Middle and Late Pleistocene loess-palaeosol archives in East Croatia: multi-proxy palaeoecological studies on Zmajevac and Šarengrad II sequences

Multi-proxy palaeoenvironmental analyses on the two loess-palaeosol sequences of Šarengrad II and Zmajevac (Croatia) provided the opportunity to obtain various data on climatic and environmental events that occurred in the southern part of the Carpathian Basin during the past 350,000 years. Palaeoecological horizons were reconstructed using sedimentological data (organic matter and carbonate content, grain-size distribution and magnetic susceptibility) and the dominance-based malacological results (MZs) supported by habitat and richness charts, moreover multi-variate statistics (cluster analysis). The correlation of the reconstructed palaeoecological horizons with global climatic trends (Marine Isotope Stages) determined the main accumulation processes in the examined areas. The palaeoecological analyses revealed specific accumulation conditions at both sequences, fluvial and aeolian environments at Šarengrad and a possible forest refuge at Zmajevac.