Abstract
Understanding the past dynamics of large-scale atmospheric systems is crucial for our knowledge of the palaeoclimate conditions in Europe. Southeastern Europe currently lies at the border between Atlantic, Mediterranean, and continental climate zones. Past changes in the relative influence of associated atmospheric systems must have been recorded in the region’s palaeoarchives. By comparing high-resolution grain-size, environmental magnetic and geochemical data from two loess-palaeosol sequences in the Lower Danube Basin with other Eurasian palaeorecords, we reconstructed past climatic patterns over Southeastern Europe and the related interaction of the prevailing large-scale circulation modes over Europe, especially during late Marine Isotope Stage 3 (40,000–27,000 years ago). We demonstrate that during this time interval, the intensification of the Siberian High had a crucial influence on European climate causing the more continental conditions over major parts of Europe, and a southwards shift of the Westerlies. Such a climatic and environmental change, combined with the Campanian Ignimbrite/Y-5 volcanic eruption, may have driven the Anatomically Modern Human dispersal towards Central and Western Europe, pointing to a corridor over the Eastern European Plain as an important pathway in their dispersal.
Highlights
In Southeastern Europe, loess-palaeosol sequences are one of the most important and usually the only available terrestrial archives of Quaternary palaeoclimate dynamics[1, 2, 5,6,7,8]
Grain-size distributions reflect changes in aeolian dynamics, sources of aeolian dust and pedogenesis[2, 9, 10], whereas environmental magnetism indicates the post-depositional formation of ultrafine magnetic particles during in-situ weathering and pedogenesis, both linked to variations in soil humidity[11, 12]
The most relevant proxy data of the Urluia and Vlasca sections are presented in Figs 2 and 3, while the stratigraphy and more detailed descriptions are given in the Supplementary Information
Summary
In Southeastern Europe, loess-palaeosol sequences are one of the most important and usually the only available terrestrial archives of Quaternary palaeoclimate dynamics[1, 2, 5,6,7,8]. Southeastern Europe is a diverse region, mainly mountainous throughout the Balkan area (Dinarides, Rhodope, and Balkan Mountains), whereas to the North the Carpathians separate two large lowland basins, the Middle Danube (Carpathian) Basin in the West and the Lower Danube (Walachian) Basin in the East, coinciding with the westernmost extent of the Eurasian steppe belt (Fig. 1). This area likely experienced major changes in the relative influence of large-scale atmospheric systems during the Middle and Late Pleistocene because of such geographical and geomorphological conditions[2, 5, 13]. Sediment fine fractions (
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