LATE QUATERNARY SEDIMENTARY SEQUENCE IN THE JULIAN ALPS - A POTENTIAL FOR OBTAINING A 40 KA PALEOCLIMATIC RECORD IN THE ALPINE - MEDITERRANEAN REGION OF NW SLOVENIA

A sequence of late Quaternary lacustrine sediments - at least 197 m thick - has been discovered in the Alpine region of NW Slovenia in the area opened to the climatic influence of the Mediterranean. The sediments were deposited in paraglacial environment as proven by extensive mapping, drilling, sedimentological analyses and absolute dating. Clast fabric and other sedimentological properties of the diamicts have shown that the later were deposited as mass-flow deposits and not as glacial tills as previously interpreted. OSL, TL and radiocarbon dating have been applied to estimate the deposition age of diamicts and fluvial deposits that relate spatially to the lacustrine sequence. Ages between 200±43 ka b.p. to present were determined. Absolute age has been estimated for the upper 34 m of the lacustrine sequence. Its age spans from 12790±85 radiocarbon years b.p at the depth of 34 m to 5885±60 radiocarbon years b.p. at the very top of the sequence, yielding calculated sedimentation rate of 5 mm of compacted sediment per year. A simple extrapolation of age vs. depth shows that continuous sedimentation in the lake might have covered the period as long as 40.000 years. Such a record with possible climatic implication is unique in the area of the SE Alps and we believe that the interest exists in the broader scientific community for further investigations of the record. We are therefore looking for international cooperation that would enable us to extract the sediment core in-whole and investigate its paleoclimatic implications.