Site-specific variability of loess and palaeosols (Ruma, Vojvodina, northern Serbia)

Quaternary International 334-335 (2014) 86e93

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Site-specific variability of loess and palaeosols (Ruma, Vojvodina, northern Serbia) J. Vandenberghe a, *, S.B. Markovi c b, M. Jovanovi c b, U. Hambach c a

Institute of Earth Sciences, VU University, De Boelelaan 1085, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands Loess Research Group, Faculty of Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovica 3, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia c Chair of Geomorphology, University of Bayreuth, Bayreuth D-954400, Germany b

a r t i c l e i n f o

a b s t r a c t

Article history: Available online 10 November 2013

The study of temporal variations in soil intensity has mostly been limited to specific sites. However, it is important for correctly interpreting the stratigraphy and palaeoclimatic significance of loess and palaeosols series to understand the reasons for the spatial variability. More specifically, pedogenetic and sedimentological properties should be evaluated separately. This is particularly well illustrated at the Ruma site (Serbia). In this paper we focus on macroscopic soil characteristics and sediment grain-size properties. The type-succession shows three interglacial pedocomplexes (V-S1,V-S2 and V-S3) separated by loess layers that include at least one interstadial pedocomplex in the uppermost loess layer. All sediments show a bipartite grain-size distribution (a coarser-grained silt-dominated one and a finegrained one (