Dating of alluvial sediments from borehole at the lower course of the Sava river and indications of the connection between their genesis and climate changes in the Pleistocene

Abstract

This paper analyses the way in which Pleistocene climate change and glaciations in Dinaric Mountains was reflected in the deposition of alluvial sediments in the Sava river Valley, using a case study of Belgrade Groundwater Source (BGS), the largest and most downstream alluvial water supply source along the Sava river. A stratigraphic analysis of the Quaternary sediments from two boreholes on this site, based on sediment dating, lithological members identification, grain size distribution analysis was performed. Comparison with the results of dating of the moraines and glacial outwash, the remnants of glaciations in Dinaric mountains of Montenegro, by Hughes et al. and Adamson et al. showed a good match, as the dating of the last four sedimentation cycles yielded the 13.2 ka (start of MIS1), 80.9 ka (MIS 5a), 137.5 (end of MIS6 or start of MIS5) and 193.4 ka (MIS 7) ages, corresponding to MIS1, MIS 5a, end of MIS6 and start of MIS5, and MIS7 stages for glacial outwash, and to MIS2, MIS5b and MIS5d, end of MIS6 and start of MIS5, and MIS8 stages for the moraines. The ages of older cycles were presented as a hypothesis based on aforementioned succession of ages.