3E&G / Vol. 60 / No. 1 / 2011 / 3–5 / DOI 10.3285/eg.60.1.00 / © Authors / Creative Commons Attribution License

E&G Quaternary Science Journal Volume 60 / Number 1 / 2011 / 3–5 / DOI 10.3285/eg.60.1.00

www.quaternary-science.net

GEOZON SCIENCE MEDIA

ISSN 0424-7116

Loess in EuropeGuest Editorial

Manfred Frechen

Address of author: M. Frechen,LeibnizInstituteforAppliedGeophysics(LIAG),Geochronology&IsotopeHydrology,Stilleweg2,30655Hannover,Germany.E-Mail:Manfred.Frechen@liag-hannover.de

ThepapersofthisSpecialIssuegiveremarkablenewresultsandconclusionsonloessfromEuropeunderliningtheexcel-lenceofloessarchivesforpastclimateandenvironmentre-constructionsfromalocalandregionalperspectiveandtheirrelationshiptoamoreglobalinterpretation(Frechen2011a, b). Loess is a clastic predominantly silt-sized sediment,whichis formedbytheaccumulationofwind-blowndust.AccordingtoPye(1995)fourfundamentalrequirementsarenecessaryforitformation:adustsource,adequatewinden-ergytotransportthedust,asuitableaccumulationarea,anda sufficient amount of time. During the Quaternary, loessandloess-likesedimentswereformedinperiglacialenviron-mentsonmid-continentalshieldareasinEuropeandSiberia,on themarginsofhighmountain ranges like inTajikistanandon semi-aridmarginsof some lowlanddeserts like inChina.

Theterm“Löß”wasfirstdescribedinCentralEuropebyKarlCäsar von Leonhard (1823/24) who reported yel-lowish brown, silty deposits along the Rhine valley nearHeidelberg.CharlesLyell (1834)brought this term intowidespreadusagebyobservingsimilaritiesbetween loessand loess derivatives along the loess bluffs in the RhineandMississippi.Atthattimeitwasthoughtthattheyel-lowishbrownsilt-richsedimentwasoffluvialoriginbeingdepositedby the large rivers. It tookuntil theendof the19thcenturyuntiltheaeolianoriginofloesswasrecognized(VirletD'Aoust1857),especiallytheconvincingobserva-tionsof loess inChinabyFerdinandvonRichthofen's(1878). A tremendous number of papers have been pub-lished since then, focusingon the formationof loessandonloess/palaeosolsequencesasarchivesofclimateanden-vironment change (e.g. Pye 1995; Smalley 1995; Pécsi &Richter1996).

Mucheffortwasput intothesettingupofregionalandlocalloessstratigraphiesandtheircorrelation(Kukla1970,1975, 1977).But even thechronostratigraphical positionofthe last interglacial soil correlating tomarine isotope sub-stage5ehasbeenamatterofdebate,owingto the lackofrobust and reliable numerical dating, as summarized forexampleinZölleretal. (1994)andFrechen,Horváth&Gábris(1997)fortheAustrianandHungarianloessstratig-raphy,respectively.

Sincethe1980s,thermoluminescence(TL),opticallystim-ulatedluminescence(OSL)andinfraredstimulatedlumines-

cence (IRSL) dating are available providing the possibilityfordating the timeof loess (dust)deposition, i.e. the timeelapsedsincethelastexposureofthemineralgrainstoday-light.Duringthepastdecadeluminescencedatinghassig-nificantlyimprovedbynewmethodologicalimprovements,especially the development of single aliquot regenerative(SAR)protocols(Murray&Wintle2000)resultinginreli-ableages(orageestimates)withanaccuracyofupto5and10%forthelastglacialrecord.Morerecentlyluminescencedatinghasalsobecomearobustdatingtechniqueforpenul-timateandantepenultimateglacialloess(e.g.Thieletal.thisissue;Schmidtetal.thisissue)allowingforareliablecor-relationofloess/palaeosolsequencesforatleastthelasttwointerglacial/glacialcyclesthroughoutEuropeandtheNorth-ernHemisphere(Frechen2011a).Furthermore,thenumeri-caldatingprovidesthebasisforquantitativeloessresearchapplyingmoresophisticatedmethodstodetermineandun-derstandhigh-resolutionproxydata,suchasthepalaeodustcontentoftheatmosphere,variationsoftheatmosphericcir-culationpatternsandwindsystems,palaeoprecipitationandpalaeotemperature.

