upper pleistocene loess palaeosol records from northern france in the european context environmental background and dating of the middle palaeolithic abstract in northern france the loess cover from the last glacial weichselian is represented by a semi continuous mantle up to 8 m in thickness in the best localities such as leeward slopes e ne exposures in this large area pedostratigraphic sequences from the last interglacial glacial cycle eemian weichselian have been intensively studied especially under the auspices of active rescue archaeological programmes that have provided hundreds of individual sequences from test pits or excavations in spite of variations in the thickness of the different stratigraphic units driven by differences in geomorphological contexts the pedostratigraphic sequences from the last interglacial glacial cycle exhibit a particularly constant pedosedimentary pattern including well identified pedological and periglacial marker horizons that can be followed towards the east in belgium in germany and even in central europe according to the newest data it is shown that northern france loess palaeosol sequences are well suited to record the response of western european environments to rapid climatic changes dansgaard oeschger cycles the main objective of this paper is to present a summary of the pedostratigraphic sequence from northern france supplemented by the data from the new reference sequence of havrincourt and a global correlation scheme with surrounding areas in northern france the synthesis of the observations carried out on ca 100 sequences during the last 20 years allows the establishment of a highly detailed pedostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic scheme that represents a unique database for the discussion of the relations between palaeolithic occupation and environment in this context a strong relationship between the intensity of human occupation and the climatic and environmental context is demonstrated this relationship appears to be conditioned by the relative abundance of large mammal fauna itself linked to vegetation density as indicated by the extremely sparse biomass and the hiatus in human occupation that characterise upper pleniglacial loess

biostratigraphy of the last glacial period in europe the european early weichselian early wurmian is characterized by two long and relatively warm interstadials brorup and odderade which can be traced and correlated with certainty across large parts of europe the amersfoort interstadial described earlier from the netherlands has been included in the brorup and represents the older part of it both great interstadials were forested in north west central and southern europe in the north conifer forests prevailed giving way towards the south to deciduous forests the climatic gradient was distinctly steeper mainly due to southward displacement of the gulf stream the two great interstadials are synchronous with the isotopic stages 5a and 5c in the deep sea cores subsequent to eemian brorup and odderade and from within the context of a continuous series two additional and clearly delimited interstadials have been recorded in a new standard profile from oerel nw germany these are now described as the oerel and glinde interstadials they were not forested and belong to the early pleni weichselian the lower one oerel can probably be correlated with the 3rd weichselian wurmian interstadial in southern central europe ognon ii durnten samerberg 3 while the upper one glinde has so far no known counterpart for the younger pleni glacial it is assumed that there was a long phase during which it was not too cold the formation of humic layers during this phase took place at different times partly due to local edaphic factors so that the relevant 14c dates show a wide scatter the hengelo and denekamp interstadials represent only slight ameliorations which facilitated the formation of shrub tundra and can be recorded in certain regions only

the loess record in sections at koblenz metternich and tonchesberg in the middle rhine area abstract the loess palaeosol sequences of the middle rhine area provide a relatively detailed and continuous terrestrial record of climate and environment change for the past 200 000 years loess palaeosol sequences are generally well preserved in inter and intra crater depressions of late middle pleistocene scoria cones in the east eifel volcanic field and on fluvial terraces of the lower middle terrace of the rivers rhine and moselle stratigraphic and chronological investigations of loess palaeosol sequences from sections at tonchesberg and koblenz metternich in the middle rhine area indicate that the last interglacial and glacial cycle is preserved in much more detail than previously thought in both sections the last interglacial soil is covered by at least ten palaeosols postdating the eemian oxygen isotope sub stage ois 5e brown forest soil

