Repetitive changes in Early Pliocene vegetation revealed by high-resolution pollen analysis: revised cyclostratigraphy of southwestern Romania

A high-resolution pollen analysis has been carried out on the Lupoaia section (SW Romania) in order to check whether the repetitive clay–lignite alternations correspond to cyclic changes in climate. Increases in altitudinal tree pollen content appear to have been caused by drops in temperature, while developments of thermophilous elements correspond to rises in temperature, still under humid conditions. Such repeated changes in vegetation, on the whole consistent with the clay–lignite alternations, have been forced by cycles in eccentricity. On the basis of a comparison between the Lupoaia pollen record and (1) European climatostratigraphy (based on reference pollen diagrams documenting global changes), and (2) global climatic curves (eccentricity, δ¹⁸O), the age of the section has been reconsidered. The Lupoaia section (i.e. from lignite IV to lignite XIII) starts just before the C3n.3n Chron and probably ends just before the C3n.1n Chron. The section represents a time span of about 600 kyr, i.e. from about 4.90 Ma to about 4.30 Ma.