Fossil Soils Research Articles

Palaeosols and surfaces: what fossil soils tell us about the representation of time in some sedimentary successions

Soils and hence palaeosols develop at geomorphic surfaces comprising landscapes. As most develop they reorganize the substrate to create texturally and chemically defined units (horizons) parallel to the land surfaces and some of these horizons become lithified resembling beds. Palaeosols, in many cases do not represent hiatuses but developed during deposition and represent condensation not lost time. The degree of pedogenic reorganization can be used to estimate the temporal significance of the length of soil formation but soils are commonly polygenetic and have not followed a simple, time-related developmental pathway. The complexity of soil development is illustrated with reference to the late Silurian-early Devonian polyphase alluvial palaeosols from South Wales which provide an example of how dynamic changes in sedimentation and erosion have occurred without changes in soil processes. The significance of these polyphase palaeosol profiles is reviewed in the broader context of mid Palaeozoic landscape changes.

Fossil soils from abrasive southern Baltic coastal sections and problems with their classification: A case study from Ustka Bay, Poland

This study aimed to identify the main depositional and soil-forming phases in the middle section of the Polish Baltic coast and determine the history of its landscape development. An attempt was also made to define new qualifiers to describe these compacted and eroded soils (including fossil soils), which have not previously been included in the WRB classification. The study was conducted in cliff sections located in the southern Baltic coastal zone. Selected physical and chemical properties were determined from four soil profiles using standard methods. Additionally, peat, peat-like material, mursh, and charcoals were dated using the radiocarbon method. Environmental reconstructions based on fossil soils have provided information about the development of the coast in the context of periods of relative climate stability that allowed the formation of soils of various types. The presence of sediments of different origin (glacial till, fluvioglacial and aeolian sands, interbeddings of peat, mursh and peat-like material) in the profiles compared with the obtained radiocarbon dates allowed for an assessment of the impact of environmental conditions on the potential for soil formation over thousands of years. The oldest soils, represented by Akrofluvic Stagnic Gleysols and Fluvic Stagnic Gleysols, were dated back to the Preboreal/Boreal period,whereas the youngest fossil soils (Albic Podzols (Arenic) and Aeolic Dystric Arenosols)) were developed in the SA2 phase of the Subatlantic period. The contemporary soil cover was represented by poorly developed Aeolic Dystric Arenosols with initial features of the podzolization process. No soils dated to the Atlantic period were found. Our findings are complementary to those of other studies on the history of the Polish Baltic coast and can be used for comparing with the soil cover development in other coastal regions of the Baltic Sea.

Early Cretaceous lepidosaur (sphenodontian?) burrows

Scarce fossil tetrapod burrows have been recorded in Cretaceous rocks, which is probably linked to the dominant equable climates that existed for most of this period. The occurrence of Cretaceous tetrapod burrows from Patagonia (Chubut Province, Argentina) dated between 118 and 115 million years ago, gives insights into their paleoecology and paleoenvironment. The rocks containing the tetrapod burrows are of pyroclastic origin and represent eolian dunes and ash-fall deposits, some reworked by fluvial currents and others showing soil development. Fossil burrow casts preserved in a paleosol are composed by a ramp with a slightly curved or straight path in plan-view and lacking bifurcation, a rounded termination with no enlargement, showing a reniform cross-section, and are assigned to the ichnospecies Reniformichnus katikatii. The strongly flattened cross-sectional shape of the burrow casts and comparison with modern lizard burrows suggest that the producers were lepidosaurs (body mass = 50–323 g). Among Cretaceous fossorial lepidosaurs from Patagonia, the best candidate is an eilenodontine sphenodontian. Sphenodontians burrowed in the fossil soils where also arthropods, earthworms and shrubby plants thrived. The rare occurrence of tetrapod burrows in Cretaceous rocks is linked to stressing conditions related to frequent arrival of volcanic ash and a semiarid seasonal climate.

