The intertill deposits of the Kihnu Island in the Gulf of Riga, SW Estonia are according to their pollen content subdivided into two units: (1) the Late Saalian with a cold and drought-resistant ...pollen flora, and (2) the Early Weichselian with abundant redeposited Eemian pollen. Middle Weichselian interstadial deposits, overlain by till from the Late Weichselian stadial and underlain by the till from the Middle Weichselian, are known from the Vääna-Jõesuu site in NW Estonia. The erratic Holsteinian deposits at the Karuküla site, SW Estonia, previously dated as a Middle Weichselian Interglacial sediments, still complicate the Estonian till stratigraphy. According to the pollen content, the Late Weichselian late-glacial (Oldest Dryas, DR1) Haanja till in S Estonia cannot be correlated to the Late Weichselian till in N Estonia. Evidence for an Early Weichselian till is not known in Estonia.
This paper presents a new hypothesis on spreading and immigration of pioneer plants. It is speculated that during phases of sudden climate warming, seeds and other parts of plants were transported by ...rivers from central Europe into the North Sea and the Baltic areas and drifted on to surrounding shores. Some parts have remained in the records as macrofossils, while in other cases the plants are proposed to have continued their life cycle in the new areas. The principle is illustrated by examples from different areas and times: Weichselian Lateglacial finds in NW Germany suggest that tree trunks were brought northward. For central and northern Sweden exceptionally strong glacio-isostatic rebound could have followed pronounced land surface depression after the ice-sheet meltings. This would have transformed coasts to land quickly, promoting the growth of seeds and plants in areas that are now far inland. If this hypothesis is valid it can explain the presence of anomalously early, warm vegetations in newly deglaciated areas. The rapidity of water-borne immigration following a climatic warming can also open up for a possibility of quick immigration to other former near-coast areas and river banks in Europe. Based on an example of a warmth requiring palaeovegetation at Vrøgum in Denmark and the fact that trees survived in central Europe during the coldest part of the Weichselian it is suggested that short-lived, palaeobotanically hitherto unknown warm phases might be worth looking for in the terrestric records.
Rad donosi rezultate arheoloških istraživanja lokaliteta Ljubićeva pećina kod Marčane u Istri. Istraživanja su dio projekta Hrvatske zaklade za znanost pod nazivom „Prapovijesni lovci i sakupljači u ...Istri i obližnjim regijama: obrasci života i kretanja tijekom kasnog pleistocena (PREHISTRIA)“ kojem je cilj steći bolji uvid u različite aspekte života kasnoglacijalnih lovaca i sakupljača na prostoru Istre te iste staviti u širi vremenski i geografski okvir. U ovogodišnjim istraživanjima pronađena je arheološka građa (keramika, litički i faunalni nalazi te ljudski kosturni ostaci) iz različitih prapovijesnih razdoblja (brončano doba, neolitik i paleolitik). Nadalje, tijekom istraživanja uzeti su uzorci za radiometrijsku dataciju, analizu sedimentne i drevne DNA, geoarheološke, arheobotaničke i analize sirovinskoga materijala, ZooMS te druge vrste analiza koje će pružiti vrijedne nove podatke o tadašnjim stanovnicima Ljubićeve pećine. Dobiveni rezultati bit će stavljeni u geografski i kronološki kontekst gornjopaleolitičkih nalazišta Istre i obližnjih regija kako bi se dobio bolji uvid u strategije preživljavanja, zone kontakata i druge parametre s obzirom na ekološke čimbenike i promjene okoliša.
Ivor Janković - dopisni autor
Drava je najveća i najvažnija rijeka u Koruškoj (Austrija), te se koristi u gospodarske svrhe i za rekreaciju. S hidrogeološkog aspekta rijeka Drava je glavni vodotok. Obzirom na činjenicu da su ...informacije o geologiji korita i njegovog razvoja prisutni u brojnim publikacijama, a neki su djelomično skriveni u neobjavljenim geološkim izvješćima, cilj ovog projekta je sažeti i nadopuniti te podatke. Drava trenutno prolazi kroz različita petrografska područja kroz tokove koji su rezultat starijih geoloških nedostataka poput perijadranskog rasjeda. Geološka povijest prapovijesne Drave kao glavnog vodotoka s Visokih Tura prema istoku počinje prije 12 milijuna godina kada Koruška postaje kontinentalno područje. Glavni smjer otjecanja vode sa sjeverozapada prema jugu i istoku je sličan sadašnjem zbog tadašnjeg izdizanja Središnjih alpi u međuplanonskom bazenu Koruške. U panonskom i sarmacijskom periodu tok rijeke u Koruškoj bio je sjevernije od sadašnjeg korita i prolazio je kroz bazen u području Klagenfurta koji je bio ispunjen tercijarnim sedimentima. Za vrijeme pleistocena Koruška je bila gotovo u potpunosti prekrivena ledom, a nizina i rijeka su bili prekriveni velikim Dravskim glečerom. Otapanjem glečera doline su bile zapunjene stotinama metara sedimenta. U današnje vrijeme na Dravu utječu antropogene aktivnosti poput zakonskih odredbi.
