Late Quaternary (Weichselian) alluvial history and neotectonic control on fluvial landscape development in the southern Körös plain, Hungary

Abstract

Four drill cores and a clay pit section have been examined in the southern part of the Körös plain to understand the history and controls on alluvial sedimentation for the last ~ 40 ka. Four facies groups were identified, such as channel, channel margin, floodplain and floodbasin with seven distinctive facies. Magnetic susceptibility and mineralogy have further characterized the sedimentary facies indicating shifts in humidity conditions, variations in sediment flux and pedogenesis. Detailed pollen analysis of a 7.5 m thick clayey succession indicated climatic variability within the MIS 3 period. The spatial distribution of the different facies allowed outlining alluvial architecture of the study area. Three depositional units composed of various facies were identified based on OSL and radiocarbon data. These packages correspond to three major phases of channel activity: (F-I) pre-LGM period (> 30 ka to 24 ka), (F-II) post-LGM interstadial (18–16 ka), and (F-III) Late Glacial < 15 ka to ~ 10 ka). The pre-LGM and post-LGM “interstadial” phases are characterized by meandering river patterns, while the Late Glacial fluvial activity is characterized by a braided system in the area. Higher sediment supply feeding this braided river was probably caused by neotectonic uplift of the southern margin of the basin, documented by a significant stratigraphic gap between 25 and 14 ka.