Reconstruction of the environmental conditions during the earliest Palaeolithic occupations in the Podillia Upland (W Ukraine) and the formation of archaeological layers

This paper discusses the problems associated with determining the chronology of Palaeolithic settlements in the Podillian region and presents possible solutions to this issue, based on studies of the natural environment in two Palaeolithic centres: Buhliv and Ternopil (BPC and TPC, respectively). Problems arise from the local stratigraphic diversity of the loess-palaeosol sequences containing layers with artefacts, and their multiple redepositions result from periglacial processes. Very often, traces of ancient settlements are disturbed by continuous and/or discontinuous palaeocryogenic deformations. Consequently, it is rare to obtain Palaeolithic data in situ. In contrast, artefacts found without redeposition often lie within or on the surfaces of fossil soils. The main research materials were obtained at the early Palaeolithic site in Buhliv, whose geological profiles are incomplete. The complementary data necessary for the reconstruction of the palaeogeographical time of Palaeolithic settlements associated with cultural layers were obtained in our previous studies using multiple tools, together with luminescence dating of sediments located in close and distant proximity to the BPC, as well as in loess sites located in the TPC, especially Velykyi Glybochok.Our findings indicate that the early Middle Palaeolithic artefacts at the Buhliv site formed two stratigraphically inverted horizons, with the younger artefacts lying beneath the older ones following redeposition. The inventory of the older layers represents the oldest Podillian settlement phase. Similar materials were found in the TPC in older soil of MIS 7. The inventory of the younger layer occurred during the younger soil-forming stage of MIS 7. The disturbance and burial of both early Middle Palaeolithic settlement traces were caused by intensive slope processes that occurred in the early MIS 6.

An Impact of Short-Term Climate Oscillations in the Late Pleniglacial and Lateglacial Interstadial on Sedimentary Processes and the Pedogenic Record in Central Poland

Environmental studies based on analyses of fluvio-aeolian successions with paleosols in central Poland, forming the central part of the European Sand Belt, are presented. Paleogeographic reconstruction was based on high-resolution analyses of four sites using sedimentological and paleopedological methods as well as forty-four optically stimulated luminescence and fourteen radiocarbon dating measurements. Age-identified individual lithological and soil units were first correlated between sites, emphasizing the differences between them. The results were then correlated with Greenland ice-core stratigraphic units reflecting global environmental changes in the Late Pleniglacial and Lateglacial interstadial, thus ranging from GS-2.1a, through the GI-1 complex (seven subunits), to GS-1. Studies revealed considerable sensitivity of fluvio-aeolian succession to climate changes and oscillations. Climate ameliorations are recorded in fossil soil horizons developed beneath different types of vegetation cover. We detected that the climate cooling GI-1d (the Older Dryas) was not the main phase of dune formation as had been claimed earlier. It is postulated that dunes in the extraglacial zone were formed mainly in GI-1c2 (the Early Allerød). Preexisting dunes were transformed in GS-1 (the Younger Dryas) and in the Early Holocene, locally interrupted by soil formation.

A remarkable last glacial loess sedimentation at Roxolany in the Dniester Liman (Southern Ukraine)

The study focuses on the loess–palaeosol sequence at Roxolany, exposed in the cliffs on the left bank of the Dniester Liman in the Black Sea Lowland. The sequence is one of the longest and most complete terrestrial records of Quaternary climate change in Ukraine. The Pleistocene sequence, i.e. loess, soil and fluvial units, is quite thick, i.e. about 60 m, including 30 m of L1 (Weichselian) loess: the greatest thickness in the entire Black Sea Lowland region. The paper presents the characteristics of the unique aeolian sedimentation environment in the Lower Dniester region during the last glacial cycle; our observations indicate exceptionally intense local deposition in the Last Pleniglacial. A number of luminescence dating results were obtained in several laboratories, based on various fractions and methods. The dating results for L1 loess turned out to contradict the stratigraphy of the section determined with geological methods. They were similar to each other and were clearly older than expected. Hence, to confirm the age of the deposits, various underlying factors were analysed. Our findings indicate that a combination of several circumstances could be directly or indirectly responsible for the local intensification of aeolian and depositional processes at Roxolany: (1) regional atmospheric circulation vs. orientation of relief; (2) the location and environment where the aeolian source material formed, as well as the great abundance of the deflation zone; (3) the emergence of considerable tracts of sea shelf as a result of the recession of the Black Sea, which had the effect of lowering the base level of erosion, but also of (4) revealing significant positive forms in the relief of the shelf, which undoubtedly modified anemometric conditions. The uniquely thick fossil soils within the L1 loess in the Roxolany sections may have had their origin in a continuous supply of dust during pedogenic periods.