Spoznaja da su u dalekoj prošlosti postojala duga ledena doba proširena je u javnosti zahvaljujući animiranim filmovima, no malo tko zna da su Podravinom šetala krda vunastih i stepskih mamuta, ...vunastih nosoroga, pragoveda, stepskih bizona i dr. Zahvaljujući ponajviše privatnim kolekcionarima, Josipu Cugovčanu i Ivanu Zvijercu, struka, ali i šira javnost po prvi puta su imali priliku vidjeti kao jednu cjelinu fosilne ostatke stare preko 500.000 godina, a koji su sakupljeni uz rijeku Dravu i u privatnim šljunčarama, u sklopu izložbe »Fosilna bogatstva Hrvatskog zagorja i Podravine« u Muzeju krapinskih neandertalaca. Radi se o impozantnim ostacima vunastog mamuta (zubi, kljova, rebra, kosti nogu), zubima stepskog mamuta, lubanjama pragoveda i vunastog nosoroga te rogovima europskog jelena, stepskog bizona, golemom jelena i dr. Pronađeni i stručno obrađeni fosili ne daju točne i precizne stratigrafske podatke s obzirom da se radi o pretaloženim ostacima, no zasigurno pridonose boljem razumijevanju geološke prošlosti Podravine i podizanju razine svijesti o važnosti i očuvanju prirodne baštine.
A sediment core from a lake in the Kap Farvel area on South Greenland was analysed with respect to pollen and microfossil content, loss-on-ignition, magnetic susceptibility and radiocarbon age. The ...aim was to reconstruct the limnic and terrestrial changes taking place at the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary. Organic sedimentation started between 12 200 and 12800 cal yr B.P. Break-up of sea-ice around Kap Farvel, as indicated by the appearance of marine dinoflagellates (Hystrix), took place some hundred years after the transition into Preboreal. The pollen analysis indicates that the area was barren during the Younger Dryas and that the Holocene vegetation establishment was slightly delayed.
Sediment lithology, lithofacies relationships, palynological and diatom analysis indicate that two drill cores extracted from ancient valleys of the Juminda Peninsula, north Estonia, represent a ...previously undetected interglacial sedimentary sequence sandwiched between the Middle and Late Pleistocene glacigenic deposits. Four different coloured major lithofacies associations (units), representing two glacigenic cycles, and deposits with the Late Saalian pollen assemblages zone (LS1), the uppermost Eemian (E9), and Early Weichselian pollen zone (EW) were distinguished at the section. The bottommost depositional unit consists of brownish coloured clay, diamicton and gravel beds. The second depositional unit, correlative to the Eemian Interglacial, consists of a black organic-rich palaeosoil and stratified sand. A thick grey coloured bed of massive and partly stratified Weichselian diamicton, sand, clay and silt comprises the third unit, and the fourth, the topmost depositional unit, consists of yellowish grey sands and silts of the Baltic Sea.
The variation of the magnetic susceptibility recorded in each layer in the Portel cave shows a good correlation with the sedimentological analyses and also with the evolution of the composition of ...the faunal associations and their palaeoenvironmental significance on the northern edge of the Ariege Pyrenees during the Middle Palaeolithic. This study reveals the presence of several layers with different magnetic properties. The high values of magnetic susceptibility and its frequency dependence and the ratio IRM-100/SIRM are the result the abundance of non-detrital iron oxides (produced from primary iron oxides by physico-chemical processes). These oxides are very fine-grained, they have a low coercive field and saturate in a weak magnetic field.
The percentage of supermagnetic grains increases with the clay content (climatic improvement), and decreases in the more sandy, less clayey layers (climatic deterioration).
La variation de la susceptibilité magnétique de la grotte du Portel enregistrée dans chaque couche montre une bonne corrélation avec les résultats des analyses sédimentologiques et aussi avec l'évolution de la composition des associations fauniques et leurs significations paléoenvironnementales sur la frange septentrionale des Pyrénées ariégeoises au paléolithique moyen.
