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Abstract:
In this study we provide a correlative age model for last glacial loess at the Rasova-Valea cu Pietre site in the Lower Danube region, based on the correlation of palaeoenvironmental proxies to independently dated palaeoclimate archives, luminescence dating and independent age control provided by the geochemically confirmed presence of the Campanian Ignimbrite (CI) tephra. The CI tephra, originating in the Phlegrean fields of southern Italy, has been dated elsewhere by 40Ar/39Ar to 39–40 ka BP, and is frequently found in the Lower Danube loess. As such, the CI tephra represents a valuable temporal and stratigraphic maker across loess deposits in the region. Our age model facilitates high-resolution correlation of palaeoenvironmental features observed at Rasova to palaeoclimate archives in Greenland and the Black Sea – Mediterranean area. We observe semi-cyclic behaviour of the frequency dependent magnetic susceptibility throughout the profile, which we ascribe to millennial-scale climate variability also observed elsewhere in the Black Sea region. This is the first study to clearly identify millennial-scale climate variability over the Holocene and last glacial in the Lower Danube loess. Proxy variability in the Holocene indicates continuous aeolian sedimentation through this epoch.