SOIL ORGANIC CARBON DATING OF PALEOSOILS OF ALLUVIAL FANS IN A BLOWN SAND AREA (NYÍRSÉG, HUNGARY)

ABSTRACTThe most widely used dating techniques in quaternary research are the radiocarbon (14C) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating methods. In some environments, the investigated sediments do not contain enough material for14C dating. In these cases,14C dating of bulk sediment may be used as a last resort. The major aim of the present study was to determine the reliability and limitations of the different fractions of the soil organic carbon (SOC)14C ages in the Nyírség blown-sand study area, in Hungary. Therefore, the low- and high-temperature combustions of SOC (LT-SOC and HT-SOC)14C age of fossil soils were compared with the charcoal ages from the same fossil soil layer, and their (LT-SOC, HT-SOC, and charcoal) age reliability was verified independently by applying OSL to the quartz fraction of the sediment samples. The14C data show variable agreement with OSL ages. Charcoal fragments were collected from some of the best material for14C dating and their ages are in agreement with the LT and HT-SOC14C ages and OSL data. The14C age LT-SOC gives a reliable, credible ages, which were confirmed by independent OSL measurements. If buried soils do not contain any other macroscopic remnants for14C dating, the LT-SOC14C ages can be used, in the case of the Nyírség study area. The LT-SOC, which is the younger fraction of the soil organic carbon, may be considered to represent the burial time of the fossil soil layer. The HT-SOC14C ages are sometimes unrealistically older than expected and cannot be considered to be reliable.

Changes in rainfall seasonality inferred from weathering and pedogenic trends in mid-Miocene paleosols of La Tatacoa, Colombia

The authigenic clay mineral assemblage of paleosol profiles and trends in their bulk geochemical evolution provide insight into the intensity of past chemical weathering regimes. These climate-sensitive weathering products can be used to interpret regional changes of the soil moisture regime, which in turn reflects upon the nature of rainfall seasonality (e.g., unimodal vs. bimodal). A conspicuous color change in the overbank deposits and paleosols of the mid-Miocene Honda Group of La Tatacoa, Colombia, is suggestive of a climatic transition which affected the fauna of La Venta - a mid-Miocene fossiliferous site and significant component of the South American Land Mammal Age (SALMA) classification. This study aims to determine how the paleopedology of this region records the climatic transition that modified the annual patterns of rainfall and soil moisture, forcing a change from the gray-colored paleosols hosted by the La Victoria Formation (~13.6 to ~13.1 Myr) to the red-beds of the Villavieja Formation (~13.1 to 12.0 Myr). In the La Victoria profile, the pedogenic fraction of the clay assemblage indicates that vermiculite, chlorite/HIV mixed-layered clays and high concentrations of base cations (Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+) developed in a poorly drained paleosol under reducing (low Eh) and above-neutral pH conditions. By contrast, the presence of kaolinite, goethite and hematite in the red-beds paleosols implies more oxidizing conditions (high Eh), whereas pedogenic vermiculite and smectite suggest a pH close to or mildly below neutral. A common detrital source (parent material) is inferred for both sets of paleosols. However, more intense chemical weathering towards aluminium rich clay in the Villavieja red-bed fossil soils indicates a change in soil humidity from a poorly drained soil environment of a seasonally flooded wetland system to an alternating regime of humidity and drought on a better drained floodplain. The variation in soil moisture is consistent with a change in seasonality from a unimodal rainfall regime in the case of the La Victoria paleosols to bimodal conditions in the case of the paleosols of the Villavieja Fm. After the establishment of a fully glaciated Antarctica and the global climate transition into the Mi-4 glacial stage at ~13.1 Ma, an increased rate of continental weathering along the paleotropical fringe could have been caused by a stronger temperature gradient between the equator and South Pole, shifting the Intertropical Convergence Zone northward and the rainfall patterns with it.