evolution and environmental impacts of the eruption of laacher see volcano germany 12 900 a bp abstract laacher see volcano lsv 40 km south of bonn explosively erupted ca 6 3 km 3 of chemically strongly zoned phonolite magma probably during spring 12 900 years ago the resulting eruption column having reached at least 20 km in height the bulk of the laacher see tephra lst was deposited east of the volcano within the neuwied basin lst ashes form the most important stratigraphic marker in lateglacial deposits over much of central europe a minimum of 2 mt total s was calculated to have been released during the eruption by comparing pre and posteruptive volatile concentrations in glass inclusions and pumice matrix glasses because a separate s bearing vapor phase was probably present in the magma prior to eruption as indicated by the high melt h 2 o contents close to saturation level the actual amount of s released during the eruption could have significantly exceeded 2 mt the sulfuric acid aerosol layer resulting from the massive stratospheric s input probably resided in the stratosphere for years and most likely had a significant impact on climate and thus the environment increased precipitation in central europe and or impairment of the vegetation cover for several years is suggested by several proxies especially increased sediment supply into lakes proximal to the eruptive center major environmental impacts include an initial blast that felled trees up to 4 km away from vent fast deposition of huge tephra volumes led to the complete disruption of rhine river within the lower neuwied basin and the damming up of a lake ca 140 km 2 in areal extent sudden collapse of the temporary tephra dam caused a catastrophic flood wave downstream whose deposits are recognized as far north as bonn reworking of unconsolidated tephra deposits over several 100 km 2 was widespread and extensive generating abundant lahars and flood plain deposits a braided river system established in neuwied basin probably persisted up to several years recent reports for a second eruption of lsv are not confirmed

loess paleosol sequences at the northern european loess belt in germany distribution geomorphology and stratigraphy abstract pleistocene loess and loess derivates are distributed along the mountain front of the central european mountain belt in northern and central germany examples from two regions the lower rhine embayment lre and the northern foreland of the harz mountains fhm show that the distribution of loess and the development of loess paleosol sequences lps are controlled by relief climate tectonics the distance to large river systems the distance to the scandinavian ice sheet and the distance to the shelf of the north sea in the oceanic lre higher humidity enhanced the periglacial processes which increased erosion but also led to preservation in accumulative positions in contrast in the more continental fhm the sediments were affected by less intensive periglacial processes and no solifluction can be detected new loess distribution maps are presented for both key areas and key sections especially for the last glacial cycle are compared and summarized both study regions are located in the west east trending loess belt north of the central european mountain belt in front of the rhenish shield ardennes eifel and harz mountains finally a synthesis of typical sediment sequences for both regions is given as an example of paleoenvironmental landscape development in northern central europe

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 geomagnetic event recorded in loess deposits of the tonchesberg germany identification of the blake magnetic polarity episode summary high resolution palaeomagnetic studies on a collection of nearly 350 specimens taken from a 1 30m thick section of an upper pleistocene loess profile from the tonchesberg germany are described the blake magnetic polarity episode is recorded in a layer above the partly eroded palaeosol of the eemian interglacial it is identified by its stratigraphic position and thermoluminescence data 90 0110 0 kyr zoller conard hahn 1991 frechen 1991 1992 magnetite and haematite contribute to the natural remanent magnetization nrm directional behaviour during thermal and alternating field cleaning suggests that magnetite carries a primary post depositional remanent magnetization pdrm and haematite a secondary chemical remanent magnetization crm of early diagenetic origin

the loess record from the section at kurtak in middle siberia abstract loess loess like sediments and the intercalated palaeosols along the bluffs of the river yenisei provide a detailed upper pleistocene climate archive for the southern part of middle siberia the section at kurtak is one of the most detailed loess palaeosol sequences in middle siberia two major periods of sediment accumulation were recorded in the sequence the stratigraphically oldest one post dating the last interglacial palaeosol and pre dating the kurtak pedocomplex oxygen isotope stage ois 3 the younger one post dating the kurtak pedocomplex and predating the holocene soil three major phases of soil formation occurred during the upper pleistocene the kameny log pedocomplex ois 5e consists of at least two pedogenetic episodes a lower clayey chernozem forming during a more humid and warmer climate than today and an upper chernozem representing a drier climate than today the latter one including a well pronounced carbonate rich horizon the sukhoy log pedocomplex consists of a chernozem like palaeosol and two kastanozjems ois 5c a and the kurtak pedocomplex ois 3 with two chernozem like palaeosols and up to three humic rich layers additionally weakly developed gleyed horizons are considered to represent palaeohydrological groundwater high levels the results indicate a synchronous evolution of climate and environment change in both the more oceanic driven climate of west and central europe and middle siberia as evidenced by luminescence dating results

