Abstract In Europe, North Africa and Asia Minor, the remains of Pennsylvanian sedimentary basins bearing continental deposits either intimately mixed with shallow-marine strata or deposited in exclusively continental settings are preserved. Long-lasting research on these basins allowed the definition of regional stages and substages based on marine fauna and terrestrial flora, later extended by terrestrial and freshwater faunal biostratigraphies. Glacioeustatically driven marine bands provide laterally widespread correlation markers; however, where such bands are missing only biostratigraphic control exists. Resolution of biostratigraphic zonations combined with gaps in sedimentary successions and variable quality of the fossil record throughout the basin fills do not allow in all cases a precise correlation between the Pennsylvanian basins in Europe and, in turn, the timing of tectonic, climatic and biotic events, and thus an absolute complete understanding of the response of terrestrial and freshwater biota to climate changes across eastern tropical Pangaea. A helpful tool is new radioisotopic ages of intercalated volcaniclastics that reveal the partial diachroneity of some widely used biostratigraphies. We attempt to present the current state of the art to stimulate further research to mitigate gaps in our knowledge.

ABSTRACT An ~10-m-thick sequence of Quaternary eolian sands from the island of Vis (Croatia) was investigated with the aim to unravel and understand their origin, characteristics, and age. The sand deposit is situated in a karstic depression in the eastern part of the island at an altitude of ~100 m above sea level (a.s.l.), and it is composed of a subhorizontally laminated unit at the bottom underlying a cross-bedded unit. The sand is very well sorted and fine grained and composed predominantly of carbonate lithic fragments, which most likely originated from the Dinaric karst region. The siliciclastic component of these sands reflects a more complex lithological source, including older sedimentary (e.g., flysch successions in the area, as well as older Quaternary deposits), magmatic, and metamorphic rocks probably originating from the Inner Dinarides, which were eroded and comminuted by glacial and periglacial activity during the last glacial period, and transported toward the Adriatic foreland by major rivers such as the Cetina and Neretva. Grain size and shape characteristics of the sands as well as their sedimentary structure indicate their eolian origin. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating was applied to determine the depositional age of the sediment. The obtained ages can be correlated to the Last Glacial Maximum (oxygen isotope stage [OIS] 2), implying that during the peak of that glaciation, the central Adriatic basin was dry land, a vast plain exposed to eolian deflation.

Abstract A strong and potentially dangerous decreasing trend in the level of water in Vrana Lake over the last three decades was analysed. This freshwater lake is a unique karst hydrology feature located on the small Adriatic island of Cres (405.71 km 2 ), which is entirely composed of carbonate rocks. The lake is situated in a large cryptodepression and its base reaches a depth of 61.3 m below mean sea-level. The lake is a complex hydrological–hydrogeological system with an average water volume of c. 220 × 10 6 m 3 . The larger geographical region has been affected by an increase in air temperature over the last c. 40 years. This exceptionally clean freshwater lake is the only source of potable water for the whole Cres archipelago. A dangerous drop in the water level of the lake started in 1983. This decreasing trend is driven by both global climate change and anthropogenic (the overexploitation of water) factors.

ABSTRACT Final closure of the Neotethys Ocean basin along the Eurasian margin in southeastern Europe during Eocene–Oligocene time was accompanied by upper-crustal extension expressed as a series of low-angle detachments, basins bounded by normal faults, and volcanism. This extensional belt spanned the southern Balkan Peninsula from the Albanides along the southern Adriatic coast in the west to western Anatolia in the east. Despite the widespread occurrence of this phenomenon within the southern Balkan region, similar extension has not previously been observed in association with the Neotethys closure in the Dinarides, which form the western geographic continuation of this orogenic belt, ending in the Austrian Alps in the northwest. The Mid- Bosnian Schist Mountains are a fault-bounded body of greenschist-facies metamorphic rocks located along the paleogeographic margin of the present-day Adria continental block in the Internal Dinarides. We combine low-temperature thermochronometric ages with field observations of kinematic shear sense indicators and demonstrate that the Mid- Bosnian Schist Mountains were exhumed along a normal fault between 43 and 27.5 Ma. The most rapid cooling occurred between ca. 35 and 27 Ma, coincident with a regional-scale magmatic event. These data constitute the first evidence for major extension in the Dinarides contemporaneous with collision between Adria and the Eurasian margin, and they are consistent with removal of a subducting slab during the transition between oceanic subduction and continental collision.

Poljes are distinctive features of Mediterranean karst landscapes, but their Pleistocene sedimentary fills have not been widely investigated. Most previous research has focused on their formation and hydrology. Many Mediterranean poljes are situated downstream of high mountains that were glaciated during the cold stages of the Pleistocene, so that meltwater streams delivered glacially derived sediment into these basins. This study examines the Pleistocene alluvial records in karst poljes surrounding Mount Orjen in western Montenegro and explores their wider significance. There is a record of at least four glaciations preserved on Mount Orjen—two from the Middle Pleistocene (marine isotope stages [MIS] 12 and 6) and two from the last cold stage (MIS 5d-2), including the Younger Dryas. Detailed sedimentological analysis and uranium-series dating indicate that the Orjen poljes were filled with thick deposits of coarse- and fine-grained alluvium prior to 350 ka, during the major glacial phase of MIS 12. During the cold stages that followed MIS 12, ice was less extensive and limited to the Orjen plateau, and there is little evidence of outwash deposition during these later glaciations. Surface runoff and sediment supply were greatly reduced after MIS 12 and largely channeled into the subterranean karst network. The poljes around Orjen contain some of the best-preserved records of Middle Pleistocene glacial outwash in the Mediterranean, representing an important legacy of an extensive Middle Pleistocene glaciation for which wider impacts have not been fully appreciated.