Integrated stratigraphy of the Early Miocene lacustrine deposits of Pag Island (SW Croatia): Palaeovegetation and environmental changes in the Dinaride Lake System

An integrated stratigraphic study of a Neogene lacustrine succession on the Pag Island (Croatia), combining quantitative pollen analysis, magnetostratigraphy, cyclostratigraphy, biostratigraphy and gamma-ray measurements, provides new insights into orbitally controlled variations in palaeo-vegetation and depositional patterns in the Dinaride Lake System. The quantitative palynological record shows a cyclical pattern of vegetation changes that closely corresponds to sedimentological patterns. The intervals with a high abundance of thermophilous and xeric indicators, suggesting a warm and dry climate, generally coincide with intervals of frequent lignite deposition and shallow lake facies. This suggests that both records are dominantly controlled by variations in past climatic conditions and lake level. Our data show two large-scale warming and shallowing-upward cycles, which are interpreted to be forced by the ~ 100 kyr eccentricity cycle of the Earthʹs orbit. Magnetostratigraphic data of the examined section reveal a long (113 m) reversed polarity interval, followed by a 7 m thick interval of normal polarity at the top. The inferred depositional rate of ~ 0.3 mm/yr, combined with biostratigraphic constraints by mollusks, suggests that the most logical correlation of the reversed interval is to chron C5Cr. This indicates that the Pag succession was deposited between 17.1 and 16.7 Ma and that it corresponds to the Burdigalian Stage of the Early Miocene, and the regional Karpatian Stage of the Central Paratethys. The high relative percentage of thermophilous pollen taxa, Engelhardia and Taxodium-type being the most prominent, generally indicates a subtropical humid climate for the SW Croatian part of the Dinaride Lake System. The observed warming trend is possibly related to the onset of the Miocene Climatic Optimum.