the pliocene and quaternary fluvial archives of the rhine system abstract the river rhine is one of the few major fluvial systems that connect the areas of the alpine glaciers and scandinavian ice sheet and so provides a key for correlating the two glacial areas in northern and middle europe the fluvial sequences of the rhine valley include at least 11 pleistocene terraces in the lower rhine area 2 pliocene and 12 pleistocene terraces in the middle rhine area resulting in 15 different pliocene and pleistocene terraces based on the correlation between lower and middle rhine the formation of fluvial terraces is significantly influenced by climatic and tectonic processes the terrace staircases are a result of uplift in the middle rhine area and the southern part of the lower rhine area whereas subsidence in the northern part of the lower rhine area resulted in buried stacked sequences magnetostratigraphic data provide chronological constraints for the terrace deposits in the lower rhine embayment and middle rhine region the matuyama brunhes boundary is a reliable marker horizon for the upper terrace fluvial deposits exposed in the karlich clay pit in the middle rhine area the first appearance of volcanic heavy mineral grains in the terrace sediments in loess and soils can be correlated from the middle rhine area through the lower rhine embayment to the netherlands the first occurrence of nordic components in terrace sediments of the lower rhine area is known from gravel on top of the kempen krefeld beds and so are younger than the holsteinian but older than the penultimate glaciation in the lower middle rhine area 40ar 39ar dating of tephra layers intercalated in the aeolian and fluvial sediments provide age constraints the upper pleistocene aeolian sediments overlying the terrace deposits have been dated by luminescence methods and the tephra from the laacher see eruption 12 860 bp is present in the younger lower terrace deposits

the agh band loess palaeosol sequence a terrestrial archive for climatic shifts during the last and penultimate glacial interglacial cycles in a semiarid region in northern iran abstract the northern iranian loess profiles host important information on quaternary climate and palaeoenvironmental changes in the region they build an important link between the eurasian loess belt and european and central asian archives due to a climatic gradient with decreasing precipitation from the west to the east and from the south to the north loess palaeosol sequences formed synchronously under different climatic conditions can be studied over short distance in the iranian caspian lowland the agh band profile is located in the so called iranian loess plateau a semi arid region with 200 350 mm annual precipitation the loess deposits at agh band reach a thickness of 60 m an about 50 m thick step profile was prepared and the litho pedostratigraphy was investigated samples for laser diffractometry grain size measurements were taken every 2 cm the magnetic susceptibility was measured in 4 cm intervals and the caco3 content in 8 cm intervals to establish a chronological framework a pirir290 luminescence dating approach was applied to the 4 11 m polymineral fraction the results show that the agh band profile yields a climate archive reaching from mis 7 to mis 2 several chronological hiatuses of some 10 ka show that periods of intense loess accumulation were interrupted by phases of only minor loess sedimentation and or erosion the agh band profile is subdivided by several shifts in grain size distribution the coarsening and fining up trends correlate with increasing and decreasing wind velocity respectively in the central part of the agh band loess sequence a weakly developed palaeosol is preserved which was developed at around 80 ka furthermore the loess deposits formed from about 100 ka to 60 ka ago show banded structures a pedocomplex including two well developed palaeosols consisting of bw y horizons and a cb horizon as well as intercalated loess can be found in the lower part of the sequence also evidenced by the increased values of magnetic susceptibility the corresponding luminescence age estimates indicate that the palaeosols represent a period of increased humidity and landscape stability during late mis 7 and mis 6 hence in the agh band loess various changes in the palaeo sedimentary system triggered by changes in climate can be observed this yields important information on the sensitive response of sedimentary systems and landscapes within semi arid regions to shifts in moisture and possibly temperature

paleoclimatic implications of the spatial patterns of modern and lgm european land snail shell δ18o abstract the oxygen isotopic composition of land snail shells may provide insight into the source region and trajectory of precipitation last glacial maximum lgm gastropod shells were sampled from loess from belgium to serbia and modern land snail shells both record 18 o values between 0 and 5 there are significant differences in mean fossil shell 18 o between sites but not among genera at a single location therefore we group 18 o values from different genera together to map the spatial distribution of 18 o in shell carbonate shell 18 o values reflect the spatial variation in the isotopic composition of precipitation and incorporate the snails preferential sampling of precipitation during the warm season modern shell 18 o decreases in europe along a n s gradient from the north sea inland toward the alps modern observed data of isotopes in precipitation gnip demonstrate a similar trend for low altitude sites lgm shell 18 o data show a different gradient with 18 o declining toward the ene implying a mid atlantic source due to increased sea ice and a possible southern displacement of the westerly jet stream balkan lgm samples show the influence of a mediterranean source with 18 o values decreasing northward

