Tracing the influence of Mediterranean climate on Southeastern Europe during the past 350,000 years

Abstract

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.

Periodic input of dust over the Eastern Carpathians during the Holocene linked with Saharan desertification and human impact

“…two spatially close sites displaying differing precipitation trends as reported in Feurdean et al, 2008). It is possible that this variability reflects only site-related (including chronological) uncertainties or is an indicator of the impact of location at the contact of several climatic zones (Obreht et al, 2016). To determine this, the impact of different modes of atmospheric (and moisture) circulation patterns and their imprint within paleoclimate archives must be investigated through better regional coverage following high-resolution multi-proxy approaches (e.g.…”

“…Thus, the dust influx into the Carpathian-Balkan region should be extremely sensitive to relatively small changes in precipitation rates. This hydroclimatic sensitivity is enhanced due to the fact that the Carpathians and the surrounding lowlands are located at a confluence of three major atmospheric systems: the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean, and the Siberian High (Obreht et al, 2016). Indeed, research appears to indicate that the climate in Romania is controlled, at least in part, by North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) fluctuations (Bojariu and Giorgi, 2005;Bojariu and Paliu, 2001) but it is yet unclear how this relationship evolved in the past (Haliuc et al, 2017).…”

OSL chronostratigraphy for loess deposits from Tyszowce – Poland

“…The reconstruction of climate change in the loess areas is not only based on luminescence dating but also on detailed geochemical analyses (Antoine et al, 2009Stevens et al, 2011;Obreht et al, 2016). In our investigations we conducted an analysis of selected loess sequences consisting of a series of palaeosols and loess accumulation periods.…”

Terroir of the Tri Morave wine region (Serbia) as a basis for producing wines with geographical indication

“…The presence of loess is however, much less than the dominating fluvial and colluvial sediments. Loess can be described as one of the best parent substrates for the formation of soil with potentially high fertility Obreht et al, 2016). Such soils are important for the development of intensive agriculture and vine cultivation as well.…”