onshore and offshore evidences for four abrupt warming episodes during mis 6 at the westernmost tip of continental europe did they control the migrations of neanderthals the total shell production typical of the pupilla association in the onshore site of nantois brittany france evidenced for the first time four brief abrupt warm and humid episodes during the upper saalian mis 6 loess deposition these warming events were also found in the marine deposits of the celtic sea md03 2692 core comparison with the variations of the sea level show that the warming episodes were not only of regional interest but corresponded to global events ruled by precession and insolation cycles other comparisons with biomarker records mollus s charcoal and rodents of the paris basin villiers adam and jersey island la cotte de saint brolade confirm the existence of these warmer events tentative correlations with the discontinuous neanderthal dwelling phases recorded in brittany suggest that these populations were mainly only present in westernmost europe during the warmer episodes

earthquake frequency and prediction the coefficient p in n t n 1 t p where n t is the daily count of earthquakes and n 1 is the number of earthquakes on the first day following a larger earthquake is 1 for foreshock sequences 1 for double main shock sequences and 1 for aftershock sequences with a single largest earthquake for p 1 the magnitude of the largest aftershock and the cutoff time of the aftershocks can be estimated these observations are the basis for an earthquake prediction technique successfully used in the peoples republic of china prc

stratigraphy and spatial and temporal paleoclimatic trends in southeastern eastern european loess paleosol sequences abstract the loess paleosol sections batajnica stari slankamen serbia mircea voda romania and stary kaydaky ukraine are presently located in areas of different types of steppe and are highly sensitive for recording climatic changes a stratigraphy for these three southeastern eastern european sections is presented based on pedostratigraphy and correlation of recently obtained susceptibility records with susceptibility data of other sections of the area koriten mostistea vyazivok of the chinese loess plateau and with the benthic 18o record of odp 677 six pedocomplexes were studied at the serbian and romanian sections and five at the ukrainian section the oldest are related to marine isotope stage mis 17 batajnica stari slankamen and mircea voda and mis 13 15 stary kaydaky some points concerning the existing loess chronostratigraphies of bulgaria ukraine and china are discussed comparative study of the profiles allows the tracing of paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental changes in southeastern eastern europe in time and space reconstruction of paleoprecipitation based on susceptibility rainfall relationships and calculations of sedimentation rates are evaluated

quatermalacological analyses for modeling of the upper weichselian palaeoenvironmental changes in the carpathian basin abstract the late pleistocene environmental history of the carpathian basin can be regarded as one of the missing links to our understanding of the last glacial development of europe changes in the radiocarbon dated mollusc faunas of the loess areas along with the palaeogeographic interpretations implied by them seem to underlie the latest results gained from radiocarbon dated pollen analysis of the region changes in the mollusc fauna refer to nine short lived 1000 3000 years cyclical palaeoclimatological alterations which repeatedly transformed the palaeoecological conditions and vegetation in the carpathian basin between 34 and 12 kyr on the basis of malacological data the presence of a major palaeoclimatic trend could be assumed for periods of both warming and cooling in the carpathian basin the mildest july palaeotemperatures were recorded in the sw parts and the coldest ones were recorded in the ne parts of the basin humidity and vegetation cover displayed a large scale mosaic type heterogeneity reflecting the modifying effect of local factors it seem that the upper weichselian environment was mosaic or mosaic like in the carpathian basin and the different plants and animals spread from different ecological spots during periods of climate change when the distribution of the forest grassland ecotone or tundra like habitats changed

the loess and coversands of northern france and southern england loess and coversands are widespread on either side of the english channel in southern england loess is generally thin and discontinuous but locally reaches thickness of about 4 m in east kent coversands occur mainly in areas well north of the channel such as parts of east anglia and the southern side of the bristol channel most of the loess and coversand deposits in southern england date from the late devensian cold stage marine oxygen isotope stage mois 2 but there are also a few localised patches of older mainly mois 6 and 12 loess which are the dissected remnants of originally more extensive covers in france loess is widespread and locally very thick up to 12 m especially in northern and northeastern france in normandy and in the somme basin some long records indicate that accumulation began at the end of the lower pleistocene at about 900 ka nevertheless the main accumulations of typical calcareous loess are related to the upper weichselian and upper saalian stages mois 2 and end of mois 3 and mois 6 indeed before about 160 170 ka loess deposition was generally restricted to special sediment traps such as fluvial and marine terraces exposed to the east or northeast these older deposits are characterised by more sandy facies derived from local fluvial sources mainly by northwest to north northwest winds coversands occur locally along the coast of the mont saint michel bay and over the northern part of the seine estuary near le havre the main differences in thickness and extent of the loess deposits between southern england and northern france are linked to their location in relation to the source areas channel and north sea to ice sheets and to the main wind directions northwest to north northwest in france and western england but northeast in eastern england copyright 2003 john wiley sons ltd

an evaluation of geochemical weathering indices in loess paleosol studies abstract applying geochemical proxies as measure for the weathering intensity of paleosols and sediments such as loess the quaternary scientist is confronted with various element ratios that have been proposed in literature this paper gives an overview on the principle of geochemical weathering indices different types of indices are evaluated with respect to the suitability for loess paleosol sequences regarding the special characteristics of this type of sediments and paleosols case examples in this study are key sections in southeastern and eastern europe the loess paleosol sequences batajnica stari slankamen serbia mircea voda romania and stary kaydaky ukraine which represent archives of the late and mid pleistocene climate change of the region considering element behavior during weathering or diagenesis the chemical proxy of alteration cpa i e the molar ratio al2o3 al2o3 na2o 100 is proposed as the most appropriate index for silicate weathering the cpa was evaluated against commonly used weathering indices including the chemical index of alteration cia the chemical index of weathering ciw the plagioclase index of alteration pia the index b of kronberg and nesbitt and the ba sr and rb sr ratio depth profiles of sr type indices e g ba sr rb sr are likely to be influenced by the dynamics of secondary carbonate on the other hand common na type indices e g cia pia ciw may suffer from uncertainties in separating carbonate ca from silicate ca or from biases due to k fixation illitization the cpa is insensitive against such effects additionally using the cpa as with other na type indices provides the possibility to evaluate the homogeneity of the parent material regarding the relevant host minerals via the a cn k diagram

