Clay mineralogy of the Stari Slankamen (Serbia) loess-paleosol sequence during the last glacial cycle — Implications for dust provenance and interglacial climate

Abstract Clay minerals in loess-paleosol sequences carry important information on dust source and the paleoenvironments of the areas of loess distribution. The loess-paleosol sequences in the Serbian part of the Carpathian Basin are among the most complete Quaternary terrestrial sedimentary sequences in Europe. However, relatively little is known about the origin and temporal variations of clay minerals in these deposits and their paleoclimatic implications. Here we present the results of high-resolution XRD clay mineral analysis of the Stari Slankamen loess-paleosol sequence through the last glacial cycle. The roughly constant composition of the clay minerals within the loess unit and most of the paleosol suggests that the clay minerals are of detrital origin and that pedogenic transformation has only occurred in the lower part of paleosol S1, which corresponds to the climatic optimum of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5e. This provides a basis for addressing several important issues regarding the Carpathian Basin loess, including its provenance, glacial dust activity, and the interglacial climate. The smectite-rich characteristic of the glacial loess provides a diagnostic indicator for confirming local sources for the Carpathian Basin loess deposits, and that these sources made little contribution to the dust deposited in Greenland during the last glacial. The first application of illite crystallinity and the chlorite ratio to the Carpathian Basin loess-paleosol sequence suggests that they are more sensitive indicators than the clay mineral proxies previously used in European loess studies. The enhanced precipitation during MIS 5e indicated by the new proxies and the transformation of clay mineral potentially provide new insights into understanding the regional climatic response to future global warming.