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A: Hummocky surface caused by weathering hollows of the conglomerate bank at Kelemenk o. B: Wind striations at Kelemenk o indicating the NW e SE wind direction. For scale see fi ngertip on the left side of the image.
Source publication
In the Western Pannonian Basin the widespread occurrence of ventifacts and large-scale deflation features indicate strong wind activity during the Quaternary. Pleistocene glaciations are probably the most important periods of wind erosion. However, age of the wind-polished rock surfaces exposed on different geomorphic horizons has remained unknown...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... m 2 area (Kelemenk} o, K} omagas). At these sites, flat-topped "table hills" have developed from the erosion-resistant rock bodies. On their top several weathering hollows (shallow gnammas; Fig. 6A), and sometimes, locally a thin soil or moss cover was observed on the otherwise pristine wind-polished horizontal surface (Fig. ...
Context 2
... m 2 area (Kelemenk} o, K} omagas). At these sites, flat-topped "table hills" have developed from the erosion-resistant rock bodies. On their top several weathering hollows (shallow gnammas; Fig. 6A), and sometimes, locally a thin soil or moss cover was observed on the otherwise pristine wind-polished horizontal surface (Fig. ...
Context 3
... snow-line was at an elevation of 1500e2000 m asl. in the Carpathians ( Willis et al., 2000;Kern et al., 2006;Mindrescu et al., 2010). Lowering by dissolution could be limited in siliceous rocks and would hardly maintain a flat-topped surface. The shallow, 10e20 cm deep holes are attributed to solution, and the process resulted in hummocky surface (Fig. 6A). Freeze and thaw could be an effective agent for rock breakdown and the fragments could be transported by sheetwash. However, to attribute significant erosion to this process on flat rock surface with no debris cover is prob- lematic. Thus we assume that the missing 3e4 m rock thickness was mainly eroded by aeolian denudation. This ...
Citations
... The presence of ventifacts and large-scale deflation forms such as mega-yardangs (Fig. 1e) in the Western Pannonian Basin suggests robust wind activity in the region's past Sebe et al. 2015). Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al. (2011), through measurements of 10 Be isotope concentrations along depth profiles of exposed, wind-faceted rocks, determined a denudation rate via deflation of 40-80 m/Ma in the Balaton Highland over the last 1.5 million years. The yardang system comprises several tens of kilometers, alongside deep and wide troughs (Suppl. ...
The Pannonian mega-yardang system is the northernmost mega-yardang field in Europe, exerting a profound influence on the relief and surface hydrographic structure of Western Hungary. Despite its significance, the precise timing and climatic conditions under which this mega-yardang system formed remain elusive. The geological setting was studied, the former humidity and biome patterns were modelled, the climatically analogous regions of the past climates of the region were identified, and the Köppen Aridity Indices of the region were compared to the aridity values of other yardang fields from five continents in the last 3.3 mys. The geological structure of the yardangs suggests an origin post-dating the Tortonian period but preceding the mid-Pleistocene era. In the Zanclean and in the warmer periods of the Piacenzian, the studied region had humid subtropical climatic conditions that were not suitable for the formation of large-scale aeolian landforms. Similarly, in the Quaternary period, the climate varied between boreal and humid continental, which was not conducive to the formation of mega-yardang fields. Cold semi-arid climatic conditions only existed in the mid-Pliocene cold period and perhaps at the transition of the Pliocene to the Pleistocene. This paleoclimatic hypothesis is in accordance with the Pliocene fossil record of the region, which contains the remains of such arid habitat-dwelling fauna elements as camelids and struthionids. The comparison of the development of Köppen Aridity Indices among yardangs in other territories also suggests that the Pannonian mega-yardang system may have formed around the transition of the Neogene to the Quaternary epochs.
Graphical abstract
... The abrasion rates for the first two intervals have a same order of magnitude; they are one order smaller than the V.I. 3 and two orders smaller than the V.I. 4. The abrasion rates for the first, second and third ventifaction intervals are lower than most reported for hard crystalline or silica-cemented sedimentary rocks during various abrasion periods (Table 2). However, all published data (except for Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al., 2011) indicate shorter periods of eolian abrasion compared to our first three intervals. Therefore, the low abrasion rates estimated here to those periods are related to their assumed long lasting rock abrasion. ...