aeolian dust dynamics in central asia during the pleistocene driven by the long term migration seasonality and permanency of the asiatic polar front loess paleosol sequences preserve detailed archives of climate change reflecting the dynamics of aeolian dust sedimentation and the paleodust content of the atmosphere the detailed investigation of particle size distributions psds of windblown sediments is an increasingly used approach to assess the paleorecord of aeolian dust dynamics the central asian loess belt offers the potential to reconstruct pleistocene atmospheric circulation patterns along an adjacent west east transect within interior eurasia through granulometric studies in this study we present the aeolian dust record of the loess sequence at remisowka se kazakhstan which reflects a detailed signal of glacial interglacial climate and atmospheric dynamics in central asia on the basis of radiocarbon and amino acid geochronologic data long term semicontinuous trends in the aeolian dust record of the last glacial cycle are observed and interpreted to reveal their paleoclimate signal in consideration of the modern synoptical atmospheric circulation patterns and aeolian dust transport in central asia it is likely that the observed trends reflect the long term migration seasonal duration and permanency of the polar front during the late pleistocene previously published models which focused on the reciprocal glacial interglacial influence of the zonal westerlies and the asiatic high on the aeolian dust transport in central asia were overly simplified and should be modified to include the major influence of the asiatic polar front as the polar front activity is intimately connected with the development and position of the interhemispherically active high level planetary frontal zone hpfz the presented data give insight to long term aeolian dust dynamics and climate variability of interior eurasia which are linked with interhemispheric climates

malacological and sedimentological evidence for warm glacial climate from the irig loess sequence vojvodina serbia four loess units and three paleosol layers are preserved in the irig brickyard vojvodina serbia amino acid geochronology provides stratigraphic correlations between loess units v l1 and v l2 at the irig section with loess of glacial cycles b and c respectively described from other central european localities luminescence dating results for the upper loess layers v l1l1 and v l1s1l1 confirm the geological interpretations although in samples below paleosol v l1s1s2 the age increase with depth is less than in our proposed age model magnetic susceptibility and sedimentological evidence from the irig loess paleosol sequence show general similarities with the mis 6 1 pattern of the specmap oxygen isotope curve malacogical investigations at the irig site reveal the continuous presence of the chondrula tridens and helicopsis striata faunal assemblages throughout the last glacial and final part of the penultimate glacial loess the loess snail fauna which is characterized by the complete absence of cold resistant species suggests a stable dry and relatively warm glacial climate compared with other central european loess localities furthermore these data suggest that the southern slope of fruska gora was a refugium for warm loving and xerophilus mollusc taxa during the otherwise unfavorable glacial climates of the late pleistocene

loess in europe mass accumulation rates during the last glacial period abstract upper pleistocene loess palaeosol sequences provide excellent high resolution terrestrial archives of climate forcing due to improvements in numerical age determinations especially in luminescence dating methods a more reliable time based reconstruction of the past climate and environmental change has become available for the loess record in europe chronological information was collected from 43 sites along a northwest to southeast transect in europe thirty three of these sites had sufficient age information to allow estimation of mass accumulation rates and it was possible to isolate the mass accumulation rates of primary loess during the last glacial period 28 13 ka bp at 21 of these locations these sites fall along a coarse climatic gradient from the relatively coastal climate of belgium and france to the drier more continental climate of central europe interpreting mass accumulation rates of loess in terms of this climatic gradient is not straightforward as these deposits are dominated by sources in floodplains and large river systems thus accumulation rates are influenced strongly by regional wind and precipitation patterns but mostly by the availability of glacially derived material from the alps and the periglacial terrains that characterized european fluvial systems during and immediately following glaciation

a remarkable late saalian mis 6 loess dust accumulation in the lower danube at harletz bulgaria abstract while numerous high resolution studies concerning last glacial aeolian sequences are available for europe the approach of the penultimate glacial in this geographical area is still poorly developed in order to bridge this gap this study focuses on the bulgarian sequence of harletz along the danube river where extremely high sedimentation rates allow the depiction of high resolution signals during mis 6 at harletz in nw bulgaria on the western bank of the ogosta river tributary of the danube a 20 m thick loess palaeosols section was cleaned and sampled for a multi disciplinary study and detailed pedostratigraphic approach high resolution continuous bulk sampling 5 cm was carried out to characterise sedimentary grain size magnetic properties including magnetic susceptibility and its frequency dependence colour reflectance 1 cm and organic carbon geochronological control is based on 16 samples collected for osl and met pirir dating using a cyclo stratigraphic approach of the sequence combined with dating constraints provided by both met pirir dates and the age of a tephra layer occurring at a depth of 12 m within the main loess unit we can demonstrate that the harletz section exhibits a 10 m thick late saalian marine isotope stage 6 mis 6 loess accumulation unique in europe the lower part of the main loess unit is 4 m thick and overlies a basal brown soil complex allocated to mis 7 which includes an exceptionally thick 4 m and detailed succession of loess and four incipient soil horizons never described in european loess until now the closest and best dated high resolution palaeoenvironmental archive suitable for comparison comes from lake ohrid located about 400 km to the sw of harletz the ohrid palynological record shows a progressive step by step evolution in climate and in environmental change during the transition between mis 7 and mis 6 from which a parallel with the harletz pedosedimentary succession can be proposed during the younger part of mis 6 160 129ka steppe vegetation with abundant herbs artemisia is dominant in the lake ohrid record in good accordance with a global enhancement of aeolian dynamics especially well recorded in sections located close to the danube river from serbia to bulgaria and romania l2 loess according to interpretations stemming from this study the silts and fine sands building the harletz loess section would have been transported from the danube braided river system located at that time at about 4 5 km to the nw based on our data the main loess units are characterised by a very low to a total absence of coarse sand particles by contrast during the eemian interglacial mis 5e and to a lesser extent throughout mis 5 and during mis 3 interstadials the long distance transport of silt and fine sand particles is stopped and a weak aeolian sedimentation is likely driven by north easterly winds transporting coarse sand grains from the proximal ogosta river sandy banks finally the weak development of last glacial loess 4 m max likely results from a rapid infilling of the sedimentary trap during the saalian then followed by a strong anthropogenic erosion of the topsoil and of the upper part of the loess profile since the early holocene neolithic