Cette étude a permis d'individualiser plusieurs couches de propriétés magnétiques différentes. Les fortes valeurs de susceptibilité magnétique, et de dépendance en fréquence de la susceptibilité magnétique et du rapport ARI-100/ARI sont le résultat de l'abondance des oxydes de fer non détritiques (issus de la transformation des oxydes de fer primaires par des phénomènes physico-chimiques). Ces oxydes ont une taille très fine, ils ont un faible champ coercitif et se saturent dans un champ magnétique faible. Le pourcentage des grains superparamagnétiques augmente en présence d'argile (amélioration climatique), et diminue dans les couches pauvres en argile et riches en sables et éléments cryoclastiques (dégradation climatique).
Fosilni ostaci žderonje (Gulo gulo) nađeni su u jami Zvonečka II na brdu Lipnik blizu Karlovca, Hrvatska. Ova vrsta porodice Mustelidae obitava na sjeveru Euroazije i u Sjevernoj Americi. Tijekom ...pleistocena njezino područje rasprostranjenosti sezalo je i do južnijih predjela sve do Hrvatske koja je bila južna granica njezine rasprostranjenosti u ovom dijelu Europe. Fosilni ostaci roda Gulo nađeni su na sveukupno deset lokacija: Šandalja II, Pećina u Brini, Vindija, Pećina na Saftici, Pisana stina, Velika pećina, u koštanoj breči iz Pule, u koštanoj breči s Hvara, u koštanoj breči s nepoznate lokacije te u Zvonečkoj II. Morfologija jame, pozicija ulaza i nalaza ne ukazuju na to da je jama funkcionirala kao prirodna klopka u koju je životinja upala. Životinje su u špilju ulazile kroz vrtaču duboku 20-ak metara koja se nalazi otprilike iznad dvorane. Prethodni ulaz u špilju koji se nalazio na dnu vrtače sada je zatvoren, ali znamo da je postojao zbog velike količine sedimenta u dvorani koji su došli kroz njega. Lubanja je nađena na samom kraju padine. Ostaci žderonje sastoje se od frontalnog dijela lubanje s potpuno očuvanim lijevim očnjakom i zubima obraza, klimavim lijevim sjekutićima, fragmentom desne gornje vilice i klimavim desnim očnjakom. Sudeći po veličini gornjeg četvrtog pretkutnjaka i usporedbi s ostalim fosilima i nalazima žderonja, možemo zaključiti kako se u Zvonečkoj II radi o većem mužjaku. Datiranje žderonje odrađeno je u centru Klaus-Tschira-Labor (KTL, Curt Engelhorn-Zentrum Archäometrie) u Mannheimu, te je uzorak datiran na 28,144 ± 101 14C godina prije sadašnjosti (MAMS-11067). Fosilni ostaci žderonje čuvaju se u Gradskom muzeju grada Karlovca.Nedavno istraživanje drevnog mitohondrijskog DNK Pleistocenskog Europskog žderonje ustanovilo je određenu razinu vremenske i prostorne sličnosti među populacijama. Sekvencijskom analizom DNK od otprilike 40 fosiliziranih žderonja pokazalo je kako je izumrla europska populacija imala veću genetsku raznolikost od recentnih populacija na području Skandinavije što upućuje na njezinu dugogodišnju izoliranost. Današnje žderonje nisu potomci onih iz pleistocena koje su bile sekvencirane, isto tako, te životinje početkom holocenskog zagrijavanja nisu migrirale na sjever, nego su izumrle. Navedene analize nisu bile provedene na uzorku žderonje s hrvatskog teritorija tako da je sekvenciranje njenog DNK još uvijek u tijeku.
Based on high resolution seismic reflection profiling, structural and relief maps of the sedimentary bedrock between Gotland and Hiiumaa in the Baltic Sea have been composed and analysed. The general ...structure and relief of the submarine Lower Palaeozoic succession reveal a westward extension of the homoclinal structure distinguished in the Estonian mainland. The main bedrock structures offshore are 1-4 km wide, and several tens of kilometres long, linear zones of disturbances. On the structural map, these disturbances appear as submeridional zones of contour changes, up to several tens of metres in offset. The seismic profiles usually reveal a faint flexure-like bending of the layers through the zone. Locally, this flexure can be intersected by small faults. These bedrock structures are ascribed to fault movements in the crystalline basement. Two different bedrock relief systems were superposed on the region during the Cenozoic uplift and the Pleistocene glaciations. The first event resulted in the formation of a subparallel cuesta-like system of alternating erosional scarps and plains. Glacial erosion created submeridional valleys and troughs. Today three large bedrock forms, namely the Baltic and the Silurian clints and the Ordovician plateau, characterize the area. The outlines of the cuesta relief, and the amount of eroded sediments, advocate a regional increase in erosional activity from the St. Petersburg district to the area of the Baltic-Bothnian mobile zone northeast of Gotland. This zone existed as a subsided meridional lower ground during the Cenozoic, accommodating a main river that collected water both from the craton margins and the inner platform areas.
