Testing the Roksolany LPS for astronomical climate forcing via spectral analysis and its correlation with the Middle Danube Basin loess records

Loess-paleosol sequences (LPSs) are valuable paleoclimate archives capable to record Pleistocene climate changes. Since the past decades, LPSs of the famous Chinese Loess Plateau and the Danube Basins were investigated by means of rock magnetic and paleomagnetic properties. Less attention is so far paid to Ukrainian LPSs, which are unique in Europe in terms of their large distribution, thickness (up to 60 m) and stratigraphic completeness. Since the alternation of loess and paleosol complexes is caused by the Earth’s orbital parameters, spectral analysis is a method of choice to investigate the imprint of the Milanković cyclicity capable to modify the mineral magnetic composition inside LPSs as a result of alternations of interglacials and glacials.

We present the first conducted spectral analysis of the recently investigated Ukrainian LPS at Roksolany, covering the past 1 Myrs (Hlavatskyi & Bakhmutov in Geol. Quart. 64(3):723–753, 2020). We use independent age control by means of paleomagnetic reversals (e.g., the detected Matuyama–Brunhes boundary) and preserved tephra layers. Since the detailed correlation of the well-known Roksolany tephra layer remains – based on missing geochemical data – questionable in age determination, we test different possibilities derived from wavelet analysis and eccentricity correlation. Furthermore, we reconstruct paleoclimate patterns of the interglacials reflected by magnetic susceptibility variations. Comparison of the results obtained from one the most representative loess archives in Ukraine with those in the Middle- and Lower Danube Basin provides implications for holistic understanding SE European Pleistocene climate evolution.

The research was partly supported by the NRFU grant 2020.02/0406.