heterogeneous diagenetic patterns in the pleistocene ironshore formation of grand cayman british west indies abstract the ironshore formation on grand cayman consists of six unconformity bounded units a to f that developed in response to repeated transgressive regressive cycles during the middle to late pleistocene corals and matrices in limestones from the rogers wreck point rwp offshore george town gt and western onshore wo areas are characterized by complex diagenetic fabrics that reflect marine bioerosion micrite envelopes internal sediments fibrous high mg calcite acicular aragonite isopachous prismatic calcite cements freshwater phreatic circumgranular cements even random blocky calcite cements and vadose meniscus calcite cements blocky calcite cements diagenesis throughout these limestones the matrices have undergone more meteoric diagenetic alteration than the corals overall however no systematic stratigraphic patterns exist to the distribution of these diagenetic fabrics and it is generally impossible to link the different phases of diagenesis with specific unconformities that cap each unit these heterogenous patterns of diagenetic features can be attributed to many intrinsic and extrinsic factors including the original compositions of the different components in the limestones the porosity and permeability of the substrate the nature of the diagenetic fluids climate and the duration of exposure during each lowstand integration of available data however indicates that maximum diagenesis took place during the lowstands denoted by the unconformities at the top of unit c marine isotope stage 7 and unit d marine isotope stage 5e when long periods of exposure were accompanied by wet climates with high annual rainfalls

the loess paleosol sequence of basaharc hungary revisited mollusc based paleoecological results for the middle and upper pleistocene abstract the present study discusses the findings of detailed stratigraphical sedimentological geochemical and paleoecological investigations implemented as part of a 1990 campaign to pecsi s studied profile at hungary s important danubian loess profile at basaharc in older studies there were major discrepancies between the old lithostratigraphic classifications and the numerical ages according to the findings of this study the basaharc double paleosol complex described formerly from the lower brickyard as a stratotype of middle wurmian is an isochronous heterotype of the mende upper paleosol complex from profile 1 due to reworking however the lower member of the mende upper paleosol complex must have formed not at the boundary of the upper and middle wurmian as originally presumed but during the riss wurmian interglacial conversely the upper member of this same complex developed during an interglacial between the upper and middle wurmian implying the presence of a huge erosional hiatus between the two members of the paleosol complex the genetics of the individual paleosol layers needs a re evaluation as well the majority of the soils formerly conceived to be of steppe and forest steppe origin developed among closed woodland conditions

high resolution record of the last climatic cycle in the southern carpathian basin surduk vojvodina serbia abstract high resolution study of the surduk loess palaeosols sequence in serbia vojvodina has been performed within a research project eole focusing on the impact of rapid climatic changes during the last climatic cycle in the european loess belt the methodology used for this multidisciplinary approach is based on a continuous sampling column that allows a very accurate correlation between all studied proxies magnetic susceptibility grain size and organic carbon and the dated samples irsl 14 c according to the stratigraphical and sedimentological data the surduk loess sequence appears as a very complete record of the last climatic cycle 19 m and exhibits a similar pattern than other contemporaneous loess sequences from western central and eastern europe the main difference is the evidence of a drier environment all over the last climatic cycle sedimentological and palaeopedological data the high resolution grain size record 5 cm is well correlated with stratigraphical boundaries and highlights a strong variability within the loess deposition especially during the upper pleniglacial between ca 33 and 15 ka during the upper pleniglacial a succession of millennial timescale events characterised by the deposition of coarser loess are particularly well evidenced by grain size data as in some west european records finally an attempt to correlate the variations of grain size parameters at surduk with the greenland grip dust record is proposed according to this study millennial timescale climatic events that characterise the north atlantic area during the last climatic cycle have thus been recorded in the environments located at the southern border of the european loess belt

patterns of local seismicity preceding the petatlan earthquake of 14 march 1979 local seismic activity m 2 3 during the 4 1 2 day period preceding the petatlan earthquake of 14 march 1979 ms 7 6 was monitored by a seismic network deployed by the hawaii institute of geophysics these data allow us to revise the location of that event and to study its pattern of foreshocks the foreshock hypocenters are concentrated above the ocean continent plate boundary and landward of the hypocenter of the main shock the spatial distribution of foreshocks suggests that the foreshocks occurred along existing zones of weakness within the continental plate during the 1 1 2 day period preceding the petatlan event foreshocks were concentrated within 100 km of the epicenter of that earthquake the pattern of precursory seismic activity we observed during that period is similar to that observed during the same time period prior to the oaxaca earthquake of 29 november 1978 however the 17 hr period of seismic quiescence for events with m 2 8 preceding the oaxaca earthquake is not found in our data where a magnitude 4 foreshock occurs within 28 min of and 2 km from the petatlan event this suggests that the spatially larger set of foreshocks may have greater diagnostic value than does the sequence of precursory events within 30 km of the main shock

biostratigraphy of the late upper pleistocene upper neopleistocene to holocene deposits of the belaya river valley southern urals russia abstract cave and terrace localities containing upper pleistocene and holocene deposits have been biostratigraphically investigated in the mountainous part of the southern urals in the latitudinal oriented valley of the belaya river russian federation the main fieldwork was undertaken in 1999 2000 its purpose was to save all the possible geological information before the building of the yumaguzino reservoir nowadays most of the localities described in the paper are under water biostratigraphical and archaeological data were studied at the same time artefacts from the late palaeolitic to the early iron age were found in the caves the main characteristics of the upper quaternary terraces and of the cave deposits as well as the results of the paleontological investigations are given