The southern coast of Brazil has been settled in different episodes between ca. 7.5 and 0.5 ka before the present by hunter-fisher-gatherers, shell mound builders of the pre-colonial Sambaqui cultural tradition. The factors that influenced human migrations in these episodes are diverse. They include cultural changes due to the coming of other groups, chronic food shortages, sea level changes, and lagoon silting. This paper combines geological, geomorphological, meteorological, and archaeological data to show how interactions between environmental dynamics and human settlement played a central role in modeling coastal sedimentary and rocky landscapes on the southern coast of Brazil during the middle Pleistocene to late Holocene. On Costão do Ilhote, a north-south oriented granitic promontory in Laguna County, Santa Catarina State, erosional features such as facets, keels, grooves, flutes, pits, and polished surfaces that developed on granitic boulders and pavements were recognized as ventifacts. In the same context, hundreds of fixed sharpeners/polishers from the production of polished objects by the sambaqui culture have been found crosscutting the ventifacts. Based on crosscut relationships between pre-colonial aged fixed sharpeners/polishers and ventifacts, relative sea-level changes during the Holocene, the age of distinct generation of sand dunes, and the age of shellmounds (sambaquis), four potential intervals of ventifaction are proposed: last 650 ka, last 350 ka, between ca. 115 and 5 ka BP, and between ca. 2.0 and ∼0.5 ka BP, with separated estimated abrasion rates of approximately 3.5 × 10−5 mm/yr, 7.0 × 10−5 mm/yr, 1.7 × 10−4 mm/yr, and 1.3 × 10−2 mm/yr, respectively. The ca. ∼1.5 ka of the last ventifaction interval was synchronous with a period of sambaqui culture retreat in the southern coastal plain of Santa Catarina, and also coincided with a period of abundant sand availability. This period is characterized by a drastic decline in sambaquis construction along the sand barrier and paleolagoon and a migration towards lagoonal and coastal rocky promontories, including Costão do llhote. Based on these pieces of evidence, we propose to add new components to the close interactions between environmental evolution and prehistoric human occupation on the southern coast of Santa Catarina during the Holocene: the strong winds combined with sand availability.
... River terrace systems are widely used for palaeotopographic and surface uplift histories, but more elevated topographies commonly lack fluvial accumulations (Merritts et al., 1994). These areas might comprise planation surfaces more resistant to denudation in comparison to river terraces, which are, however, complicated for dating (Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al., 2011;Wagner et al., 2011). ...
The study focuses on the upper Miocene colluvial to alluvial fan deposits of the Modrová Mb., which accumulated on the marginal blocks of the Považský Inovec Mts., transitional to surrounding depressions of the Danube Basin. These blocks are delimited tectonically according to the geophysical evidence, and the late Miocene normal faulting produced fault scarps causing rapid sediment supply. However, the supply of coarse clastics composed mostly of Mesozoic dolomites was of intensity sufficient only to fill the accommodation of the marginal blocks. The sediment input to the surrounding Danube Basin is on the both sides of the Považský Inovec Mts. not traceable, probably due to an overwhelming alluvial redistribution. Facies analysis of the Modrová Mb. implies an environment of colluvial fans with prevalence of cohesive debris flow deposition, associated with less frequent rockfall, grain flow and sheetwash processes on the western side of the mountains in the area of Modrová village. In contrary, the easterly situated area of Tesáre village exhibits dominance of debris flow deposition with more than one third of the succession deposited by channelized and unchannelized shallow traction currents, indicating sedimentary environment of an alluvial fan close to its transition to colluvial sediment-feeder system. Petrographical and geochemical study showed extremely low content of siliciclastic component in the colluvial deposits of the Modrová area. Dolomite clasts form a major part of the sediment and are covered by a coating of clay minerals. The coatings and sediment matrix contain iron oxides possibly derived by fersiallitic weathering and by oxidation of pyrite scattered within the matrix. Geochemistry of muddy layers in the Tesáre succession implies either cold or dry weathering conditions. However, weathering proxies are considered to be biased due to the rapid denudation in the colluvial to alluvial fan environment, since observed facies and published regional studies imply rather warm and humid climate. Several examples of simultaneous comparable depositional settings in the broader region imply, that these colluvial to alluvial fan successions could be related to a mild phase of regional tectonic activity at ~8 Ma.
... This event has also been recognized in the erosion of the Molasse basins (Genser et al., 2007;Baran et al., 2014), the Styrian basin (Ebner and Sachsenhofer, 1995;Dixon et al., 2016), in the Malé Karpaty Mts. (Western Carpathians) in western Slovakia (Šujan et al., 2017) and at the western (Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al., 2011) and southern margins (Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al., 2018) of the Transdanubian Range within the Pannonian basin. The understanding of this young uplift is still in its infancy, details of the timing badly constrained and its extent is largely unknown. ...
