An interdisciplinary study of a mammoth-bearing Late Pleistocene sediment succession in lower Austria

• Published in: Quaternary International
• Main Authors: Carobene, Daria, Meyer, Michael C., Spötl, Christoph, Rötzel, Reinhard, Göhlich, Ursula B., Mandic, Oleg, Harzhauser, Mathias, Wimmer-Frey, Ingeborg, Reimer, Paula J., Auer, Fabian
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Austria; Late pleistocene; Luminescence dating; Palaeoenvironment; Stable isotopes; /dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1900/1904; Earth-Surface Processes; /dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/climate_action; SDG 13 - Climate Action; Tundra
• Online Access: https://pure.qub.ac.uk/en/publications/76d865b3-24cb-48cb-9e25-889db5af5ca9; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.02.022; https://pureadmin.qub.ac.uk/ws/files/202608063/ms_Bullendorf_2020_DC_RR_12.01.2020_MM_CS_ohne_Figs_pr.pdf

In the Alpine foreland and the Vienna Basin loess-paleosol sequences (LPS) are common. Some of the most famous LPS sites in the circum-Alpine area include Stratzing, Göttweig, Willendorf, Krems-Wachtberg, and Stillfried, which cluster in a relatively small area along the Danube river in Lower Austria. LPS provide detailed insights into climate-driven, terrestrial palaeoenvironmental changes that can be placed into a robust chronological framework, because LPS are amenable to a range of dating techniques. Here, we present a well-dated 13.6 m-thick mammoth-bearing sediment succession characterised by low-energy aquatic deposits, sheet-flow deposits and sandy loess from re-deposited Miocene sediments, i.e. a depositional environment that contrasts to the classical LPS sites. This new site is situated 1.6 km NNE of Bullendorf in Lower Austria, where Pleistocene sediment successions with a robust chronology are rare. Our multidisciplinary approach is based on optically stimulated luminescence and 14 C dating, and includes mammal faunal investigations and stable isotope analyses of molluscs. OSL and 14 C dating suggest deposition of the sediment sequence immediately before and briefly after the Last Glacial Maximum. The mollusc assemblages and the mammal fauna are representative of a cold climate, characteristic of a tundra steppe environment. Stratigraphic changes in δ 18 O of two mollusc species (Pupilla muscorum and Succinella oblonga) suggest an alternating dry-cold and humid-cold climate. Oxygen isotope data of freshwater gastropod shells suggest a drastic decrease in the mean growing season temperature compared to today, while the carbon isotope composition is indicative of a C3 vegetation.