the occurrence of a secondary zone of coal bed methane in the southern part of the upper silesian coal basin southern poland potential for methane exploitation abstract coal bed methane cbm exploitation in the upper silesian coal basin has in spite of earlier failures again aroused investor interest carboniferous coal seams at depths of 200 500 m are characterized by coal permeability values estimated at 27 230 md and degrees of methane saturation almost 100 that suggest future successful exploitation based on the results of geological surveys archived in the polish geological institute the shallow cbm zone is defined as a gas horizon distinct from a deep cbm zone the disposition of the shallow zone follows the topography of the upper carboniferous paleorelief and is deemed the most important factor controlling methane distribution within this zone the most favorable places for cbm accumulation within the shallow coal seams are erosional highs and the slopes of upper carboniferous ridges associated with fault zones the thickness of the zone 200 m and methane contents 8 m 3 t coal daf are highest in these places the nearly full saturation of the coal seams with methane reflects the involvement of two genetic types of gas indigenous late stage microbial methane and thermogenic methane derived from the deeper coals the favorable geological characteristic of this shallow cbm zone is a potential source of energy for upper silesia

malacological characteristics of the middle to upper pleistocene transitional interval mis 7 5 observed in the batajnica locality serbia abstract the batajnica loess section is one of the most complete middle and late pleistocene records known in the vojvodina region serbia the main aim of the malacological investigations was to study the latest middle pleistocene cold interval and to see how the mollusc successions reacted to the climate changes during the cold warm transition the deposits which belong to the upper part of pedocomplex v s2 v l2 loess and partly to the v s1 soil were sampled the penultimate glacial loess v l2 of the batajnica site corresponds to the cold interval marine isotope stage mis 6 the molluscs indicate moderate or sometimes warm climate and dry or moderate steppe like environment composed of adjacent mosaics of drier and humid habitats the mollusc complexes of v s2 soil mis 7c v l2 loess mis 6 and v s1 paleosol mis 5e show almost the same species composition which suggests the existence of a comparatively moderate or warm climate during the late middle pleistocene cold interval in contrast the mollusc complexes mis 6 from western and eastern europe have less species and few individuals compared with the batajnica section comparison with the late middle pleistocene mollusc associations from the northern and southern margins of the fruska gora mountain confirms its environmental originality the northern side of the mountain was characterized by a humid and relatively colder environment than the other areas of the vojvodina region batajnica irig and ruma the mollusc fauna obtained in the batajnica site suggests that this adjacent area represented a refugium for the thermophilous and arid tolerant species where they were able to survive during the cold periods of the pleistocene and thus confirms the hypothesis of p sumegi

biostratigraphy of the late middle pleistocene middle neopleistocene of the southern urals region abstract a summary of published and unpublished materials on the stratigraphy of the late middle pleistocene middle neopleistocene according to the russian stratigraphic scheme of the southern urals region is given deposits of different origin in the regional stratigraphic units are characterized the results of mammalian investigations provide the basis for the stratigraphical subdivision mollusca and palynology are used for the reconstruction of the palaeoenvironments the stratigraphical positions of the main middle neopleistocene localities and precise definitions of the stratigraphical scheme of the southern urals region are discussed the southern urals subdivisions are correlated with the western european stratigraphical schemes holsteinian saalian interval

the full glacial forests of central and southeastern europe the presence of trees in central and southern europe during the last full glaciation has long been a matter of debate a low but persistent presence of fossil tree pollen in central and southern european full glacial paleoecological sequences has been interpreted either as representing long distance pollen transport from southerly refuges or as representing in situ refugial populations here we present macroscopic charcoal results from 31 sequences located throughout hungary that provide unequivocal evidence for the presence of at least seven different tree types between approximately 32 500 and 16 500 14c yr b p this evidence is presented in conjunction with molluscan and pollen analyses to indicate that during the last full glaciation trees grew as far north as hungary probably in microenvironmentally favorable sites these areas provided an important cold stage refugium for the european flora and fauna

the loess record in southern tajikistan and correlation with chinese loess in the present study the chashmanigar loess soil sequence in southern tajikistan is studied this loess section has a paleomagnetic basal age of about 1 77 myr magnetic susceptibility color reflectance and grain size were systematically measured for closely spaced samples from the section paleosols consistently have a finer grain size distribution higher magnetic susceptibility redder color reflectance and lower dust sedimentation rate than loess horizons suggesting a colder drier and dustier environment during glacial periods than in interglacial periods the grain size record was tuned to variations in obliquity and precession of the earth s orbit the resulting magnetic susceptibility grain size and color reflectance time series all show well expressed astronomical periodicities during the pleistocene the mid pleistocene climate transition characterized by a shift of dominant climatic periods from 41 kyr to 100 kyr at about 1 0 0 8 myr is clearly documented in these proxy records comparison of the chashmanigar loess record with the lingtai loess section in china and the odp site 677 n 18 o record shows that during the entire pleistocene the climate cycles recorded by the central asian loess can be well correlated to the chinese loess and deep sea oxygen isotope records it is suggested that alternations of loess and soil horizons both in central asia and china could be basically forced by global ice volume variations although different wind systems have controlled the pleistocene loess transport and sedimentation in the two areas 2002 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

reinterpreting climate proxy records from late quaternary chinese loess a detailed osl investigation abstract numerous authors have utilised physical properties of chinese loess and red clay deposits to develop apparently detailed and continuous past climate records from the miocene into the holocene many of these studies have further suggested that the principal climatic agent responsible for the aeolian emplacement and diagenesis of chinese loess the east asian monsoon has fluctuated rapidly on millennial to sub millennial timescales in concert with dramatic changes in the north atlantic dansgaard oeschger cycles and heinrich events and the western pacific el nino southern oscillation much of this evidence is based on reconstructions and age models that are tied to assumptions concerning the nature of loess sedimentation and diagenesis for example the belief that loess sedimentation can be viewed as essentially continuous some authors have however cast doubt on these assumptions and suggest that the application of radiometric techniques may be required to determine their validity recent studies utilising optically stimulated luminescence osl methods have reinforced these doubts and here osl dates obtained at 10 cm intervals from three sites along a transect across the chinese loess plateau have been used in combination with climate proxy evidence to test the existing assumptions that underpin many palaeoclimatic reconstructions from loess in this way the first time continuous and independently dated late quaternary climate reconstruction is developed from loess the data indicate that sedimentation is episodic and that once emplaced loess is prone to pedogenic disturbance diagenetic modification and in some cases erosion the relationships between proxies and sedimentation rates are also assessed and climatic interpretations based on different age models compared the implications of these findings for reconstructions of climate from loess are explored and comparisons are made between the developed palaeoclimate records and evidence from ice and ocean cores this exercise also highlights important information concerning the relative influence of forcing mechanisms behind east asian monsoon change over the late quaternary