ThepapersofthisSpecialIssueonLoessinEuropegivethe basis for substantial further challenging developmentsin loess researchandare summarisedgeographically fromnorthtosouth.

Little is known about the timing of loess accumulationandsoil formationaswellas thesettlementhistory in the“Altmoränengebiet”innorthernGermany.Urban,Kunz&Gehrt(thisissue)providesomeevidenceforthehumanim-pactonsoildevelopmentsincethelateNeolithicbymeansofsedimentology,pedologyandpalynologyaswellasOSLandradiocarbondating.

Wagner (this issue) carried out a spatial compilationandvisualisationofloessparametersforloessandloess-likesedimentsintheWeser-Allercatchment,includingpartsofsouthern Lower Saxony and northern Hesse in NorthwestGermany. In this study, very detailed maps of loess prop-erty patterns including loess thickness, granulometry andstratigraphywerecollectedfrompublicationsandhistorical-lymapspublishedbetween1876and2007resultinginmorethan600loesslocationsprovidingthebaseinformationfortheareaunderstudy.

The loess/palaeosol sequences from Saxony were re-in-vestigated by Meszner, Fuchs & Faust (this issue), who

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presentanewcompositeprofileincludingnewstratigraph-ic marker horizons and palaeosols. They identified threepalaeosols for the so far poorly differentiatedWeichselianPleniglacialrecordinSaxony.

In theLowerRhineEmbayment, detailed loess/palale-osolsequenceshavebeendescribedfromthekm-wideex-posuresofthebrowncoalopen-castminesandfrommanybrickyards, e.g. Grafenberg, Rheindahlen and Erkelenz.MostofthestudiedsectionsgiveevidenceforrichPalaeo-lithic(andyoungerperiods)artefactsandsettlementstruc-tures.Pawlik&Thissen(thisissue)presentresultsfromaMiddle Palaeolithic archaeological layer in the open castbrowncoalmineInden,whichtheycorrelatetotheEemianinterglacial. The studied artefacts give evidence for birchpitch fixed tools, either as hafted impliments fixed withbirch pitch onto shafts or being used for successive haft-ing-and-retrolingactivities.Pawlik&Thissen(thisissue)pointoutthatbirchpitchresiduesevidencehumanuseofadhesiveandmulticomponenttoolmakingalreadyintheMiddlePalaeolithic.

At theSchwalbenberg section, averydetailedWeichse-lian Middle Pleniglacial loess record is exposed (Frechen&Schirmer this issue).Eightweak interstadialpalaeosolsincludingAhandBcv(calciccambisol)horizonsare inter-calatedinloessandreworkedloess.Thechronostratigraphi-calunitsshowlittleornoageincreasewithdepthindicat-ingfastaccumulationofsedimentandfastformationofthesoils;similarobservationsweremadefortheEarlyWeichse-lianrecordattheTönchesbergsection(Boenigk&Frechen2001).

MaarlakesanddrymaarsoftheWestEifelVolcanicFieldareexcellent sediment trapsandprovide sediment recordswith the possibility to archive event-laminated sediments.Dietrich&Sirocko(thisissue)describethepotentialofmi-croX-rayfluorescence(µXRF)scanningtostudybulksedi-mentchemicaldata formajor and trace elements inmaarlake sediments to determine the elemental stratificationwithinsedimentcores.ThecoresunderstudyfromtheDeh-nerdrymaarandtheSchalkenmehrenmaarshowbothfullyglacialaswellaswarmandwetclimateconditionsandgiveevidenceforthemajordustdepositionevents.Dietrich&Sirocko(thisissue)showevidencethatacombinationoftheCacontentandthegrayscalevaluescorrelatesbestwiththesignalofaeoliansedimentinput.

Reliable dating of maar sediments is a real challenge.Schmidt et al. (this issue) studied sediments from theJungfernweiherlocatedintheWestEifelVolcanicFieldusingluminescencedating.TheIRSLdatingstudyindicatesthatthesedimentsfrom16mbelowsurfacehaveluminescenceageof250kaandincreaseupto400kafortheoldestsampledsedi-mentsabout94mbelowmodernsurface.However,oneoftheco-authors (F.Sirocko,seeappendixofSchmidtetal. thisissuea)hasadifferent interpretationbasedon radiocarbondatingandfurtherrelativedatingmethods,suchassedimentmagnetisation,tuningofgreyscalevariationswithGreenlandicecoreandintercalatedtephrahorizonsindicatingalastgla-cialrecord.Thedifferentopinionsshowthatchronologicalap-proachesareverychallenging.

