Loess-like silts in the Beskid Mały and Beskid Makowski Mountains, Western Outer Carpathians

Abstract

Among the Quaternary deposits of the Beskid Mały and Beskid Makowski Mts. in southern Poland, loess-like silts occurring in the Skawa River valley and the Paleczka River valley are distinguishable by their high loess index values as well as by the presence of amphibole grains and by notable amounts of biotite grains. These silts originated by aeolian sedimentation during the younger Pleniglacial of the Vistulian, corresponding to the Younger Upper Loess. The amphibole and most of the biotite was derived from deflation of a glaciofluvial cover in the Carpathian forelands and Fore-Carpathian basins. They indicate the importance of northern winds in the Plenivistulian atmospheric circulation.