Environmental dynamics and luminescence chronology from the Orlovat loess–palaeosol sequence (Vojvodina, northern Serbia)

Abstract

The Carpathian Basin contains some of the best preserved loess deposits in Europe, including some of the continent's longest and best resolved climate records. Large areas of the basin have been intensively investigated in recent years, although deposits in the east remain largely unstudied, despite considerable regional variation in climate records. Here we discuss the sedimentary record exposed in the Orlovat brickyard using detailed litho- and pedo-stratigraphic, enviromagnetic parameters and luminescence dating. The results show an atypical Late Pleistocene succession for the Carpathian Basin. Notably, the normally widespread pedocomplex V-L1S1 is missing. This contrasts with other parts of the sequence, which appear highly resolved, such as the thicker pedocomplex V-S1 and the detailed transitions between modern pedocomplexes V-S0 and the last glacial loess unit V-L1. The luminescence chronology demonstrates a lack of intensive pedogenesis during the Early Holocene and raises an important general question about the beginning of Holocene soil formation in the region. The later Holocene soil formation adds to a growing body of evidence that suggests more complex terrestrial responses of climate to global climate change. This evidence weakens the validity of previously generalized direct stratigraphic correlations between regional terrestrial environmental archives, and global marine and ice core records. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.