Loess chronostratigraphy in Eastern Croatia—A luminescence dating approach

Abstract

In Eastern Croatia, impressive loess-palaeosol successions up to 30 m thick are exposed along the steep cliffs of the Danube River between Zmajevac and Šarengrad. The Croatian loess record provides an excellent high-resolution archive of climate and environmental change, providing evidence for the interaction between accumulation and erosion of aeolian and fluvial sediments during the Middle and Late Pleistocene. Sedimentological and pedological investigations, including granulometry, carbonate content and total organic carbon content, and infrared optically stimulated luminescence (IRSL) dating were carried out on samples collected from the loess sections at Zmajevac, Erdut and Šarengrad. The loess successions are intercalated by at least four palaeosols or pedocomplexes, which very likely correlate with Middle and Upper Pleistocene interstadials and interglacials. In all sediment successions investigated, alluvial sediments are intercalated in the loess deposits, indicating periods of fluvial activity. The stratigraphically youngest alluvial sediments are exposed at the Erdut section. Loess sandwiching these alluvial sediments yielded IRSL age estimates of 61.5±6.2 and 53.8±5.4 ka. The IRSL age estimates give evidence for periods of increased accumulation of dust during the middle and late pleniglacial, correlating with oxygen-isotope stage (OIS) 3 and OIS 2, respectively, during the penultimate glaciation and at least the antepenultimate glaciation. However, it is likely that IRSL age estimates >60 ka are underestimated.