... regions Palaeo-surfaces similar to those mapped here have been mapped in the Nock Mountains region (Hejl, 1997(Hejl, , 1998, the Grazer Bergland (Winkler Hermaden, 1955Wagner et al., 2010), the Niedere Tauern (Dertnig et al., 2017), the Koralpe and Pohorje Massifs (Legrain et al., 2014), the Northern Calcareous Alps in general and the Transdanubian Range (Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al., 2011. However, if it is the aim to infer aspects of the uplift history of the range, it is circular to correlate palaeo-surfaces of corresponding elevation with corresponding genesis or age and other criteria must be found. ...
... While they did not determine if this decrease in incision is related to a decrease in uplift rate or due to transient aggregation periods of the river in the Pleistocene, we note that it is paralleled by our analysis for the Gurktal Alps, which shows a considerably slow-down of uplift to 0.1 mm/a since 3 Ma and to 0.16 mm/a past 4.5 Ma Correlation with our data for the Pleistocene can also be found for the Danube river in the Pannonian basin. Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al. (2011 reports 10 ...
We present evidence for a series of pre-Pleistocene landforms on hand of a new geomorphological map for the Gurktal region of the Eastern Alps. The Gurktal Alps region is the westernmost region of the Eastern Alps that escaped the glacial reshaping in the Pleistocene. Its morphology therefore preserves evidence of older landforms in closer proximity to the central part of the range than any other region in the Alps. The region is therefore useful to document aspects of the geomorphological evolution for the Eastern Alps during both, the Pleistocene glaciations and the earlier uplift history. Our mapping approach is twofold. We applied stream-power analysis outside the glacially overprinted areas to detect and classify spatially distinct quasi-stable stream segments, which we expanded to planar objects using slope analysis combined with field mapping. Our mapping results document four palaeo-surfaces located roughly at about 1500 m, 1200 m, 900 m and about 800 m above sea level. We correlate these levels with well-known palaeo-surfaces from the eastern end of the Alps and suggest that they can be interpreted in terms of more than 1000 m of surface uplift in the last six million years. Channel analysis and the distribution of Pleistocene gravel terraces suggest that the main trunk of the river Gurk was diverted from the Wimitz valley in the Rissian. Furthermore, steam-power analysis documents an ongoing activity of the Görschitztal fault and some inferred Pleistocene activity of a north-west trending fault close to the township of Gurk.
... Most of the western part of the Carpathian Basin underwent Plio-Quaternary uplift and denudation by the dominant northerly, northwesterly winds (SFig. 2) related to a structural inversion of former rift-related structures (Royden and Horváth, 1988;Tari and Horváth, 2006;Csillag et al., 2010;Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al., 2011, 2018aSebe et al., 2011). Knowing the hydrology of the denudated areas, fluvial erosion was negligible. ...
... Knowing the hydrology of the denudated areas, fluvial erosion was negligible. Numerous blow-out valleys, deflation hollows, yardangs have been documented from the region of south and west of the Transdanubian Mid-Mountains (see Fig. 8), which were active from 1.5 Ma as recorded by exposure ages (Csillag et al., 2010;Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al., 2011, 2018aSebe et al., 2011). Most deflation hollows, today filled by lakes (e.g. ...
... The modern surface wind system of the western part of the Carpathian Basin, with an NNW orientation (Fig. S2), is relatively stable due to the topographic control by the dominant landforms of parallel valleys with a NW-SE orientation in the Transdanubian Mid-Mountains. Airflow directions recorded by Pleistocene and Holocene landforms of the area (wind striations on dated surfaces) also agree with the postulated wind fields during much of the Pleistocene (Fig. S2; National Atlas of Hungary 2018; Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al., 2011;Sebe et al., 2011). Increased cyclonic activity from the west as mentioned in connection with paleoclimate records from the NW margin of the Iberian Peninsula for the MIS 18 glacial must have propagated the formation of stronger circulation and higher wind speeds. ...
This paper presents the results of grain-size analyses of an independently-dated loess/paleosol record dating
back ca. 1 Ma from SW Hungary. The record follows an upward coarsening trend with a clear prevalence of
coarse silts and fine sands. Variations are mainly controlled by fluctuations in sand input highlighting iterative
changes in dust aerodynamics over the past 1 Ma in the source region found 50–100 km NW of our site. Based on
our results regional factors influenced the intensity and nature of dust accumulation. Contrasting trends with the
Chinese Loess Plateau in certain periods reflect a greater importance of the Atlantic region driving the evolution
of nearby continental ice sheets. Proximity and expansion of these had significant impact on local wind field.
