Recent advances in luminescence dating of Late Pleistocene (cold-climate) aeolian sand and loess deposits in western Europe

2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduard A. Koster
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Cold Climate ◽  
Luminescence Dating ◽  
Aeolian Sand ◽  
Recent Advances ◽  
Loess Deposits

scholarly journals Out-of-phase Late Pleistocene glacial maxima in the Western Alps reflect past changes in North Atlantic atmospheric circulation

Geology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natacha Gribenski ◽  
Pierre G. Valla ◽  
Frank Preusser ◽  
Thibault Roattino ◽  
Christian Crouzet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Circulation ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
North Atlantic ◽  
General Circulation ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
General Circulation Models ◽  
Western Alps ◽  
Feedback Mechanism ◽  
Luminescence Dating ◽  
European Alps

Paleoglacier reconstructions in the northern and southern forelands of the European Alps indicate a synchronous Late Pleistocene glacial maximum during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 2, in phase with global ice volume records. However, strong controversy remains for the western foreland, where scarce and indirect dating as well as modeling studies suggest glacial maxima out of phase with the rest of the Alps. New luminescence dating brings the first direct Late Pleistocene glacial chronology for the western Alpine foreland and reveals two major glacier advances of similar maximum extent, at ca. 75–60 and ca. 40–30 ka, coinciding with MIS 4 and late MIS 3. We propose that asynchrony in glacial maxima between the western and the northern and southern Alpine forelands results from a progressive spatial reorganization of the atmospheric circulation over the North Atlantic in response to Northern Hemisphere ice-sheet fluctuations. While such a feedback mechanism has emerged from general circulation models, our Late Pleistocene paleoglacial reconstruction permits tracking of the spatiotemporal evolution of moisture advection patterns over Western Europe.

scholarly journals The missing Myopus : plugging the gaps in Late Pleistocene small mammal identification in western Europe with geometric morphometrics

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 224-238
Author(s):  
Louis Arbez ◽  
Aurelien Royer ◽  
Danielle Schreve ◽  
Remi Laffont ◽  
Serge David ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Geometric Morphometrics ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Small Mammal ◽  
Western Europe

Eolian and fluvial sedimentation in the southwestern Sinai Mountains, Egypt: a record of flash floods during the late Pleistocene

2012 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-299
Author(s):  
Jörg Völkel ◽  
Jörg Grunert ◽  
Matthias Leopold ◽  
Kerstin Hürkamp ◽  
Juliane Huber ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Arid Environment ◽  
Alluvial Fan ◽  
Luminescence Dating ◽  
Alluvial Fans ◽  
Extreme Floods ◽  
Optically Stimulated Luminescence Dating ◽  
Fluvial Sedimentation ◽  
Southwestern Sinai ◽  
The Last Glacial

Wadis emerging from the southwestern Sinai Mountains (Egypt) westwards to the Gulf of Suez are filled by >40 m thick late Pleistocene sediments, which have been subsequently incised to bedrock after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Sedimentation and erosion resulted from changes in the basin's hydrological conditions caused by climate variations. Sediment characteristics indicate distinct processes ranging from high to low energy flow regimes. Airborne material is important as a sediment source. The fills are associated with alluvial fans at wadi mouths at the mountain fronts. Each alluvial fan is associated and physically correlated with the respective sediment fill in its contributing wadi. The alluvial fans have steep gradients and are only a few kilometers long or wide. The alluvial fans converge as they emerge from the adjacent valleys. According to optically stimulated luminescence dating, the initial sediment has an age of ∼45 ka and the sedimentation ends ∼19 ka, i.e., happened mainly during marine isotope stage (MIS) 3 and early MIS 2 formation and initial incision sometime during LGM. As the delivery of sediments in such a hyper-arid environment is by extreme floods, this study indicates an interval of intense fluvial activity, probably related to increased frequency of extreme floods in Southern Sinai. This potentially indicates a paleoclimatic change in this hyper-arid environment.

Facies Composition and Stratigraphic Position of the Quaternary Upper Yenisei Sequence in the Tuva and Minusa Depressions

2021 ◽  
Vol 62 (10) ◽  
pp. 1127-1138
Author(s):  
I.D. Zol’nikov ◽  
I.S. Novikov ◽  
E.V. Deev ◽  
A.V. Shpansky ◽  
M.V. Mikharevich
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Lacustrine Sediments ◽  
Alluvial Fan ◽  
Luminescence Dating ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Mountainous Area ◽  
Gorny Altai ◽  
Stratigraphic Position ◽  
Geochronological Dating ◽  
Current Ripples

