Palaeontological studies of calcareous nannoplankton, diatoms and molluscs in Badenian sedimentary successions in eastern Slovenia bring new insights into the status of the Slovenian Corridor – a hypothesised seaway linking the Central Paratethys and the Mediterranean – in the late Badenian. The palaeogeographical distribution of gastropod species Pereiraea gervaisi in the Central Paratethys is limited to its NW part, to the immediate vicinity of the Slovenian Corridor. This represents a strong argument in favour of the hypothesis that the central Paratethys and the Mediterranean communicated through this seaway. Late Badenian nannoplankton assemblages studied in NE Slovenia (Central Paratethys) are very similar to the contemporaneous Mediterranean ones. A comparative study of nannoplankton biostratigraphical events observed in this time interval throughout the World Ocean suggests that this similarity reflects communication between the Mediterranean and Paratethyan populations rather than a universal trend of nannoplankton evolution. Our results suggest the mixing of Mediterranean and Eastern Paratethyan influences throughout the entire Central Paratethys during the late Badenian. This supports the thesis that the communication between the two seas took place via the Slovenian Corridor and not some other marine connection like the hypothetical Axios (Vardar) Trench.
COBISS.SI-ID: 36518957
Heavy metal content in soils could be a consequence of geogenic and anthropogenic sources. Around the port city of Koper/Capodistria, 24 topsoil samples were collected representing four possible pollution sources: intensive agriculture, viticulture, port activities and industry. The chemical composition of the samples was determined by ICP-ES for oxides and by ICP-MS for heavy metals. The ANOVA showed significant differences only in CaO, C/TOT, P2O5, Co and Pb between those locations within reach of the different contamination sources. The observed average values of heavy metals are well below Slovenia’s Directive limit for Cu, Pb and Zn, close to but not above it for Co and above the action value for Cr and Ni, which could still be geogenic because soils developed on Eocene flysch rocks are enriched in both metals.
COBISS.SI-ID: 1071454
The Palaeolithic of southern Central Europe has a long history of archaeological research. Particularly the presence of numerous osseous projectile points in many early Upper Palaeolithic (EUP) assemblages in this region has attracted the attention of the international research community. The scarcity of properly identified and well-dated Aurignacian contexts represents an obstacle for investigation of the nature and timing of the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition. In this context, the question of whether Neandertals made Aurignacian osseous projectile points, either on their own or as a consequence of cultural interaction with anatomically modern humans, still remains an open issue. Here we reassess the EUP record of Slovenia by evaluating the Aurignacian character of the assemblages from Potočka zijalka, Mokriška jama and Divje babe I in the light of their suggested roots in the local Mousterian. We provide a comprehensive description of the lithic industry from Potočka zijalka, which represents one of the rare EUP assemblages of southern Central Europe with a representative number of lithic artefacts to be analysed from the perspective of lithic technology and raw material economy. Our re-analysis of the Slovenian assemblages is backed by a series of 11 new ultrafiltered collagen 14C dates obtained directly on associated osseous projectile points from the studied assemblages. The Aurignacian of Potočka zijalka underlines the remarkable consistency of the Early Aurignacian with low typotechnological variability across Europe, resulting from a marked dependence on transported toolkits and raw material conservation. The new radiocarbon determinations for the Aurignacian of Slovenia appear to post-date the 34−32 ka BP threshold for the last Neandertals in the region. Although not falsified, the hypothesis of Aurignacian bone tools in southern Central Europe as a product of late Neandertals is not supported by our re-examination of the EUP record of Slovenia.
COBISS.SI-ID: 37760045
Our work shows that diagenesis can change the colour of speleothems because of the mobility of the chromophore elements during this process. Along with elemental alteration comes the loss of the primary isotopic signals of speleothems. Detailed petrological studies of speleothems should therefore always precede their analysis for palaeoclimatic reconstruction so that the influence of material affected by diagenesis can be eliminated.
COBISS.SI-ID: 37520685
The radiolaritic facies (red/green cherts with radiolarians) is a very characteristic feature of the Tethyan realm. For a long time its presence has been interpreted as a consequence of depth of an oceanic environment. It is now preferable to consider it as high productivity sediment. The paper underlines the interpretation inferring the role of monsoons for such productivity according to the relative position of lands at that time.
COBISS.SI-ID: 37780525