Introduction

In recent years, detailed geological studies of the Pliocene– Lower Pleistocene interval in Romania, including modern biostratigraphic analysis, have been combined with paleomagnetic data. At present, the chronology of the interval between 3.8 and 1.0 Ma in the Dacic Basin is well known, correlations being possible not only with the Euxinic Basin (Ukraine) but also with western Europe.

The Dacic (or Dacian) Basin is the name given to a vast sedimentary basin bounded by the southern Carpathians, the Balkans, and the Danube (Figure 20.1). In the middle Pliocene, about 3.8 Ma, the salinity of the waters filling that basin was reduced, a trend that became more pronounced in the late Pliocene. Strata with fresh-water fauna were deposited, and at certain levels beds rich in fossil mammal faunas were deposited. This is the Romanian Stage, and data obtained in the past few years are basic to correct interpretation of the stratigraphy of this interval.

In most of the Dacic Basin, deposition of continental molasse, known as the Cîndesti Formation, began in the late Pliocene and continued into the early Pleistocene. This formation occurs throughout the basin, except for the western part, where lacustrine conditions prevailed. Recently, the stratigraphic limits of the Cindesti deposits were correlated to the paleomagnetic scale, but no stratigraphic subdivisions have been identified within this complex.

Above the Cîndesti Formation, in the central and southern parts of the Dacic Basin, deposits of a mixed, fluviolacustrine regime developed in the early and middle Pleistocene; paleontological evidence at various levels permits their correlation with the formations of the Euxinic Basin (Table 20.1).