malacological sequence of weichselian mis 5 2 loess series from a profile in grodzisko dolne southern poland and its palaeogeographic significance abstract abundant and diverse molluscan assemblages have been identified in a loess site in grodzisko dolne the profile is located in south eastern poland within a loess belt covering the kolbuszowa plateau in the exposed sequence which is 9 m thick two loess covers underlain and divided by initial soil sequences have been distinguished numerous molluscan remnants were found throughout the entire profile the malacological analysis enabled four faunal assemblages to be distinguished pupilla fauna succinella fauna arianta fauna and mixed fauna their sequence in the vertical profile is indicative of environmental changes especially concerning climate and substrate humidity the occurrence of malacofauna within the loess and soil sequence which corresponds to the early glacial and early pleniglacial mis 5 and 4 is particularly interesting the presence of molluscan shells in loesses of this age has been noted in few sites in europe the faunal studies and analyses performed in the grodzisko dolne site indicate the major importance of this profile in the research of regional differences in weichselian loess covers in europe

loess is almost totally formed by the accumulation of dust in 1990 marton pecsi published a paper entitled loess is not just the accumulation of dust this 1990 paper presented the case for considering aspects of loess formation other than the aeolian deposition of silty material pecsi argued that there is more to loess formation than simply the fact of aeolian deposition while not disputing the validity of much of pecsi s arguments a case can be made for considering that aeolian deposition is at the very heart of loess formation that the factor of aeolian deposition is so critical that other aspects are relatively unimportant pecsi appeared to suggest that aeolian deposition is just one of many factors relating to the formation of loess deposits this is not so aeolian deposition and the consequent formation of metastable structures is absolutely central but it is probably useful to consider the aeolian deposition is absolutely critical approach and the aeolian deposition is one of the factors approach in some more detail and in relation to each other some insights may accrue interesting things do happen after the deposition of the dust and this needs to be acknowledged

long term fluvial archives in nw france response of the seine and somme rivers to tectonic movements climatic variations and sea level changes the seine and the somme are the two main rivers flowing from northwestern france into the channel during the pleistocene cold stages both rivers were tributaries of the river manche which was exporting sediments into the central deeps of the channel the river seine has a very well developed terrace system recording incision that began at around 1 ma the same age is proposed for the beginning of the main incision in the somme valley on the basis of morphostratigraphy pedostratigraphy palaeontology palaeomagnetism and esr datings the uplift rate deduced from analysis of the seine and somme terrace systems is of 55 to 60 m ma since the end of the lower pleistocene the response of the two rivers to climatic variations uplift and sea level changes is complex and variable in the different parts of the river courses for example the evolution of the lower seine system is influenced by uplift and climate changes but dominated by sea level changes in the middle seine the system is beyond the impact of sea level variations and shows a very detailed response to climatic variations during the middle and upper pleistocene in a context of uplift the somme valley response appears to be more homogeneous especially in the middle valley where the terrace system shows a regular pattern in which incision occurs at the beginning of each glacial period against a general background of uplift nevertheless the lower somme valley and the palaeo somme in the channel area indicate some strong differences compared with the middle valley influence of sea level variations and probably differences in rates of tectonic uplift between the channel and the present continent the differences in the responses of the two river valleys during the pleistocene are related to differences in the size of the fluvial basins to the local tectonic characteristics to the geometry of the platform connected to the lower parts of the valleys and to the hydrodynamic characteristics of each river finally it is shown from these examples that the multidisciplinary study of pleistocene rivers is a very efficient tool for the investigation of neotectonic activity

the somme valley terrace system northern france a model of river response to quaternary climatic variations since 800 000 bp recent research on the somme valley terrace deposits that began in 1987 has resulted in an integrated sequence of geological and geomorphological evidence for this area that is of particular significance for prehistoric investigations this has been achieved using previous evidence and new results from archaeological and geological excavations these include longitudinal profiles cartography and detailed synthesis of sections of alluvial deposits stratigraphy of river deposits and overlying loess sequences the work based on a study of the geometry of the terrace system has resulted in the identification of ninestepped alluvial formations that occur along 70 km of the valley detailed study permits the integration of the various alluvial sequences this suggests that each alluvial sequence results from sedimentation through a single glacial interglacial climatic cycle this hypothesis is confirmed by investigation of soil and loess sequences of the deposits overlying the fluvial sediments the synthesis presented provides a basis for understanding the deposition of the terrace system and an initial chronostratigraphic interpretation for the deposits

volcanic maars long quaternary sequences and the work of the inqua subcommission on european quaternary stratigraphy abstract for several years the inqua subcommission on european quaternary stratigraphy seqs has been actively fostering debate on the stratigraphy and typification of the middle pleistocene in europe palynological investigations of deep sediment cores from maar lakes in italy and the french massif central have now provided a stratigraphical framework conclusively correlated with the deep ocean record confirming the occurrence of two clearly temperate intervals between the holsteinian and eemian interglacials this places interglacial deposits from localities such as schoningen pritzwalk domnitz wacken and maastricht belvedere into a clearer perspective all major saalian glacial advances probably relate to oxygen isotope stage 6 reasons for the relative paucity of continental interglacial deposits equivalent to oxygen isotope stages 7 and 9 are discussed these stages were not preceded by major glacial events in northern europe so suitable basins of deposition were largely absent in contrast fluvial erosion was very active with much downcutting and drainage re organisation finally evidence from the sea surface temperature record of the norwegian sea does suggest a less powerful pattern of oceanic circulation in the north atlantic during these interglacial intervals within the saalian complex stage when compared to those of the eemian and holocene this difference would certainly have affected environments on the adjacent european continent

