Middle Pleniglacial pedogenesis on the northwestern edge of the Carpathian basin: A multidisciplinary investigation of the Bíňa pedo-sedimentary section, SW Slovakia
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2017 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Doi | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.09.017 |
| Field | Botany |
| Keywords | Loess-paleosol sequence; MIS 3; Erosion/sedimentation; Soil micromorphology; Pedostratigraphy; Paleoclimate |
| Attached files | |
| Description | The Middle Pleniglacial on the northern hemisphere is characterized by millennial scale, frequent, and high amplitude environmental climatic shifts. In loess-paleosol sequences (LPSs) the transition from the Lower (MIS 4) to the Middle Pleniglacial (MIS 3) was accompanied by signi fi cant erosion events, as recorded in various terrestrial archives across Central Europe. As a result, potentially existing paleosol horizons of the particular period have been widely erased from the LPSs and only little is known about pedogenesis in this vast area. This study tries to fi ll this gap in our knowledge through studying a pedo-sedimentary record from Bí ň a, a site situated in a relatively poorly investigated area on the northwestern edge of the Carpathian Basin. We in- vestigated a 12-m-high and more than 500-m-wide outcrop along the Hron River, where a well-structured se- quence of fl uvio-lacustrine sediments, paleosols, and loess is preserved. The paleoenvironmental development within the studied area is presented and discussed on the basis of soil micromorphology, rock-magnetic and geochemical measurements, grain size analyses, and a malacological record accomplished by luminescence dating. Based on the OSL dating of the central pro fi le, the sequence provides a high resolution record of the time period 60 – 20 ka (MIS 3 – MIS 2). The most developed paleosol horizons (Phaeozem and two Bw horizons of Gleyic Cambisols) were dated to the early stage of the MIS 3 (60 – 50 ka) and correlated with the Greenland interstadials GI-17/16, GI-14/13 and/or GI-12 (the northwestern European interstadials Oerel, Glinde and Moershoofd). The development of the Bw horizon of a Cambisol recorded within the younger loess body was dated to ca. 35 ka and it probably corresponds to the late MIS 3 intestadials GI-8 – 5 (Denekamp). The pre- servation as well as the development of the well-strati fi ed record were closely related to the speci fi c hydro- and geomorphological settings of the paleo-channel structure in which the sequence developed. Although soil de- velopment bene fi ted from the speci fi c local settings, we suggest that the recorded paleosols can also be related to the interregional climate di ff erences of the Carpathian Basin: within the northerly located pericarpathian zones, a moister climate predominated during the last Pleniglacial, in contrast to the drier continental areas to the South. Thus, a sharp climatic transition existed separating a semi-arid steppe region from a climatic zone under the persistent in fluence of Atlantic air masses. |
| Related projects: |