Towards multi-proxy based millennial time scales in Lower Danubian Late Pleistocene Loess-Palaeosol Sequences: evidence for persistent North Atlantic sea surface temperature control

Researchdata & Literature
Maintained by Janina Bösken
Created at 28.9.2016

Abstract

Late Pleistocene palaeoclimatic records for south-eastern Europe
rely largely on loess-palaeosol sequences (LPSS). The general spatial
scarcity and often limited temporal range of other sedimentary archives
assign the LPSS of the region a key role even in millennial scale
temporal reconstructions of the Late Pleistocene terrestrial environmental
dynamics. The Eurasian loess-belt has its western end in the
Middle Danube (Carpathian) and the Lower Danube Basin. Similar to
the Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) and to the steppe areas of Central Asia
one can find true loess plateaus in this area dating back more than one
million years and comprising a semi-continuous record of the Quaternary
palaeoclimate.
The LPSS of the Lower Danube and the Carpathian Basin allow inter-
regional and trans-regional correlation and, even more importantly,
the analysis of temporal and spatial trends in Pleistocene palaeoclimate,
even on hemispheric scales. However, the general temporal resolution
of the LPSS seems mostly limited to deca-millennial (orbital) scales enabling
the correlation of their well documented palaeoclimate record to
the marine isotope stages (MIS) and thus to the course of the global or
northern hemisphere ice volume with time.
Magnetic susceptibility (χ, χfd) and grain size (GS) are highly sensitive
proxies for the environmental conditions during loess accumulation.
Recent studies on GS trends across the CLP reveal Late Pleistocene
palaeoclimatic fluctuations on millennial scale which correlate to
the Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) events known from the Greenland Ice
Cores. Such millennial scale variations were up to date not observed in
Late Pleistocene Danube LPSS.
Here, we present new high resolution environmental proxy data from
Late Pleistocene LPSS of the eastern Lower Danube Basin (Dobrogea). The
stratigraphic variability of palaeoclimatic proxy parameters reveals detailed
information on the temporal environmental dynamics. Based on
these records we can draw the following conclusions:
Loess2M – modelling & mapping 15
• χfd largely resembles the O-isotope record from Greenland Ice providing
a multi-millennial time scale.
• On this time scale, the GS-trend correlates surprisingly well to the
Greenland dust proxy record suggesting a persistent North Atlantic
sea surface temperature control of western Eurasian climate.
• Estimated dust accumulation rates are relatively homogeneous (10-
15 cm/ka).

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    Bibliography

    Hambach, U., Zeeden, C., Veres, D., Obreht, I., Markovic, S., Lehmkuhl, F. (2016): Towards multi-proxy based millennial time scales in Lower Danubian Late Pleistocene Loess-Palaeosol Sequences: evidence for persistent North Atlantic sea surface temperature control. Loess2M - Modelling & Mapping. 26-29.8. 2016, Novi Sad, Serbia.

    authorHambach, U and Zeeden, C and Veres, D and Obreht, I and Markovic, S.B. and Lehmkuhl, F
    keyUHambach2016
    organizationLoess2M - Modelling & Mapping. 26-29.8. 2016, Novi Sad, Serbia.
    typepresentation
    year2016
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