Low topography of the surrounding mountain belts allowed for the intrusion of stronger cold winds, higher
abrasion in the source region and transportation of coarser particles to the site from 700 to 450 ka. Another
marked upward increase in grain-size from 400 ka can be linked to increasing continentality which along with
tectonic activity resulted in a drop in the groundwater table in the source region and intensified erosion of
formerly relatively stable surfaces bringing more coarse material to our site.
... Wind erosion rates are inferred to be much higher in cold and dry glacial periods than those in relatively warmer and humid interglacial periods during the Quaternary (Goudie, 2008;Kapp et al., 2011;Rohrmann et al., 2013); however, no quantitative evaluation has been reported to support this inference except for indirect evidence from numerical modeling and dust flux measurements (Goudie, 2008;Kapp et al., 2011;Porter, 2001). The few existing estimates of wind erosion rates are either short-term ones around the Holocene (Bristow et al., 2009;Rohrmann et al., 2013;Washington et al., 2006) or long-term averages for the entire Quaternary with large uncertainties Pelletier et al., 2018;Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al., 2011;de Silva et al., 2010). Both are unable to reveal the influence of climate oscillations on wind erosion. ...
Plain Language Summary
Wind prevails in arid to semiarid regions on the Earth and other terrestrial planets (e.g., Mars), forming distinctive landforms such as yardangs, sand dunes, and pans. It removes surficial rocks and soils over large areas and transports them tens to thousands of kilometers away before final deposition on land or in the ocean. Despite its importance as a facilitator of mass transport on the surface, we know little about how and when the wind erosion operates on the Earth and its relationship with global climate change. Through a detailed study of yardangs in the Qaidam Basin, one of the driest deserts in Central Asia, we determined that (1) the wind erosion that shaped the modern yardangs initiated in the early phase of the last glacial period (~105 ka) in the Qaidam Basin and (2) wind erosion during the last glacial period was twice as fast as that in the present‐day interglacial period in our study site, providing the first quantitative evaluation of the severe wind erosion during the cold and dry glacial periods of the Quaternary. Our findings yield meaningful insights in the link between climate change and aeolian processes.
... In the following, the methods of age determination using CRN depth profiles and burial durations are described, while the theory and technical details of age determination and parameters used throughout this study are described in Supplement 1.1. It has been demonstrated that the evolution of the concentration of a single cosmogenic nuclide along a depth profile makes it possible to constrain both the exposure duration and the denudation rate of a relief relying on the well-known relationships dependent on the respective attenuation lengths linking spallogenic and muonic production rates to depth (Anderson et al., 1996;Siame et al., 2004;Braucher et al., 2009;Hidy et al., 2010;Rixhon et al., 2011Rixhon et al., , 2014Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al., 2011. If the exposure duration has not been long enough to reach steady state at depth (muonic production), the evolution of the CRN concentration with depth will allow us to arrive at a unique solution of exposure duration and denudation rate and determine the inherited CRN concentration (the concentration accumulated during a previous surface exposure and denudation episode). ...
Terrace ages deduced from diverse geochronological records yielded inconsistent data in the Danube valley in Hungary. The problem of discrepancies in the different chronological datasets has to be resolved before the Quaternary tectonic and climatic processes leading to valley incision and terrace formation may be properly evaluated. To establish a more robust chronology of the Danube valley in Hungary, new cosmogenic nuclide- (¹⁰Be depth profiles, ²⁶Al/¹⁰Be burial durations and burial depth profile) and luminescence-based (pIRIR290) terrace ages were acquired and compared to revised paleontological and published U/Th and magnetostratigraphic data. All the applied geo-chronometers led to concordant terrace ages, with the exception of the U/Th method applied on travertine deposits covering terraces. U/Th ages predating the last interglacial manifest a bias towards younger ages, and so they were ignored in relation to the quantification of terrace ages. As a result, terrace ages from the Late Pliocene to Late Pleistocene were settled. With regard to data from the Middle Pleistocene onwards, the combination of diverse methodologies led to a tighter bracketing of terrace ages than would be possible using a single dating method. The modelling of cosmogenic ²⁶Al and ¹⁰Be concentrations enabled to derive surface denudation rates and their combination with paleontological data also allowed us to decide between diverse landscape evolution scenarios.