loess stratigraphy of central asia palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental aspects abstract the loess palaeosol succession of central asia is comparable with that of the loess plateau in north china palaeomagnetic investigations and palaeontological studies in south tadjikistan suggest a date of 2 2 5 ma for the oldest loess indicating that dust storms became frequent in the region since 2 2 5 ma bp under the prevalently arid and semi arid environments of central asia aeolian processes had a gradually increasing influence on subaerial sedimentation during the pleistocene however atmospheric aeolian processes in central asia have mainly developed in accordance with pleistocene climatic cyclicity without extremely high intensification during the late pleistocene as implied by the previous tl dating results the identification of loess and palaeosol horizons with respective glaciations and interglacials is sometimes disputable nevertheless the available data in spite of limited evidence characterise well developed palaeosols of the middle and late pleistocene as warm and wet intervals associated with interglacials palynological studies of loess sections show that loess and palaeosol horizons have palynological spectra that are sometimes difficult to interpret interregional loess palaeosol correlation with glacial interglacial events as well as with oxygen isotope records should be supplied by multidisciplinary investigations

pedo chemical climate proxies in late pleistocene serbian ukranian loess sequences abstract the last glacial interglacial loess paleosol sequences of serbia and ukraine provide a good climate reconstruction potential for this part of europe four loess sections distributed over an area with present day moist to semi arid climates were studied in addition to traditional paleoclimate proxies such as grain size distribution as proxy for wind strength and source aridity and magnetic susceptibility as proxy for precipitation and temperature pedo chemical elemental ratios obtained by selective sediment leaching procedures function as sensitive recorders of variations in weathering intensity due to changes in precipitation and temperature especially the earth alkaline element ratios of ba sr and sr ca are subject to strong variations as a result of carbonate dissolution precipitation and variable cation exchange capacity on clay minerals along the elemental sequence of ca sr ba as shown by the close similarity to the magnetic susceptibility records in the different loess sections these ratios reflect the effects of weathering intensity as a result of precipitation changes the fact that ba sr unequivocally shows higher values in both soils and paleosols in the four studied sections over the present day climate gradient singles this elemental ratio out as an interesting paleoclimate proxy

middle and late pleistocene loess sequences at batajnica vojvodina serbia abstract loess sequences in the vojvodina region northern serbia reveal a continuous record of paleoclimatic variations during the middle and late pleistocene the most detailed stratigraphic information comes from remarkable exposures on the cliffs of the right danube bank from vukovar to belgrade the batajnica loess section has been recognized as one of the most complete middle and late pleistocene records in this region a more than 40 m thick loess paleosol succession represents environmental transition from relative thin loess layers and rubified soils in lower part of profile to thick loess and fossil chernozems characterizing the last three glacial interglacial cycles the proposed stratigraphic model is based on a detailed magnetic susceptibility ms record which is related to the deep sea isotope stratigraphy and on correlation with other eurasian loess records using the distinct ms pattern of selected loess paleosol couplets this new stratigraphic model suggests serious revision of previous chronological interpretations ms as function of depth shows a well known pattern of low values in loess and high values in paleosols indicating strong enhancement of magnetic minerals during soil formation with the exception of the recent soil v s0 which is strongly contaminated by archaeological artifacts the third paleosol v s3 reveals the highest values in ms and a very distinct double peak the rock magnetic signal at batajnica resembles the typical pattern of the enviromagnetic records determined from other eurasian loess sites the paleopedological interpretations rubification index values and rock magnetic record at batajnica yield valuable data for the reconstruction of paleoclimatic fluctuations for the last 5 glacial interglacial cycles at least moreover the record provides an important link between the classical central european loess sites and the central asian and chinese loess provinces

late pleistocene loess palaeosol sequences in the vojvodina region north serbia late pleistocene loess palaeosol sequences are widespread in the vojvodina region with thicknesses reaching a maximum of about 20 m our investigations include more than 40 of these loess sections geochronology of the last glacial loess palaeosol sequences based on lumines cence dating and amino acid racemisation provides correlations between upper pleistocene loess palaeosol sediments in vojvodina and comparable deposits at other european localities sedimentary logs of magnetic susceptibility grain size measurements and carbonate content combined with malacological evidence indicate two main relatively cold and arid phases during the last glacial period related to intensive accumulation of loess units l1l1 and l1l2 as well as many brief episodes of dry and windy climatic conditions suggesting a possible relationship with cold events recorded in the north atlantic region generally late pleistocene climate in the region was dry and relatively warm compared with glacial period sites in central europe and was characterised by sharp differences between glacial and interglacial modes new data and interpretations presented in this study emphasise the significance of loess palaeosol sequences in vojvodina for the reconstruction of the temporal and spatial evolution of late pleistocene palaeoclimate in this part of europe copyright 2007 john wiley sons ltd

molluscs and ostracods of the pleistocene loess deposits in the halych site western ukraine and their significance for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions abstract middle and late pleistocene loess palaeosol sequence mis 12 mis 2 from the halych site has been divided into four loess beds which represent different glacial periods and contain four interglacial pedocomplexes as well as numerous interstadial and interphase palaeosols long term interdisciplinary research which has been conducted in this site enables the detailed description of deposit lithology and precise determination of stratigraphic position of individual layers rich and diverse malacofauna occurs in loess deposits representing cold stages mis 12 mis 8 and mis 4 2 seven molluscan assemblages of diverse composition and structure have been distinguished additionally ostracod fauna from the deposits representing mis 8 is described faunal investigations enable the reconstruction of environmental changes during deposition of the studied sequence the obtained results indicate that the halych site may be considered as very important not only for the reconstruction of the pleistocene geological history in western ukraine but also for the studies of environmental conditions during the middle and late pleistocene in the whole of central and eastern europe

