source of the material from the surrounding rivers at the Stalać section.…”
Abstract:A new geochronology was established for the Stalać loess-paleosol sequence (LPS) in Serbia. The section is located in the interior of the Central Balkan region, south of the typical loess distribution, in a zone of paleoclimatic shifts between continental and Mediterranean climate regimes. The sampled sequence contains four well-developed paleosol and loess layers, a crypto tephra and one visible tephra layer. Optically stimulated luminescence measurements showed a strong dependency of preheat temperature on equivalent dose for one fine-grained quartz sample, which makes it unsuitable for dating. A firm chronology framing the last two glacial cycles was established using finegrained polyminerals and the post-infrared infrared stimulated luminescence (pIR 50 IR 290 ) protocol instead. The characteristics of dated paleosols indicate similar climatic conditions during the last interstadial and interglacial phases, which were different from the penultimate interglacial period. The tephra within the L2 loess, probably related to tephra layers also found in other sections in Southeastern Europe, was sandwich-dated. The results indicate an age between 118 ka and 141 ka. Furthermore, a weak pedogenic layer dated to between 126 ka and 148 ka gives a first numerical age to this soil formation in Southeastern Europe.
“…1) and dated to ~40,000 years BP 4 . As such, this region may be regarded as a key area for understanding the relationship between past environmental changes in this area and the dispersal of AMH throughout Europe during the late Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3.Figure 1Map of the Southeastern Europe showing key loess-palaeosol sequences (Urluia (this study), Vlasca (this study), Rasova 12 , Titel 37, 40 , Batajnica 5, 11 , Orlovat 7 , Stalać 2 , Dunaszekcső 9 ) and lacustrine records (Lake Prespa 3 and Tenaghi Pilippon 42 ) discussed in this paper. The map was generated using ArcGIS 10.2.2 (http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis).…”
Understanding the past dynamics of large-scale atmospheric systems is crucial for our knowledge of the palaeoclimate conditions in Europe. Southeastern Europe currently lies at the border between Atlantic, Mediterranean, and continental climate zones. Past changes in the relative influence of associated atmospheric systems must have been recorded in the region’s palaeoarchives. By comparing high-resolution grain-size, environmental magnetic and geochemical data from two loess-palaeosol sequences in the Lower Danube Basin with other Eurasian palaeorecords, we reconstructed past climatic patterns over Southeastern Europe and the related interaction of the prevailing large-scale circulation modes over Europe, especially during late Marine Isotope Stage 3 (40,000–27,000 years ago). We demonstrate that during this time interval, the intensification of the Siberian High had a crucial influence on European climate causing the more continental conditions over major parts of Europe, and a southwards shift of the Westerlies. Such a climatic and environmental change, combined with the Campanian Ignimbrite/Y-5 volcanic eruption, may have driven the Anatomically Modern Human dispersal towards Central and Western Europe, pointing to a corridor over the Eastern European Plain as an important pathway in their dispersal.
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