STRATIGRAPHY OF THE DANUBE LOESS

Loess-paleosol sequences in the middle and lower reaches of the Danube river basin contain the longest and most complete climate records in central Europe from the last two million years. The Danube loess belt covers about 200.000 km2 in 11 countries: Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, Rumania, Bulgaria, Moldova and Ukraine. Local loess-paleosol stratigraphic schemes have been defined in all these countries separately. The most important sites have been described at Krems, Stranzendorf, Cerveny Kopec, Paks, Stari Slankamen, Koriten and Novaya Etuliya (Map 1). Most of them reach into the geomagnetic Matuyama Epoch. Based on paleomagnetic, soil-stratigraphic and other paleoenvironmental data it is possible to correlate the sites and reconstruct the approximate climate development in the basin. Major environmental shifts affected the area in the middle Brunhes about 450,000 years ago and in the Upper Matuyama, about 800,000 years ago. We compare the combined Danube loess stratigraphic model (marked by a prefix D) with the record of the Chinese loess plateau and with the oxygen isotope variations recorded in deep-sea sediments (Table 1).

Table 1. Danube loess -stratigraphic model of the last approximately one million years and its relation to the Chinese loess, marine isotope stratigraphy (MIS), glacial cycles and local subdivisions at CK-Cerveny Kopec; K-Krems;P-Paks; SS-Stari Slankamen; KO –Korite and; NE- Novaya Etulia..Reversely magnetized units shaded.

Danube loess	Chinese loess	MIS	Glacial cycle	CK	K	P	SS	KO	NE
D S0	S0	1	A	A	KR1		SL S0
D L1	L1	2-4	B	B3			SL L1
D S1	S1	5		B2,B1		MF2	SL S1	S1	PK2
D L2	L2	6	C	C3			SL L2
D S2	S2	7		C2,C1		BD	SL S2	S2	PK3.1
D L3	L3	8	D	D3			SL L3
D S3	S3	9		D2,D1		BA	SL S3	S3	PK3.2
D L4	L4	10	E	E3			SL L4
D S4	S4	11		E2,E1		MB	SL S4	S4	PK3.3
D L5	L5	12	F	E3			SL L5
DS5	S5	13		E2,E1		Phe	SL S5	S5	PK4
		14	G	G3
		15		G2,G1		Mtp
D L6	L6	16	H	H3			SL L6
D S6	S6	17		H2,H1		hs2	SL S6	S6	PK5
D L7	L7	18	I	I1b			SL L7
D S7	S7	19		I1a	KR4	PD1	SL S7		PK6
D L8	L8	20	J	J3			SL L8
D S8	S8	21		J1	KR5	PD2	SLS8		PK7
D L9	L9	22-24	K	K3					incipient soil
D S9	S9	25		K1,K2	KR6
D L10	L10	26	L
D S10	S10	27		L1,L2					PK8

¹Financial support from the INQUA Excutive Commitee