a holocene molluscan succession from floodplain sediments of the upper lena river lake baikal region siberia floodplainsediments of the upperlenariver near basovo in south central siberia have yielded the most detailed holocenemolluscansuccession yet reported from the entire eastern palaearctic over 72 500 shells from at least 28 species of terrestrial and 23 species of freshwater mollusc have been recovered an abundance and diversity far higher than previously reported from the region the molluscan assemblages are dominated by land snails especially members of the genus vallonia represented by five species including vallonia tenuilabris and two poorly known species vallonia kamtschatica and vallonia cf chinensis other noteworthy species recovered include gastrocopta theeli carychium pessimum vertigo extima southernmost record vertigo microsphaera and the first asian records of three other taxa vertigo geyeri vertigo genesii and vertigo parcedentata illustrations are provided for the critical species since opinions differ about the status of various taxa and the correct names that should be used the molluscan assemblages show clear successional trends during the early to mid holocene reflecting episodes of dryness wetness on the floodplain drier conditions at ca 6350 14c yr bp coincide with major changes in the archaeological record seen at other sites in the region but it remains unclear whether the two are linked a prominent charcoal rich horizon dated to ca 2800 14c yr bp marks a burning event in the catchment which resulted in a two fold increase in sediment accumulation rate remains of small mammals occurred throughout the sequence including a tooth of microtus cf maximowiczii possibly the first occurrence of ungar vole west of lakebaikal the faunal analyses have been integrated with a detailed pedological study of the sedimentary profile and a chronology was obtained by means of 12 ams radiocarbon dates this study provides the first detailed palaeoecological information relating to holocenemolluscan assemblages from the cis baikalregion and lays the foundation for future work in the eastern palaearctic

an introduction to the middle and upper pleistocene loess paleosol sequence at ruma brickyard vojvodina serbia abstract six loess units and five paleosols are preserved in the 20 m thick exposure of middle and late pleistocene sediments at ruma brickyard vojvodina serbia amino acid geochronology provides stratigraphic correlations between loess paleosol units sl l1 s1 sl l2 s2 sl l3 s3 and sl l4 at ruma with loess of glacial cycles b c and d and e respectively at other central and southeastern european localities the profile represents one of the best potential sections in the region for reconstructing detailed paleoclimates and paleoenvironments of the last ca 350 000 yr initial sedimentological magnetic and malacological evidence indicate many episodes of drier conditions in the region than in other parts of central and southeastern europe during the later part of the middle and late pleistocene

iron mineralogical proxies and quaternary climate change in se european loess paleosol sequences abstract the loess paleosol sequences batajnica stari slankamen serbia and mircea voda romania represent key archives for the climate and landscape development of the middle and lower danube basin during the last 700 000 years for deciphering the quaternary climate evolution in these regions the batajnica stari slankamen and mircea voda sites are for the first time studied by a multi proxy approach based on iron mineralogical parameters changes in the iron mineralogical composition are identified and characterized by rock magnetic investigations diffuse reflectance spectroscopy drs and munsell color based proxies the results show that environmental conditions during mid and early middle pleistocene interglacials were more favorable for hematite formation suggesting a more oxidizing pedoclimate as in the more recent interglacials this is also reflected in a gradual increase of the anhysteretic remanent magnetization vs saturation isothermal remanent magnetization arm sirm ratio in the studied profiles changes in this ratio can be linked to a preferential hematitization of coarse grained ferrimagnetica and relates to warmer climate conditions and a more extended estival dry period at the same time rock magnetic parameters indicate a preferential destruction of fine grained magnetic particles in older paleosols resulting from seasonal excess moisture a progressive cooling and decrease of rainfall during the middle and late pleistocene is evidenced not only for interglacial pedocomplexes but also for glacial loess layers this finding is in line with previously published proxy records of silicate weathering and clay formation at these sites and similar trends reported from other sites in the european steppe belt relating iron mineralogical proxies to paleopedological characteristics and proxies of silicate weathering additionally a change in the seasonal pattern of the interglacial temperature and precipitation regime from a mediterranean type to a steppe type climate is revealed highlighting the potential of such a multi proxy approach possible triggers for this paleoenvironmental evolution are discussed as well finally highlighting a quaternary uplift hypothesis which best could explain the inferred trend of cooling aridification and increasing continentality accordingly changes in atmospheric circulation and rain shadow effects induced by small scale uplift of european mountain belts alps carpathians dinaric alps would provide a driving mechanism for the westward extension of the eurasian steppe belt into central and se europe during the quaternary

pedology and mineralogy of loess profiles at kapela batajnica and stalac serbia abstract profiles with multiple paleosols developed in loess at kapela batajnica and stalac were studied by chemical physical and mineralogical methods to determine paleoclimatic changes through the pleistocene the cyclic nature of sedimentary and pedogenetic processes is indicated by the caco 3 content and silt and clay mineralogy stalac is 200 km south of kapela batajnica and differences between individual paleosols at the two sites are attributed to local differences in soil parent material composition weathering intensity or erosion of the paleosols the profile at stalac provides an important link between typical middle european and se european loess paleosol sequences and indicates the relative influences of the mediterranean and continental climates statistical analysis of values for the hydrolytic alteration index of thorez and other mineral ratios calculated at 0 5 m vertical intervals suggests a steady decrease in interglacial weathering rates since the gunz mindel pedocomplexes f8 and f9 and a gradual change from warm humid to temperate dry conditions the climatic curve for the kapela batajnica sequence suggests continental conditions and correlates well with the nw european climatic curve up to the gunz mindel interglacial pedocomplex f8 the curve for the lower part of the stalac sequence shows a stronger mediterranean influence and correlates well with the curve for greece but the upper part of the stalac sequence above the riss 1 riss 2 pedocomplex f6 shows an increased continental climatic influence

