Palaeoclimatic record from a loess-soil profile in northeastern Bulgaria -II. Correlation with global climatic events during the Pleistocene

Magnetic susceptibility (chi) variations and the behaviour of the ratio of susceptibility to saturation magnetization (chi/J(s)) along the loess/palae osol section at Koriten (NE Bulgaria) are used to deduce climatic changes d uring the Pleistocene in southeastern Europe. A good correlation of suscept ibility variations with the astronomically tuned oxygen isotope record from ODP site 677 enables us to propose a more precise dating of the upper part of the Bulgarian loess complex. Close correspondence between susceptibilit y and delta(18)O records demonstrates the global significance of the palaeo climatic signal recorded, although differences in relative amplitudes of ch i and chi/J(s) and delta(18)O create difficulties in making quantitative es timates of the climatic humidity in the past. The role of local factors aff ecting the palaeoclimatic mineral magnetic record deduced from the profile studied in Bulgaria is discussed.