Дискусійні питання палеоліту Чистопадів (Подільська височина): середній чи верхній палеоліт

The Ternopil Plateau is a large geomorphological region that occupies a significant part of the Podollian Upland. The issue of the occupation of this geographical area by Palaeolithic people remained little researched for a long time. Peculiarities of the relief and the geological structure of the territory indicated the prospectiveness of Palaeolithic finds in this part of the Podollian Upland. However, until recently, there was no information about the earliest occupation of this region. The first find, from which the scientific study of the sites of the Palaeolithic period on the territory of the central part of the Ternopil Plateau of the Podollian Upland began, was a large massive blade discovered in the 1880s in the vicinity of the village of Chystopady of Ternopil (former Zboriv) district, Ternopil region. The context in which it was found is unknown, which did not allow characterizing widely the history of the settlement of this region. In 2020, near the village of Chystopady, in an abandoned loess quarry on the right bank of the Seret River, archaeologist Vasyl Ilchyshyn discovered a Palaeolithic blade, which is quite rare for this part of the Ternopil Plateau. The section of Quaternary sediments in which this blade was found is characterized in this article, an opinion about its geological age is expressed, and also some mismatch between geological (stratigraphic) and archaeological dating is emphasized. Unfortunately, there is no consensus on the find near Chystopady discovered in the 80s of the XIX century a massive retouched blade (or flake of elongated proportions) of an oval shape, which various researchers date from the Early to Late Palaeolithic. So, the puzzle of Chystopady is still not solved. We consider that the solution to this problem is possible by carrying out large-scale archaeological excavations and searching, in particular, for a full-fledged Palaeolithic site. Key words: Palaeolithic, blade, loess-palaeosol sequences, Dubno fossil soil, solifluction, Podollian Upland.

Last interglacial environment of the Baikal Region (Southern Siberia, Russia) based on analysis of fossil invertebrates and plants

New data on fossil insects, soil and freshwater invertebrates, plant macrofossils, pollen and spores were obtained from a problematic lower unit of the reference section Bely Yar-II (Tunka Rift, Baikal Region, Russia). The invertebrates show a natural succession from a small lake to a wetland; plant macrofossils confirm the early stages of succession. Pollen and spore data reflect a wide range of environments and vegetation from moderate climate supporting regional forests to relatively cold, dry parkland. New Uranium-Thorium data (99 ± 20 ka and 101 ± 13 ka), along with environmental reconstructions, indicate that the lower unit was probably formed during one of the cold sub-stages towards the end the last inter-glaciation (MIS5).

Incorporating lateral variability and extent of paleosols into proxy uncertainty

Paleosols (fossil soils) are valuable records of terrestrial climate and environments, and paleosol-based proxies are commonly used to reconstruct past climates and ecosystems. Results from relatively small outcrops or transects or from single vertical sections are frequently scaled up to represent basin-scale processes and conditions, and reconstructions are relied on for temporal changes in those basins. However, uncertainty arising from limited outcrop extent is not currently considered in the standard application of paleosol-based proxies. To explore uncertainty arising from lateral paleosol heterogeneity, we performed a random subsampling analysis on a newly-collected 2.9 km paleosol transect from SW Wyoming, along with two previously-published paleosols. We demonstrate the importance of sampling multiple paleosol profiles, considering lateral geochemical variability, and focusing on relative rather than absolute changes when outcrop-based uncertainty may require it. • Paleosol-based proxies provide unique records of terrestrial climate. • However, outcrop extent and lateral variability are not typically considered. • We statistically resample 3 paleosol transects (1, 1.5, and 3 km). • Sampling >3 profiles from a paleosol decreases proxy uncertainty. • Relative rather than absolute changes in proxy should be commonly used.

