The earliest Pleistocene interglacials in Lithuania in the context of global environmental changes

Investigations have been carried out in order to reconstruct the palaeoenvironmental changes during the earliest Pleistocene interglacials and to establish their relation to global environmental changes. Three sections in east Lithuania exposing the earliest Pleistocene lacustrine deposits lying between the Kalviai (Glacial B, Nidanian?) and Dzūkija (Sanian 1) and between Dzūkija (Sanian 1) and Dainava (Sanian 2) glacial deposits were selected for study. Until now the Šlavė-2 and Vindžiūnai-136 successions were considered to have formed during the Vindžiūnai (Augustovian?, Malopolanian) Interglacial and the Kudrė-915 succession during the Turgeliai (Cromerian IV, Ferdynandovian) Interglacial. Geochemical, palaeomagnetic, magnetic susceptibility, anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility and palaeobotanical proxies were applied to establish the cyclicity and dynamics of palaeoenvironmental change. The data obtained enable the subdivision of the section into units related to changes in the sedimentary environment. The Matuyama/Brunhes boundary and Jaramillo subchron of the Matuyama chron have been recognized in the Šlavė section. The results enable correction of the stratigraphic position of the sections studied. The sedimentation in the Šlavė section took place during the Early Pleistocene, while that at the Vindžiūnai-136 and Kudrė-915 took place during two different Middle Pleistocene interglacials