Reconstruction of 26 kyrs palaeoenvironmental history of the Czarny Dunajec Fan – A multiproxy study of the Długopole gravel pit deposits (Western Carpathians, S Poland)

Abstract

Sedimentological and geochemical records of biogenic and mineral sediments, coupled with palaeobotanical and palaeozoological analysis from the gravel pit in Długopole (Western Carpathians, S Poland) allowed for the reconstruction of climate and palaeoenvironmental changes on the Czarny Dunajec Fan (part of the Orava Basin) during the Upper Plenivistulian - Late Vistulian (Late Glacial) and Holocene to the Northgrippian Age. Frequent climate fluctuations in the Upper Pleniglacial, Late Vistulian and Holocene intensified the accumulation and denudation processes, which led to the formation of the contemporary relief of the Orava Basin, including the creation of the Czarny Dunajec Fan and numerous peat bogs. Radiocarbon dating of wood fragments found in the Długopole gravel pit indicated three intervals of wood debris supply onto the floodplain: 9.5–7.3, 6.4–5.5, and 3.3 kyrs cal BP. Radiocarbon dating of the sediments show that the age of the deposits range from 26.2 (mammoth tusk) to 3.3 (peat) kyrs cal BP. Detailed taphonomic studies of the mammoth tooth revealed the absence of signs of long-distance transport and thus the nature of the local deposition environment. The presence of a pattern of manganese dendrites on the tusk surface indicates a wet, oxidizing, and mildly alkaline environment. A low-energy and calm sedimentary environment with high manganese concentration is confirmed by the results of geochemical analysis.