Climatically Driven Holocene Glacier Advances in the Russian Altai Based on Radiocarbon and OSL Dating and Tree Ring Analysis

Analysis of new chronological data, including 55 radiocarbon, 1 OSL, and 8 dendrochronological dates, obtained in the upper reaches of trough valleys within the Katun, North Chuya, South Chuya, and Chikhachev ranges, together with the 55 previously published ones, specifies climatically driven glacier dynamic in the Russian Altai. Available data refute the traditional concept of the Russian Altai Holocene glaciations as a consecutive retreat of the Late Pleistocene glaciation. Considerable and prolonged warming in the Early Holocene started no later than 11.3–11.4 cal kBP. It caused significant shrinking or even complete degradation of alpine glaciers and regeneration of forest vegetation 300–400 m above the modern upper timber limit. Stadial advances occurred in the middle of the Holocene (4.9–4.2 cal kBP), during the Historical (2.3–1.7 cal kBP), and the Aktru (LIA thirteenth–nineteenth century) stages. New radiocarbon ages of fossil soils limited glaciers expansion in the Middle Holocene by the size of the Historical moraine. Lesser glacial activity between 5 and 4 cal kBP is also supported by rapid reforestation in the heads of trough valleys. Glaciers advance within the Russian Altai, accompanied by accumulation of the Akkem moraine, could have occurred at the end of the Late Pleistocene.

Soil Formation, Subaerial Sedimentation Processes and Ancient Cultures during MIS 2 and the Deglaciation Phase MIS 1 in the Baikal–Yenisei Siberia (Russia)

The time of Sartan glaciation in the Baikal–Yenisei Siberia, is comparable with that of MIS 2 and the deglaciation phase MIS 1. Loess loams, aeolian–colluvial sands and sandy loams represent subaerial sediments. There are four subhorizons (sr1, sr2, sr3 and sr4) in the Sartan horizon (sr). Sedimentary and soil-forming processes at different stratigraphic levels are considered. Differing soil formation types of cold periods are distinguished. Soils of the interstadial type with the A-C profile are represented only in the Early Sartan section of this paper. The soils of the pleniglacial type are discussed throughout the section. Their initial profile is O-C, TJ-C and W-C. Plant detritus remnants or poor thin humus horizons are preserved in places from the upper horizons. We propose for the first time for the interphasial soil formation type of cold stages to be distinguished. This is represented in the sections by the preserved BCm, BCg, Cm and Cg horizons of 15–20 cm thick. The upper horizons are absent in most sections. According to the surviving fragments, these were organogenous (O, TJ and T) and organomineral (AO and W) horizons. The sedimentation and soil formation features are considered from the perspective reconstruction of the Sartan natural and climatic conditions. Buried Sartan soils often contain cultural layers. Soil formation shows a well-defined periodicity of natural condition stabilization, which allowed ancient populations to adapt actively to various situations. Archaeologists’ interest in fossil soils is based on the ability of soils to “record” information about the natural and climatic conditions of human habitation.

Holocene development of the Vistula Spit (Baltic Sea coast) based on multidisciplinary investigations

Coastal barriers are the first line of defense for the mainlands against the impacts of severe storms, therefore the need for better understanding how barriers evolve is arising. Spits (barriers) are the dominant landform type of the southern and south-eastern Baltic Sea coast. The aim of this paper is to gain present a better insight into problems of the Vistula Spit origin in general, and especially on the age of formation of the dune ridges. The Vistula Spit is one of the largest barriers on the southern Baltic coast. The analysis comprised: OSL dating of dune sands, radiocarbon dating of peat and palynological studies of peat and fossil soil profiles. Results shows that the onset of the oldest dunes formation begun ca. 7000–6000 years ago and the highest ridge were formed ca. 4000–2000 years ago. The youngest dunes, located closest to the modern shore, formed in the past 2000 years. Aeolian processes were also activated locally and periodically as a result of forest wildfires and human activities. Vistula Spit emergence and development is connected to two global events; beginning of the oldest dunes formation is related to slowing down in the sea level rise around 7000–6000 years ago, whereas the onset of the highest dunes building can be clearly connected with the climate cooling and aridification around 4200 years ago.