an analysis of eemian climate in western and central europe on the basis of 31 pollen diagrams and additional data for botanical macrofossils an analysis is made of the last interglacial eemian climatic history in western and central europe the main tool for this analysis is the climatic indicator species method only selected woody species are used for the quantification of data partial climatic range diagrams are presented for abies alba acer monspessulanum acer tataricum buxus sempervirens tilia tomentosa the problem of time correlation and pollen zonation of the eemian is discussed the climatic analysis itself is based on an improved version of the indicator species method in this version not every site is analysed for its climatic values instead maps and tables on the migrational history of hedera ilex buxus abies and species of acer tilia and abies are the basis for climatic maps showing respectively january and july isotherms for the periods of the corylus zone e4a and the carpinus zone e5 it is concluded that mean january temperatures were as much as 3 c higher at amsterdam the netherlands than at present and mean temperatures in july were 2 c higher however the thermal maximum in winter was later zone e5 than the summer thermal maximum zone e4a winter temperatures changed parallel to rise and fall of global sea level precipitation changes are more difficult to estimate in the first part of the eemian precipitation must have been relatively low but from zone e4b onward it increased to higher values reaching 800 mm and probably substantially more in zones e5 and e6 hence the eemian climate was in its beginning relatively more contintental and later from e4b onward more oceanic however as compared with the holocene the eemian climate was generally speaking more oceanic

volcanic materials as mulches for water conservation abstract arid regions are characterised by a limited rainfall a circumstance that acts as a barrier to dryland farming lanzarote in the canary islands spain is one of the most arid regions in europe with less than 150 mm annual rainfall and potential evapotranspiration in excess of 2000 mm a traditional farming system developed on the island has led to a diversified and productive form of agriculture that uses no irrigation the system utilizes a layer of 10 20 cm of tephra covering the natural soil the tephra acts as mulch and is highly effective for soil water conservation in this work we present the results of a 3 year monitoring of soil moisture content in three plots covered with two types of basaltic tephra with different grain sizes the results are compared to those obtained on adjacent plots that were not covered with the mulch sampling was conducted once a month every 10 cm up to a depth of 1 m compared to the noncovered soils the tephra covered soils managed to retain eight times more water in the surface layer during the driest months at a depth of 1 m twice the amount of water was retained in the tephra covered plots this positive effect was explained by the tephra s physical properties particularly its low water retention capacity and high porosity enhancing water infiltration and reducing evaporation rates differences observed in the water conservation depending on the mulch type was explained largely by grain size the pyroclastic materials proved to be very effective for soil water conservation under arid conditions

loess genesis and worldwide distribution abstract loess formation generally involves the four main stages of production deflation transportation and deposition of loess particles traditionally loesses are classified as glacial desert or other types based only on source area characteristics without taking into account provenance and transportation research on loess genesis is often local with only a few attempts at systematically overviewing worldwide loess distribution both the local and few global studies lack information on the variability in loess thickness continuity and areal extent this review integrates a large body of information on loess source areas and transportation pathways and the existence of desert transition zones three modes of loess genesis 1 continental glacier provenance river transport 2 mountain provenance river transport and 3 mountain provenance river transport desert transition were identified global distribution maps of provenance and transport pathways of major loess areas and their different genesis modes were meticulously prepared maps showing the spatial distribution thickness and continuity of loess deposits were also composed and the sizes of loess covered areas of each continent were re estimated the main features related to the distribution of the loess deposits on each continent are summarized for different regions or as a whole depending on the coverage of the source maps and references

elevated temperature irsl dating of loess sections in the east eifel region of germany abstract it has been shown that the infrared stimulated luminescence signals measured at elevated temperature after an ir stimulation at 50 c post ir irsl are significantly more stable than the conventional irsl at 50 c ir 50 in this study a post ir irsl protocol using a second ir stimulation temperature of 290 c pirir 290 was applied to 17 polymineral fine grain 4 11 m samples from various loess sections in the eifel region wannenkopfe dachsbusch karlich and ariendorf with independent age control to test the reliability of ages using the pirir 290 signal the laboratory measured fading rates are below 1 decade on average for the pirir 290 both ir 50 and pirir 290 signals of 9 samples were found to be in field saturation the average ratio of the sensitivity corrected natural signal to the laboratory saturation level for the pirir 290 is 0 98 0 02 n 9 showing that field saturation is equal to laboratory saturation for the pirir 290 signal from polymineral fine grains from the eifel region minimum equivalent dose estimates were calculated from the characteristic saturation dose of the dose response curves giving minimum ages estimates of 230 420 ka and suggesting that the pirir 290 signal can be used to date loess to 300 ka the pirir 290 ages estimates of the samples from the wannenkopfe and dachsbusch sites are in good agreement with independent age control showing that the irsl dating using pirir 290 signal without fading correction is apparently reliable our data suggest that the loess units e f g and the lower part of h at the karlich site were accumulated 270 ka and that the palaeosol of the karlich interglacial i most likely developed during marine isotope stage mis 9 or earlier the pedocomplex on the top of loess bed ii at the ariendorf section can be correlated with mis 7