At thegravelquarryGaul locatednearWeilbachin the

southernforelandoftheTaunusMountains,aMiddletoUp-perPleistocene loess/palaleosol sequence isexposedcorre-latingwiththelastthreeglacialcycles.Theoldestloessgavepost-IRIRSLat225°Cageestimatesofatleast350ka(MIS10)ago(Schmidt,Semmel&Frechenthisissue).Ahumic-richhorizon(“WeilbacherHumuszone”)correlatestothelatephaseofthepenultimateinterglacial(MIS7).TheuppermostloesscorrelatestotheUpperWürmian.

Thieletal.(thisissue)investigatedthreeimportantPleis-tocenekeyloesssectionsinLowerAustria,theseareJoching,PaudorfandGöttweig.Thepost-IRIRSLageestimatesallowfora correlationof thepedocomplex“PaudorferBodenbil-dung”withthelast interglacial(MIS5),whichisinagree-mentwithpreviousTLageestimatesofZölleretal.(1994).However, thepedocomplex“GöttweigerVerlehmungszone”is signifiacantly older (≥350 ka) than the last interglacialsoil.Thieletal.(thisissue)foundoutthatdiscontinuitiesinloess/palaeosol recordsobserved inLowerAustriaare sig-nificant making a simple counting from the top approachunreliable.Thus, theLowerAustrian loessstratigraphy in-cludingthetimingoftheintercalatedpalaeosolsremainsun-derdiscussionandrequiresfurtherluminescencebasedagedetermination.

LoessdepositsfromtheHagenbachKlammlocatedinthenorthernViennaForestweredatedusingluminescencedat-ingbyFranketal.(thisissue).Themolluscassemblagesin-dicateveryhumidandcoolclimaticconditionsfortheUp-perPleniglacial (UpperWürmian).Franketal. (this issue)observedgoodagreementbetweenmalcalogicalresultsandthoseofnumericaldatingincluding14CandIRSLages.Thedating resultsmakea loessaccumulationprior to theLastGlacialMaximummostlikely.

Zech et al. (this issue) give an overview on the mostrecent proxy developments concerning biomarkers andcompound-specific stable isotopes. The aim of these novelmethodological approaches is todeterminemorequantita-tivepalaeoclimateproxies for reconstructionofvegetationhistory,palaeotemperatureandpalaeoclimate/aridity.

Wacha et al. (this issue) investigated a very detailedloess/palaeosol sequence on Susak. Radiocarbon ages andluminescence age estimates indicate an Upper PleistocenerecordincludingaverydetailedandthickMiddlePlenigla-cialrecord(MIS3)includingnumerousintercalatedpalale-osolsandat leastthreetephralayers,most likelyfromtheItalianVolcanicprovinces.TheislandofSusakisuniqueintheNorthAdriatic Seabecause the geomorphologyof theislandhasallcharacteristicsofaloessplateaudissectedbynumerousgorges,steepbluffsandgullies(Wachaetal.thisissue).

The Late Pleistocene/Holocene morphological and geo-logicalhistoryoftheParaguayanChacoandtheArgentinePampaPlain(Chaco-PampaPlain)wasstudiedbyKrucketal.(thisissue).Satelliteimageswereusedtosynthesisepre-viousandnewmultidisciplinaryresultsofthisvast-extend-edarea.Krucketal.(thisissue)localisedsourceregionsofloess,loess-likesedimentsandsandydepositsinthesouth-westernPampaandtheneighbouringAndeanslopesandtheAltiplano,thusindicatingasedimenttransporttowardseastandlaternortheast.

E&G / Vol. 60 / No. 1 / 2011 / 3–5 / DOI 10.3285/eg.60.1.00 / © Authors / Creative Commons Attribution License

5E&G / Vol. 60 / No. 1 / 2011 / 3–5 / DOI 10.3285/eg.60.1.00 / © Authors / Creative Commons Attribution License

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