A new scheme of terrestrial paleoclimate evolution during the last 1.5 Ma in the western Black Sea region: Integration of soil studies and loess magmatism

A refined pedostratigraphic scheme in the western Black sea region is propo sed on the basis of paleopedological reconstructions coupled with magnetic susceptibility, and other rock magnetic parameters, and Mossbauer spectrosc opy. The new scheme matches well with oxygen isotope stages despite local v ariations in erosion/deposition, strong welding of paleosols and subtle dis crepancies in the position of the Matuyama/Brunhes boundary. These limitati ons are reduced by, optimizing resolution of magnetic cycles and paleosol i dentification. Two humid/warm maxima during the Quaternary are found in ped ocomplex PK4 at about 0.5 Ma (corresponding to oxygen isotope stages 13 and 15), and in pedocomplex PK8 related to the Jaramillo subchron. Comparison with the oxygen isotope curve shows that the apparent major driving force o f regional soil/loess cyclicity is the 100 ka eccentricity period. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.