Luminescence dating of loess from the island of Susak in the Northern Adriatic Sea and the 'Gorjanović loess section' from Vukovar in eastern Croatia ; Lumineszenzdatierung des Lösses von Susak (Nordadria, Kroatien) und des Gorjanović Löss-Aufschlusses von Vukovar (Ostkroatien)

Loess-palaeosol sequences are an excellent high-resolution archive for palaeoenvironmental changes. They hide information about the past climate and climatic changes. To be able to reconstruct the palaeoenvironment it is common practice to investigate these deposits with a multidisciplinary approach. A detailed and reliable geochronology is mandatory to be able to interpret the results of such investigations. The aim of this study was to establish a reliable chronological framework of loess-palaeosol sequences from Croatia. In Croatia two major loess regions can be distinguished, the North Adriatic loess region related to the river Po in North Italy and its tributaries and the Danube loess region in eastern Croatia. From both regions the most representative loess-palaeosol sequences were selected for investigations; the loess-palaeosol sequence on the island of Susak, where up to 90 m of Quaternary deposits, predominantly loess and loess derivatives were determined, and the “Gorjanović loess section” in Vukovar, which is the matter of scientific interest since the last centuries. These two genetically similar but in many ways different remains of climatic fluctuations during the Pleistocene were selected to be the topic for a detailed multi-proxy research for this PhD. This geochronological framework is the first step in high- resolution investigations which is in progress. The dating was performed using infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) dating method, which is the method of choice for dating of Quaternary aeolian deposits, as well as radiocarbon dating. Throughout this PhD several luminescence dating protocols were used; the multiple aliquot additive (MAAD) dose protocol which is a somewhat old- fashioned protocol was used for polymineral fine grain material separated from the loess from Susak for an easier correlation with older published data in this area; the single aliquot regenerative (SAR) protocol which is a widely used measuring protocol, with fading tests and fading corrections performed on the ...