loess paleosol sequence at korshiv ukraine chronology based on complementary and parallel dating tl osl and litho pedosedimentary analyses abstract the paper concerns the issues of age as well as lithological and pedological development of the loess paleosol sequence available for direct research at the korshiv site in the volhynian upland west ukraine for dozens of identical samples a series of comparative laboratory tl dating gdansk lublin and osl dating gliwice was performed supplemented by the physicochemical and micromorphological analyses due to the different dating techniques used in individual laboratories the details of their methodology were also presented the resulting series of dates confirmed the lithological and pedostratigraphic diagnosis of the sediments during the last two loess forming cycles additionally the age of the loess layer at the base of the available sequence was established it was defined as loess l5 and correlated with mis 12 the resulting age of the mineral substrate in different laboratories shows considerable similarity upper sequence but also clear differences lower part the osl dates were younger than the tl dates two high rank fossil soil complexes investigated in the profile represent mis 7 and 5 for the eemian early weichselian pedocomplex s1 the tripartite structure of the younger paleosol represents early weichselian glaciation mis 5 4 5 1 the dates helped to conclude that there is a possibility of stratigraphic separateness of the dubno soil mis 3 the whole youngest sedimentary sequence is dated from 20 to 14 ka and correlates well with the period when the last glacial ice sheet advanced during its main stadial in poland

systematic thermoluminescence dating of two loess profiles from the middle rhine area f r g abstract systematic investigation of 104 loess samples from the well studied loess sequences at ariendorf and toenchesberg middle rhine area f r g was carried out to study the reliability of tl ages of the last 150 ka the samples were investigated by the additive dose regeneration and partial bleach methods using integral and plateau ranges for determination of accumulated dose the results show that in ariendorf all the loess deposits of the last glaciation are contaminated with reworked loesses from older glaciations at toenchesberg the tl ages are in good agreement with the stratigraphy up to about 90 ka but no tl age over 110 ka was obtained underneath the interglacial soil at toenchesberg

black carbon fire fingerprints in pleistocene loess palaeosol archives in germany past environmental changes were frequently accompanied by changes in fire regimes however the extent to which the residue of ancient fires black carbon bc is abundant in pleistocene palaeosols remains largely unknown and whether and to which degree its occurrence and composition relates to pedogenetic processes and palaeoenvironmental change we studied three pleistocene loess palaeosol sequences from western germany for systematic variation in bc quantity and quality during marine isotope stages 5e to 4 ca 130 65 ka bp using the benzene polycarboxylic acid bpca oxidation method palaeopedogenetic processes were elucidated from grain size distribution colour organic and inorganic carbon and ba sr ratio the results showed that bc peaked during phases of soil formation indicated by increases in ba sr carbonate loss and colour change its concentration reached 0 6 2 1 g bc c kg of former topsoil the content was close to the detection limit in the parent loess and subsoil suggesting that there was little if any vertical translocation parameters for bc quality i e proportion of mellitic acid were typical for bc derived from the burning of grass and leaves as common for tundra like and forest steppe vegetation dominating in stadials and interstadials of the weichselian glaciation we conclude that bc was preserved in and bears comparable information in the three palaeosols hence we recommend bpca analysis of terrestrial archives for regional fire regime assessment in the pleistocene

