Mammal-bearing Pleistocene deposits, Vranić, southwestern Pannonian Basin System

Author(s)

, Adriano Banak, Zsófia Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger, Anita Grizelj, Martina Đuras, Krešimir Petrinjak, Georges Aumaître, Karim Keddadouche, Alexander Wieser, Monika Milošević, Davor Pavelić

Abstract

Vranić site is a sand quarry that is located on the southern foothills of Papuk Mountain. From bottom to top of the succession, three sedimentary units have been recognized as: Unit 1 containing massive sand with scattered gravel-sized clasts, marl cobbles and boulders, and abundant marine mammal and fish fossils; Unit 2 consisting of sand intercalated with silt, clay and gravel, which may be horizontally bedded; and Unit 3, which is an erosionally-based lenticular matrix to clast-supported structureless gravel. The basal part of Unit 1 shows numerous reworked skeletal remains of Miocene marine mammals. Cosmogenic radionuclides constrain the age of burial of Unit 1 to 895 ± 211 ka, while the source area of Unit 1 had a quick denudation. The massive sands deposited on the slopes of Papuk Mountain were vulnerable to erosion due to the absence of clay. Heavy rainfall or water from snow melting created flash floods that infiltrated the sands, thereby causing slope destabilization and deformation. This process led to slumps that were transformed into a sandy debris flow. This sediment was probably deposited during the interglacial marine isotope age (MIS) 21 period when the scarce vegetation and a warmer climate favored the melting of permafrost ice and consequently triggered slope movements during MIS 22. The reworked skeletal material sampled at the Vranić site comprises fossilized fish along with mammal bones and teeth. Thus, the Vranić site represents an important site for cetacean fossil remains and serves as an important data source for marine life in the Central Paratethys.

Organisation(s)

Isotope Physics

External organisation(s)

CEREGE - Centre Européen de Recherche et d'Enseignement des Géosciences de l'Environnement, Croatian Geoligical Survey, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, University of Zagreb

Journal

Journal of Palaeogeography

Volume

13

Pages

430-452

No. of pages

23

ISSN

2095-3836

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jop.2024.04.001

Publication date

04-2024

Peer reviewed

Yes

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

105118 Palaeontology, 103014 Nuclear physics, 105105 Geochemistry

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geography, Planning and Development, Earth-Surface Processes, Palaeontology

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG 14 - Life Below Water

Portal url

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/35984454-45da-42a5-a960-78248ddfb8c2