Tivadar Gaudenyi

Malacological and sedimentological evidence for “warm” glacial climate from the Irig loess sequence, Vojvodina, Serbia

Four loess units and three paleosol layers are preserved in the Irig brickyard, Vojvodina, Serbia. Amino acid geochronology provides stratigraphic correlations between loess units V-L1 and V-L2 at the Irig section with loess of glacial cycles B and C, respectively, described from other central European localities. Luminescence dating results for the upper loess layers V-L1L1 and V-L1S1L1 confirm the geological interpretations, although in samples below paleosol V-L1S1S2, the age increase with depth is less than in our proposed age model. Magnetic susceptibility and sedimentological evidence from the Irig loess-paleosol sequence show general similarities with the MIS 6-1 pattern of the SPECMAP oxygen-isotope curve. Malacogical investigations at the Irig site reveal the continuous presence of the Chondrula tridens and Helicopsis striata faunal assemblages throughout the last glacial and final part of the penultimate glacial loess. The loess snail fauna, which is characterized by the complete absence of cold-resistant species, suggests a stable, dry, and relatively warm glacial climate, compared with other central European loess localities. Furthermore, these data suggest that the southern slope of Fruska Gora was a refugium for warm-loving and xerophilus mollusc taxa during the otherwise unfavorable glacial climates of the Late Pleistocene.