Complex palaeoecological study of the Middle Wechselian fossil soil and loess layer transition level of Tokaj Kopasz-hegy

Abstract

This study focuses on a palaeoecological analysis carried out in the Csorgókút Valley at the Kopasz Hill of Tokaj, on
the upper fossil soil horizon (Upper Fossil Soil Horizon of Tokaj) of a 15m-high loess section dissected by fossil soils.
Hungarian and international references indicate that a chernozem-like palaeosoil developed on the loess sediments in the
Carpathian Basin during this period of time. Furthermore, the results of the analysis showed that a boreal, forest-steppelike soil developed under the pine forest in examined soil horizon; subsequently, a podzol soil developed under spruce
forest. On the basis of the results of the analysis — in contradiction to earlier, over-simplified palaeoecological models
— a different environment historical development can be expected (in parallel) in the Carpathian Basin in the latest phase
of the Wechselian.