a critical reevaluation of palaeoclimate proxy records from loess in the carpathian basin abstract in the carpathian basin loess is the most important archive of quaternary palaeoclimate evolution but only in the past two decades systematic and high resolution investigations were conducted those studies remarkably improved our knowledge of the regional past environmental change palaeoclimate inferences based on the magnetic susceptibility and grain size distribution as the most commonly used palaeoenvironmental proxies for the carpathian basin loess indicate colder and drier climatic conditions during glacials when compared to interglacials with an increasing number of studies using novel proxies in loess research such a traditional understanding of dry and cold glacials and humid and warm interglacials in the carpathian basin has been questioned as an illustrative example mollusc based climate reconstructions suggest generally warm and very dry summer conditions with mean july temperatures up to 21 c for the southern carpathian basin during the last glacial results based on stable carbon isotopes strongly oppose such high summer temperatures but studies based on n alkanes are in general agreement with the mollusc data when it comes to the vegetation reconstruction indicating mostly steppic conditions however n alkanes studies contradict warm and dry glacial conditions as indicated by mollusc based reconstructions pointing instead to cold and relatively humid glacials in addition there is an ongoing debate whether or not millennial scale climatic oscillations can be observed in the carpathian basin loess as well as whether this area was an important northern hemisphere dust source or rather a sink of far distance dust transport consequently the current state of the art of the palaeoclimate reconstructions from loess in the carpathian basin is rather inconsistent in order to make sense of the existing palaeoclimate data from the carpathian basin loess we have reevaluated and reinterpreted the available data we discuss and propose a coherent interpretation of rock magnetic grain size malacological stable carbon and nitrogen isotope n alkane and bacterial membrane lipid data for the last glacial cycle loess archives from the carpathian basin we show that glacial conditions in the carpathian basin led to a notable increasing north south gradient in temperature and an even stronger expressed decreasing trend in humidity and that most of the biomarker proxy data conducted in loess for the very dry southern part of the carpathian basin show a strong bias towards arid conditions in particular palaeotemperature reconstructions seem to be misleading glacial conditions were drier and colder than previously proposed summer temperatures likely under 15 c during glacials but notably warmer than in other parts of western central and eastern europe the vegetation consisted mostly of steppic environments during both glacials and interglacials we indicate that the carpathian basin has a potential to be a major dust source of the northern hemisphere during glacials although it was at the same time exposed to the deposition of fine far distance travelled dust moreover the main issues in the regional and continental correlation of loess are highlighted as well as the sensitivity of the carpathian basin loess to the millennial scale climate variability recorded in other northern hemisphere records finally we suggest that the onset of loess formation in the investigated area occurred during the middle pleistocene transition and it was probably related to intensive silt production related to glacier dynamics in the alpine ice cap

the last million years recorded at the stari slankamen northern serbia loess palaeosol sequence revised chronostratigraphy and long term environmental trends abstract the stari slankamen loess palaeosol section is located on the northeastern part of the srem loess plateau vojvodina region north serbia the c 40 m thick cliff comprises loess intercalated with 9 major palaeo pedocomplexes and can be considered to be one of the most important quaternary sections in the carpathian panonnian basin here we present new magnetostratigraphic and aminostratigraphic evidence that demonstrates the importance of the site in terms of its age and the long term palaeoclimatic record it preserves directional palaeomagnetic data obtained through alternating field demagnetization demonstrates the presence of reversed polarity below a profile depth of 36 m indicating a matuyama chron age of this interval this interpretation is confirmed by new high resolution palaeomagnetic investigations 434 oriented samples from the lower part of the profile the new magnetic susceptibility record and aminostratigraphy indicate a missing pedocomplex v s2 with an erosional unconformity represented by a distinct gravel layer the combined new magnetostratigraphic and aminostratigraphic based age model requires a significant revision of hitherto published chronostratigraphic subdivisions at the site the relative completeness and long time frame covered by the section is unusual in european loess sequences hence the sequence could form the basis of a continental scale stratigraphic scheme that would alleviate much current chronostratigraphic uncertainty and enable more broad scale climatic reconstructions the section also provides a rare opportunity to investigate detailed and long term climatic change over the middle pleistocene in a region influenced by air masses originating from high and middle latitudes as well as the north atlantic and mediterranean the changing relative importance of these air masses through time provides insight into local and regional atmospheric systems and their evolution through the last c 1 ma the section can thus be considered as one of the key climatic archives in the europe

dust deposition and climate in the carpathian basin over an independently dated last glacial interglacial cycle dust deposition and climate in the carpathian basin over an independently dated last glacial interglacial cycle

recent advances in the stratigraphy of the upper pleistocene of westernmost europe la haute ville and brehat cliffs northern brittany france abstract a description of the different layers deposited in la haute ville and brehat sites is given methodological considerations and comparisons with russian french and netherlands stratigraphic scales are summarized malacological study shows the existence of shells deposited during the early middle and late weichselian in la haute ville the upper part of the lower and middle weichselian contains four soils which developed above an aeolian dune four malacozones have been separated the groups of molluscs were classified according to their modern ecological preferences the upper part of la haute ville formation is observed in the lower part of the la haute ville cliff this aeolian accumulation is completely decalcified there is no fauna the presence of colored quartz implies the existence of a warm climate by comparison with other dunes of brittany it could be dated to the early weichselian comparison between the onshore and offshore data shows that the dune has never been as rich in carbonates as the loess or loess like deposits the port morvan formation consists of four different soils interlayered with loams all the soils are located at the level of the dome like top of the dune the disappearance of the soils towards the west and the east is associated with an undulation of the dune the existence of four soils and the presence of molluscs living under broad leaved forests suggest a moderate climate the cooling of the climate started at the end of the port morvan formation these data allow correlation of this formation with the middle lower weichselian the formation of sables d or les pins corresponds with true loess it was deposited above the port morvan formation which displays a clear erosion of its top the top of this formation was affected by the development of a holocene soil a light grey layer represents a podzolic horizon the lower boundary of these layers is affected by thermokarst because of their location their aeolian origin the existence of thermokarst the mollusc assemblage and the dating already obtained elsewhere this section is attributed to the upper weichselian the holocene deposits are represented by a podzolic soil and slope deposits which formed during moderately humid conditions it covers a dark grey soil made of colluvium containing charcoal and prehistoric to recent artifacts which possibly formed in a forest or bush environment