... These systems share the following characteristics: (i) an upwind bypass area at the outlet of a corridor, dominated by deflation-related land- forms (yardangs, pans, ventifacts); (ii) an accumulation area located downwind, characterized by coversands or dune fields and loess. Such aeolian systems have been described in the Ebro Valley in Spain ( Gutiérrez-Elorza et al., 2002;Gutiérrez et al., 2013;Boixadera et al., 2015), the Orb Valley in southern France (Gottis, 1968;Ambert, 1974Ambert, , 1981Ambert, , 2013Ambert and Clauzon, 1992;Carozza et al., 2016), and the Carpathian Basin in Hungary ( Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al., 2011;Sebe et al., 2011Sebe et al., , 2015. The lower Rhône Valley belonged to this type of aeolian system. ...
In the Rhône Valley, a north-south oriented Cenozoic rift in southeast France, thick Pleistocene loess deposits have been recognized since the beginning of the last century. These loess records, which are disconnected from the North European Loess Belt (NELB), are of significant interest to document the evolution of perimediterranean landscapes and environments during the Last Glacial. To overcome the poor precision of available aeolian distribution maps, aeolian deposits were mapped using the topsoil textural database provided by the Land Use and Cover Area frame Statistical Survey project (LUCAS). The grain-size distribution of aeolian sand and loess was first determined using 116 samples taken from surveyed outcrops. Then, the areas showing a similar grain-size composition were extracted from the LUCAS rasters. The resulting map reproduces the conventional maps correctly but suggests a more significant extension of loess, in better agreement with the known distribution of outcrops. The map shows that the distinctive morphology of the valley dominantly controls the distribution of aeolian deposits. The deflation-related landforms, i.e., yardangs, closed depressions (pans), and desert pavements, are widespread south of narrowings of the Rhône Valley between latitudes 44°N and 45°N. They indicate palaeowinds blowing from the north/northwest. Aeolian sand, loessic sand, sandy loess, and loess deposits successively spread on both sides of the Rhône River. The loess is characterized by a coarse texture (main mode around 60 μm), strong local thickness (>5 m), limited extension, and abundant bioturbation. This preservation results from the persistence of a shrub vegetal cover during the coldest and driest phases of the Last Glacial that allowed for trapping the saltating and suspended particles close to the alluvial sources.
... Cosmic ray dating can give the exposure time of sediments if the radioactive half-life of an isotope is lengthy compared to the erosional timescale. The concentration of 10 Be in rocks is commonly used to reflect the long-term erosion rate (Lal, 1991;Ruszkiczay-Rudiger et al., 2011;Rohrmann et al., 2013). This method is mostly suitable for stable landforms. ...
... c Incision/uplift rate inferred by data extrapolation along the valley.Fodor et al., 2005;Bada et al., 2007;Dombr adi et al., 2010;Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al., 2007). DB: Danube Bend; GTT: Gy} or-Tata terrace region, W: location of 10 Be exposure age dated, 1.56 ± 0.09 Ma old wind polished landforms (Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al., 2011). Neotectonic structures developed due to changing boundary conditions of the deformation: one of the major driving forces, the eastward pull (subduction rollback) beneath the Eastern Carpathians largely decreased while northward push of the Adriatic plate continued (Horv ath, 1995;Bada et al., 2006). ...
... In the south-western part of the TR 10 Be exposure age of winderoded landforms was determined up to 1.56 ± 0.09 Ma (Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al., 2011) (Fig. 1). This age provides a minimum time constraint on the onset of the inversion-related uplift in the southwest part of the TR. ...
... Uplift of the TR was related to the neotectonic shortening and related large-scale folding of the Pannonian lithosphere (Horv ath andRoyden, 1981;Horv ath et al., 2015), which progressively shifted from SW (Slovenia) toward NE (Tari, 1994;Fodor et al., 1999Fodor et al., , 2005). The >700 ka minimum age of the highest terraces of the area put forward that the onset of uplift in the northeastern part of the TR started before this time, but probably somewhat later than in the southwest TR (Fig. 1), where the minimum age of the onset of the uplift was 1.56 ± 0.09 Ma, as determined by in situ 10 Be exposure age of wind-abraded landforms (Ruszkiczay-Rüdiger et al., 2011). The maximum incision/uplift rates relevant for the minimum age of the IVeVI terrace level (>700 ka) were calculated. ...