magnetoclimatology teleconnection between the siberian loess record and north atlantic heinrich events new environmental magnetic data from loess and paleosol successions in outcrops in the upper reaches of the ob river drainage southern siberia track the major climatic variations over the last glacial interglacial cycle profiles of magnetic susceptibility and alternating deposition of loess and soil formation events correspond to oxygen isotope stages 1 5 the magnetic susceptibility data in association with the stratigraphic succession confirm that the wind vigor magnetoclimatological model is a viable alternative to the classic pedogenic model interpretation of magnetic susceptibility data from loess paleosol successions must therefore consider eolian dynamics available source materials and transport directions in addition to pedogenic processes rapid magnetic fluctuations are also observed these are identified for the first time in siberian records as the signature of the abrupt cold pulses responsible for the heinrich layers in north atlantic marine sediments the data thus form a component of climatic teleconnections across the northern hemisphere allowing correlations to be made among 1 siberian magnetic susceptibility stratigraphy 2 data recorded from other loess paleosol successions in china european russia europe and north america 3 north atlantic ice rafted detritus and 4 sea surface temperatures derived from molecular stratigraphy of marine sediments off the northwest coast of africa

luminescence chronology of the loess record from the tonchesberg section a comparison of using quartz and feldspar as dosimeter to extend the age range beyond the eemian abstract the loess palaeosol sequences of the tonchesberg section located in the east eifel volcanic field germany provide an excellent climate archive of the late middle and the upper pleistocene in the middle rhine area loess deposits from the last glacial weichselian and the penultimate glacial saalian are up to 12 m and 15 m thick respectively and intercalated by palaeosols optically stimulated luminescence osl thermally transferred optically stimulated luminescence tt osl and infrared stimulated luminescence irsl measurements were carried out on 14 samples from the tonchesberg section to determine the deposition age and to set up a more reliable chronological framework for the penultimate and last interglacial glacial cycle the fine grained quartz osl and polymineral irsl ages are in good agreement with each other and also with the geologically estimated age but the quartz tt osl ages are overestimated the osl and irsl ages range from 16 8 1 2 to 189 16 ka indicating that the youngest loess and the weakly developed soils were deposited during marine isotope stage mis 2 and 3 and that the two marker loess were most likely accumulated in the transition mis 4 5 loess and reworked loess postdating the eemian soil yield ages of 110 115 ka indicating that these deposits very likely correlate to mis 5d loess deposits taken below the eemian soil are attributed to the transition mis 6 7 a weakly developed soil above the tonchesberg scoria yield an age of 189 16 ka indicating an interstadial soil formation during mis 7 this is in good agreement with preliminary 40ar 39ar ages for the tonchesberg scoria and the intercalated tephra layers reliable age estimates up to 70 ka could be obtained using quartz osl and up to 190 ka using the pulsed post ir ir signal from feldspar hence the infrared stimulated luminescence irsl is considered as the best approach to date the loess from the middle rhine area 70 ka

late pleistocene loess of the lower rhine abstract from the lower rhine a compiled 25 7 m thick late pleistocene loess paleosol sequence is differentiated into five lithostratigraphic units the rheingau member mis 5 the keldach member weichselian early pleniglacial gs 21 1 18 mis 4 the ahrgau member weichselian middle pleniglacial mis 3 and the hesbaye and brabant members weichselian late pleniglacial mis 2 it correlates well with climate fluctuations known from ice cores and deep sea cores the sequence was continuously sampled by 335 samples it cuts through all essential layers and soils of the late pleistocene upper loess formation a continuous coarse silt index csi curve shows a maximum in the hesbaye member 31 24 ka b2k indicating the strongest wind conditions during the early late pleistocene further csi highs lie in the keldach and early brabant members csi lows are found the early and middle rheingau member gi 25 gi 22 the jackerath spenrath soils within the deeper keldach member gi 20 19 the early ahrgau member gi 17 gi 12 and finally in the elfgen soil gi 2 at the base of the brabant member the organic carbon culminates in the titz humus zone presumably at the end of gi 21 indicating scanty oxidation during the following cold lower weichselian pleniglacial period the garzweiler solcomplex forming a prevailing period of soil formation between 130 and 78 ka bp mis 5e a is considered as interglacial complex rhine interglacial complex continuing the style of the older interglacial complexes of mis 7 9 etc the ahr interstadial complex mis 3 is seen as immature complex of warm phases with fabric of the interglacial complexes author s suggestion the rhine interglacial complex covers mis 5e a and restricts the weichselian glacial to mis 4 through mis 2 this procedure follows the style of the older interglacial complexes

