Luminescence chronology and age model application for the upper part of the Chumbur-Kosa loess sequence in the Sea of Azov, Russia

A reliable chronology is essentially critical for correlating loess records with other paleoenvironmental time series, as well as for continuing improvements in the reconstruction of paleoenvironment and paleoclimate changes. It is exactly that the scarcity of chronologies across the Sea of Azov has limited the interpretation of climatic and environmental information in the East European Plain. In view of this, this paper conducted an exploratory study to investigate whether the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of mediumgrained quartz could be used to obtain a set of chronologies and the age models could be used to establish an independent time scale since the Late Pleistocene for the Sea of Azov loess. The results showed that an internally consistent set of optical ages for the Azov loess deposited up to similar to 76 ka. In addition, the ages developed based on magnetic susceptibility and grain size ages models showed good comparability with independent OSL ages at an acceptable range, suggesting that it might be practicable to establish an independent time scale using age models at the Sea of Azov loess, at least for the uppermost part of the Chumbur-Kosa section. Comparison with the ages based on two age models, the grain size ages using fine-grain fractions may provide a more reliable chronological sequence at the Azov loess since the Late Pleistocene. With the help of absolute ages and climate proxies (magnetic susceptibility and grain size), paleoclimatic change in the Sea of Azov have been traced for the Late Pleistocene.