High resolution dating of loess profile from Strzyżów (Horodło Plateau-Ridge, Volhynia Upland)

• DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2018.02.016
• Publication Date: 2018-03-02T14:54:30Z
• Authors: Piotr Moska; Zdzisław Jary; Grzegorz Adamiec; Andrzej Bluszcz
• Keywords: 15. Life on land; 01 natural sciences; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

Abstract The Strzyzow loess profile is located close to the Polish-Ukrainian border in the northern part of the Horodlo Plateau-Ridge, which is a latitudinal cretaceous hump with thick (10–30 m) loess cover. From the north and south the region is limited by distinct morphological edges up to over 10 m high. The loess sequence at Strzyzow is located at the height of 216 m above sea level in the northern margin of the loess cover, close to the Bug River about 40 m above the modern valley bottom. The Strzyzow loess profile has not been investigated so far because it was discovered at the end of 2013 and in our investigations it was proved that it does not contain all the units characteristic for Late Pleistocene loess-soil sequences. Above the palaeosol S1 we can only distinguish about 13 m of L1LL1 loess deposits with the modern soil on top. There are no remains of the L1SS1 soil or the L1LL2 loess deposits. Nineteen samples were collected from the almost 14 m loess profile in Strzyzow (λ = 24°0′E, φ = 50°51′N). Combined post-infrared infrared stimulated luminescence (post-IR IRSL for the deepest part of the profile) and blue light stimulated luminescence dating were applied to the polymineral fine grains (4–11 μm) and medium grained quartz fraction (45–63 μm). The obtained OSL (optically stimulated luminescence) chronostratigraphy was also confirmed by radiocarbon dating. Ages obtained for different fractions are very similar and only the result from one sample from the S1 soil is substantially different. For a more complete picture of the changes in this profile, dating results have been complemented by grain-size distribution, carbonate and organic carbon contents, geochemical composition and magnetic susceptibility determinations.