a continuous high resolution dust record for the reconstruction of wind systems in central europe eifel western germany over the past 133 ka 1 the last glacial cycle in central europe is dominated by processes of aeolian dust transport and accumulation these dust deposits are preserved in soils and lake sediments and provide detailed information about the climate variability during cold and dry periods especially the transitions from warm into cold periods are characterized by turbulent climate conditions the main problems of terrestrial paleoclimate reconstructions are the completeness of the core material and a sampling resolution to detect single dust storms we use a particle detection method which allows high resolution sub annual analyses of sediment structures in undisturbed samples the elsa eifel laminated sediment archive stack is a compilation of four different lake sediment cores of the eifel region western germany and comprise the period of the last 133 ka the results of our analyses show high frequencies of dust storm events during the first cold events c24 and c23 after the last warm stage in opposition the coldest periods of the last glacial cycle ois 4 70 60 ka bp and ois 2 35 14 ka bp are characterized by stable climate conditions that provide the accumulation of homogenous dust sediments

a multi proxy analysis of two loess paleosol sequences in the northern harz foreland germany two loess paleosol sequences from the northern harz foreland hecklingen and zilly have been investigated in general loess paleosol sequences represent valuable terrestrial archives of regional environmental and climatic conditions during past glacial periods the study area is part of the northern european loess belt and was in the vicinity of the scandinavian ice sheet during the weichselian aiming towards a better understanding of the paleoenvironmental conditions during the weichselian in an area close to the scandinavian ice sheet results from grain size geochemical xrf cns color and magnetic susceptibility measurements are combined the findings demonstrate an increased input of aeolian material during the last glacial maximum and the last cover loess period which is in accordance to the theory of drier and colder conditions during this time frame further data reveal a strong input not only of loess but also of coarser material coming from a shorter distance during the last glacial maximum in both profiles material of the last glacial maximum clearly indicates a shift of wind direction towards easterly winds in hecklingen an enhancement of coarser material has been observed within the recent soil and mis 3 soil material since soil material that dates back to the mis 3 is present in the profile it can be assumed that surface processes were less intrusive during the mis 3 and 2 than in e g the lower rhine embayment and saxony c 2016 elsevier b v all rights reserved

evidence for general instability of past climate from a 250 kyr ice core record recent results1 2 from two ice cores drilled in central greenland have revealed large abrupt climate changes of at least regional extent during the late stages of the last glaciation suggesting that climate in the north atlantic region is able to reorganize itself rapidly perhaps even within a few decades here we present a detailed stable isotope record for the full length of the greenland ice core project summit ice core extending over the past 250 kyr according to a calculated timescale we find that climate instability was not confined to the last glaciation but appears also to have been marked during the last interglacial as explored more fully in a companion paper3 and during the previous saale holstein glacial cycle this is in contrast with the extreme stability of the holocene suggesting that recent climate stability may be the exception rather than the rule the last interglacial seems to have lasted longer than is implied by the deep sea specmap record4 in agreement with other land based observations5 6 we suggest that climate instability in the early part of the last interglacial may have delayed the melting of the saalean ice sheets in america and eurasia perhaps accounting for this discrepancy

the hydrological response of soil surfaces to rainfall as affected by cover and position of rock fragments in the top layer rainfall experiments have been conducted in the laboratory in order to assess the hydrological response of top soils very susceptible to surface sealing and containing rock fragments in different positions with respect to the soil surface for a given cover level rock fragment position in the top soil has an ambivalent effect on water intake and runoff generation compared to a bare soil surface rock fragments increase water intake rates as well as time of runoff concentration and decrease runoff volume if they rest on the soil surface for the same cover level rock fragments reduce infiltration rate and enhance runoff generation if they are well embedded in the top layer the effects of rock fragment position on infiltration rate and runoff generation are proportional to cover percentage micromorphological analysis and measurements of the saturated hydraulic conductivity of bare top soils and of the top layer underneath rock fragments resting on the soil surface reveal significant differences supporting the mechanism proposed by poesen 1986 i e runoff generated as rock flow or as horton overland flow can partly infiltrate into the unsealed soil surface under the rock fragments provided that they are not completely embedded in the top layer hence rock fragment position beside other rock fragment properties should be taken into account when assessing the hydrological response of soils susceptible to surface sealing and containing rock fragments in their surface layers a simple model based on the proportions of bare soil surface soil surface occupied by embedded rock fragments and soil surface covered with rock fragments resting on the soil surface describes the runoff coefficient data relatively well