A cave response to environmental changes in the Late Pleistocene: a study of Budimirica Cave sediments, Macedonia

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Published: Sep 17, 2016
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4154/gc.2016.29
Keywords:
Cave sediments, paleoenvironmental changes, Late Pleistocene, Budimirica Cave, Macedonia

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Marjan Temovski
Hertelendi Laboratory of Environmental Studies, Institute of Nuclear Research of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Petr Pruner
Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences
Helena Hercman
Institute of Geological Sciences, Polish Academy of Sciences
Pavel Bosák
Institute of Geology of the Czech Academy of Sciences

Abstract

Budimirica Cave is a small cave located in the southern part of the Republic of Macedonia, in the Kamenica Valley, a tributary to the Crna Reka and part of the Vardar river drainage network. The response of the cave to Late Pleistocene environmental changes is interpreted based on a detailed study of cave sediments, with previous data being supplemented, reinterpreted and compared to the Ohrid Lake palaeoclimate record. The oldest exposed speleothems in the Budimirica sediment profile were deposited during the MIS 5a (radiometric age of ca 83 ka). Sands to clays in the overburden are characterized by cycles separated by short-lived interruptions in deposition. They were deposited from a number of repeated flood events likely during the MIS 4 stage, the Weichselian (Würmian) Glaciation, correlating to aggradation in the Kamenica Valley. The top flowstone is correlated with a warmer climate excursion at 45–50 ka (MIS 3) recorded from the Ohrid Lake deposits. The whole section was extensively eroded during the MIS 2 stage, due to strong incision in the Kamenica Valley, indicated by knickpoint retreat. The erosion surface is overlain by a fossil-bearing breccia (with Ursus spelaeus) derived from frost shattering of the cave walls close to the entrance due to climate deterioration and enlargement of the entrance by slope retreat during the MIS 2 stage. Budimirica Cave sediments reflect changes in the Kamenica Valley, as well as the environmental changes during the last glacial-interglacial cycle, with clastic cave sediments deposited during glacial stadials, and erosion and flowstone deposition characteristic of the interstadials. They also allow reconstruction of the evolution of the Kamenica Valley during the Late Pleistocene, with a general trend of valley incision hindered by climate influenced river aggradation, but reinforced by river knickpoint retreat.

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Article Details

Issue
Vol 69 No 3 (2016)
Section
Original Scientific Papers

Authors have copyright and publishing rights on all published manuscripts.

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