Progressive Aridization of SE-Europe since the lower Pleistocene
2 Institute of Geography, University of Cologne
3 Chair of Geomorphology, University of Bayreuth
4 Chair of Physical Geography, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad
P 4.2 in Climate change research
In Europe only few long and (quasi-)continuous terrestrial climate archives exist extending back to the lower Mid-Pleistocene. In the lower and middle Danube Basin (Hungary Serbia, Romania) thick successions of loess layers and interglacial- interstadial paleosols, - so called Loess Paleosol sequences (LPSS) can be found. Though these LPSS have a high potential as long-term climate archives of the region or even Europe, key sites as the Batajnica /Stari Slankamen sequence (Serbia) and Mircea Voda sequence (Romania) are up to now not well investigated.
We present a chronostratigraphy of these two sites, showing that both sections represent archives for more than the last 700.000 years of climate history. To reconstruct the long-term climate evolution, which is recorded in these sites, we characterized type and intensity of soil formation using micromorphology and grain size as well as geochemical analyses. The results show that over the last 700.000 years soil types of the interglacials changed from fossil Cambisols and Luvisols (rubefied) to steppe soils. Micromorphological parameters (c/f related distribution pattern, type of b-fabric) and grain size proxies for pedogenesis (<5µ fraction) and wind strength (U-ratio) indicate a decrease of pedogenesis intensity and a progressive increase in wind strength for the interglacial paleosols, as well loesses in the studied time interval. A trend of decreasing silicate weathering intensity is indicated by a chemical proxy of alteration.
Our findings can be correlated to trends in pedogenesis and weathering intensity observed across Eurasia from S-Ukraine over Central Asia to China. This gives evidence for a aridization trend in the middle and lower Danube basin being a regional expression of the progressive aridization of interior Eurasia since the lower Pleistocene.