New evidence for the rank of the Wartanian cold period (Pleistocene, MIS 6): a case study from E Poland

In the stratigraphic division of the Saalian (Middle Pleistocene) in Europe, the Wartanian cold period has the rank of a stadial of the Odranian Glaciation, correlated with MIS 6. The authors demonstrate the higher rank of this cold period, on the basis of an analysis of the sedimentary succession in eastern Poland, at an exposure of the terminal moraine of the Wartanian ice sheet. At the Wólka Zagórna site, three stratigraphic units were distinguished: A (lower glacigenic deposits – glaciofluvial deposits and subglacial till), A/B (fossil soil of lessivé type), B and C (a periglacial horizon with deflation pavement, involutions, frost-wedge structures and upper glaciofluvial deposits and flow till, with ice-wedge casts). Two distinct periods of climatic cooling, associated with the youngest Saalian ice sheets, were recorded in this succession in E Poland: Odranian (unit A, an ice-sheet transgression marked by the deposition of glaciofluvial deposits dated as 365–226 ka, ending with the deposition of subglacial till), and Wartanian (units B and C, an ice sheet transgression marked by development of a periglacial zone, dated as 180–126 ka, and then deposition of glacigenic sediments at the front of the ice sheet and formation of a marginal moraine). Each of these periods of ice-sheet transgression occurred at a different time (in the MIS 8 and MIS 6 positions) and were separated by a warm period. It is documented by unit A/B – a fossil soil with a very well developed Bt horizon – which attests to its formation in an illuviation process beneath a complex of mixed forests during an interstadial warming that occurred in MIS 7. From this palaeoclimatic reconstruction, it is inferred that the Wartanian cold period should be viewed as a separate glaciation in MIS 6 and the Odranian period should be assigned to MIS 8 in the stratigraphic schema of the Quaternary.

РЕКОНСТРУКЦИЯ ЛАНДШАФТОВ ПРЕДАЛТАЙСКОЙ РАВНИНЫ В ПОЗДНЕМ НЕОПЛЕЙСТОЦЕНЕ ПО ДАННЫМ ФАУНЫ МЕЛКИХ МЛЕКОПИТАЮЩИХ

Reconstructions of landscape features at the end of the Middle and Late Neopleistocene were carried out based on the study of the small mammal’s fauna. Faunal data indicate a wide development of steppetype landscapes on the Pre-Altai Plain in the interval from MIS 6 to the beginning of MIS 2. Both in warm and cold seasons, gophers predominated among small mammals in the region; striped hamsters, jerboas, zokors, southern birch mouses, narrow-headed voles and lemmings were less common. All these species are typical inhabitants of open biocenoses of the steppe or tundra-steppe type. Reconstructions based on microteriofauna materials are in good agreement with the study of fossil soils of the Pre-Altai Plain. Fossil soils show the development of steppe and forest-steppe landscapes during periods of warming. During the cold stages, loess deposits accumulated in the region, which can be considered as indicators of cryoarid steppes.

Geochemical Variability in Fossil Soils and Implications for Past Biogeochemical Cycling, Climates, and Atmospheres

Geochemical Variability in Fossil Soils and Implications for Past Biogeochemical Cycling, Climates, and Atmospheres

Нові дані про вік середньопалеолітичної пам'ятки Пронятин (Подільська височина)

The Middle Palaeolithic site Proniatyn is geomorphologically located on the near-watershed slope of the right bank of the Seret River. The history of its archaeological research began in 1977. During numerous expedition seasons of works conducted with using of methods of natural sciences and archaeology (until 2015), rich flint material was found on the site, which was located in the deposits of the over-Horokhiv deluvial solifluction stratum, i.e. not in situ, but was moved down the slope. The upper chronological limit of the cultural horizon was determined as 85±7 ka (according to V. Shovkoplias) by TL-dating of the Upper Pleistocene loess, which overlaps the over-Horokhiv deluvial solifluction stratum. In 2015, the Proniatyn site became the subject of scientific excursion of the international loess seminar «Loesses and Palaeolithic of Podillia». To clarify the age of the site, survey pit 5, located directly next to the main excavation, in the southern part of the site was expanded and deepened. The main goal of the work was to search for artifacts in the Horokhiv fossil pedocomplex (MIS 5), which is only slightly disturbed by deluvial-solifluctional processes. Two artifacts were found in the eluvial horizon of this complex, the third one was found in its humus horizon. Detailed analysis of the finds shows that the additional flint artifacts discovered in 2015 do not contradict the conclusion that technical, morphological and typological features of these three flints are completely identical to several thousand previously excavated flints from this site and represent the flake-blade Levallois industry. In general, all discovered artifacts from Proniatyn form a single monocultural complex of the site. Based on research conducted in 2015 is clearly established that the age of Proniatyn cultural horizon does not correspond to the age of deluvial-solifluctional strata, as previously thought, but is older than it. It is associated with the eluvial horizon of the Horokhiv fossil soil complex, the age of which is estimated at 112,0±11,2 ka and 106,7±11 ka according to TL-dating (the Palaeolithic site Yezupil I), 110±18 ka according to TL-dating and 102±16 ka according to OSL-dating (Palaeolithic site Mariampil I). Key words: Middle Palaeolithic, artifact, Mousterian, loess-palaeosol sequence, deluvial-solifluctional processes, Podillia.

Engineering-geological characteristics of the sediments of the loess-palaeosol sequence of the key section Proniatyn (Podolian Upland)

The Proniatyn key section represents the loess-palaeosol sequence of the Upper and partially Middle Pleistocene of the Podolian Upland. A detailed description of the section is given, as well as the engineering-geological characteristics of the sediments of the loess-palaeosol sequence Proniatyn, which is quite well stratified. There are two horizons of the Upper Pleistocene loess and the upper horizon of the Middle Pleistocene loess have been clearly distinguished. The key section presents the Dubno (MIS 3) fossil soil, the Horokhiv fossil pedocomplex (MIS 5), as well as the well-developed deluvial-solifluction sediments over the Horokhiv pedocomplex, which contain a large number of redeposited Middle Palaeolithic artifacts. The engineering and geological features of sediments of the loess-palaeosol sequence Proniatyn have been studied in detail and compared with the characteristics of the corresponding horizons of the loess-palaeosol sequences of a number of sections of the Podolian and Volhynian Uplands. It is established, in particular, that in many aspects the loess-palaeosol sequence of Proniatyn key section is closer to the characteristics of sediments of the loess-palaeosol sequences of the Podolian Upland. The importance of studying the Proniatyn key section is enhanced by the fact that it is associated with the Middle Palaeolithic site, and in the structure of the Horokhiv fossil pedocomplex there are all sub-horizons of MIS 5. Furthermore, it contains a geophysical Blake event. Therefore, it is confirmed that the Proniatyn key section is an important stratigraphic benchmark of the Pleistocene of Podolian Upland. Key words: loess-palaeosol sequences, key section, Pleistocene, engineering-geological characteristics, solifluction, Palaeolithic.

Changes in the topography of Krakow city centre, Poland, during the last millennium

ABSTRACT The aim of the paper is to reconstruct differences between the paleotopography and contemporary topography of the historic centre of Krakow city, Poland, during the last millennium. The paleotopography was reconstructed using published contour-line maps based on archaeological and geoengineering investigations and showing the roof of in situ fossil soil. The preliminary contour-line map represented a digital elevation model (DEM) base map. A DEM from aerial laser scanning (ALS DEM) shows the contemporary topography of Krakow city centre. The application of selected morphometric indices makes it possible to quantitatively describe changes in the spatial dimension with regard to altitude, relative heights, slope, and aspect classes. The analysis of the changes in the values of the elements of topography studied shows that, at the scale of the whole study area, a trend to flattening occurs, however this trend is locally balanced or overridden by an increase of surface unevenness.