Abstract —The paper concerns the sediment sequence, which is widespread in the Yenisei valley and in the Tuva and Minusa depressions and also present in the valleys of the southern Chulym plain. The sediments of this sequence were previously described as “Neogene mud-shedding”, as well as moraines, alluvial fan deposits, alluvium of Middle Pleistocene high terraces, and lacustrine sediments. The giant ripple marks on the Upper Yenisei terraces was commonly interpreted as ribbed moraines; however, in recent studies, these ridges have been repeatedly referred to as marks of giant current ripples. Besides, some recently published papers provide description of geology of this sequence fragments suggesting its deposition by cataclysmic floods. Geomorphological analysis of the area shows Pleistocene glaciers to have been localized within the medium–high mountainous areas. The glaciers did not reach the Tuva and Minusa depressions and occupied large areas only in the Todzha basin and on the periphery of the Darkhat basin, forming a glacial dam at its outlet, which resulted in glacial-dammed lakes filling the basin completely. These lakes outburst, and the resultant flooding led to the deposition of megaflood sediments, which we refer to here as the Upper Yenisei sediment sequence. A detailed analysis of its facies architecture revealed similarity of these sediments to those of the Sal’dzhar and Inya sequences in Gorny Altai. Most of the Upper Yenisei megaflood sediments are localized in topographic lows of the Tuva and Minusa depressions. Beyond the Altai–Sayan mountainous area, the megaflood sediments of the Upper Yenisei sequence compose high terraces of the Yenisei, Chulym, Chet’, and Kiya rivers in the southern Chulym plain. The formation of Upper Yenisei sequence dates to the first half of the Late Pleistocene, inasmuch as it contains inset alluvial sediments of the second terrace of the Yenisei River. The available data allow suggesting that the Upper Yenisei sequence formed in the first Late Pleistocene regional glaciation. The Sal’dzhar sequence in Gorny Altai and the fourth terrace of the Ob’ River on the Fore-Altai plain are stratigraphic analogs of the Upper Yenisei sequence. The Upper Yenisei and Sal’dzhar sequences can thus be considered future regional markers serving as a link for the local stratigraphic schemes of the Altai–Sayan mountainous area and adjacent West Siberian plains. The results obtained call for verification by geochronological dating, first of all, by modern luminescence dating methods covering a wider chronological interval than radiocarbon dating.

scholarly journals At the Edge of Knowability: Towards a Prehistory of Languages

2000 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Renfrew
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Genetics ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Historical Linguistics ◽  
Prehistoric Archaeology ◽  
Recent Advances ◽  
New Synthesis ◽  
The World ◽  
Pleistocene Period ◽  
Demographic Processes

The issue of ‘knowability’ in relation to the origins and distribution of the language families of the world is addressed, and recent advances in historical linguistics and molecular genetics reviewed. While the much-debated problem of the validity of the concept of the language ‘macrofamily’ cannot yet be resolved, it is argued that a time depth for the origins of language families greater than the conventional received figure of c. 6000 years may in some cases be appropriate, allowing the possibility of a correlation between language dispersals and demographic processes following the end of the Pleistocene period. The effects of these processes may still be visible in the linguistic ‘spread zones’, here seen as often the result of farming dispersals, contrasting with the linguistic ‘mosaic zones’ whose early origins may sometimes go back to initial colonization episodes during the late Pleistocene period. If further work in historical linguistics as well as in archaeology and molecular genetics upholds these correlations a ‘new synthesis’, whose outlines may already be discerned, is likely to emerge. This would have important consequences for prehistoric archaeology, and would be of interest also to historical linguists and molecular geneticists. If, however, the proposed recognition of such patterning proves illusory the prospects for ‘knowability’ appear to be less favourable.

Stratigraphy and chronology of Late Pleistocene loess-paleosol sequence of the East European Plain and correlation with Late Pleistocene archives of Europe

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Svetlana Sycheva ◽  
Manfred Frechen ◽  
Birgit Terhorst ◽  
Sergey Sedov ◽  
Olga Khokhlova
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
East European Plain ◽  
East European ◽  
Mis 3 ◽  
Soil Sediment ◽  
Rfbr Grant ◽  
Mis 5E ◽  
Eemian Interglacial

<p>A detailed pedocryostratigraphic scheme of the Late Pleistocene periglacial region of the East European Plain has been developed on the basis of study of the paleorelief, sediments, paleosols, and cryogenic horizons. OSL and <sup>14</sup>C-dating of paleosols and sediments in Aleksandrov quarry and in other sections made it possible to substantiate this scheme and correlate it with analogous ones for different regions of Europe. The loess-paleosol sequence in Aleksandrov quarry (51º05'N, 36º08'E) does not have an analogous with respect to the completeness in the whole East European Plain. In the filling of paleobalka the Ryshkovo paleosol of the Mikulino interglacial (MIS 5e) is observed. Over this paleosol, the Valdai soil-sediment series (MIS 5d – MIS 2) is located. It includes four interstadial soils, two of them of the Early Valdai (Kukuevo and Streletsk ones), and two, sometimes three, of the Middle Valdai (Aleksandrov, Hydrouzel и Bryansk ones). The OSL date, 127 ± 8 ka BP, (beginning of MIS 5e) was obtained for a sample taken from the bottom of the Ryshkovo soil. The interglacial soil is overlain by the Seym layer formed mainly from destroyed and redeposited horizons of this soil. For the upper part of the Seym layer, OSL dates of 115 ± 7 ka BP and 112 ± 20 ka BP were obtained (MIS 5d). But the process of burial of Ryshkovo soil in the bottom of the paleobalka began at the end of the interglacial after a catastrophic forest fire. Large post-permafrost deformations - pseudomorphosis is confined to Selikhovodvor loess - MIS 4 (65 ± 8 ka BP). Two soils occurring between Seym and Selikhovodvor loesses: Kukuevo and Streletsk - Early Valdai (MIS 5c and MIS 5a). For Mlodat loess which separates those two soils (MIS 5b), OSL dates of 91 ± 1 and 89 ± 7 ka BP were obtained. For paleosols of Middle Valdai (MIS 3), <sup>14</sup>C-dates were obtained: Aleksandrov (53.742 - 2.124 ka cal BP) and Bryansk soils (37.618 ± 0.668 ka cal BP). For Tuskar loess, which separates Alexandrov and Bryansk soils, OSL dates of 50 ± 3 and 51 ± 3 ka BP were obtained. The new stratigraphic scheme of Late Pleistocene agrees with the ideas of researchers from Eastern, Central, and Western Europe , which allows the following correlations. The identified paleosols correspond to the following intervals: Ryshkovo – Eemian interglacial (127-117 ka BP); Kukuevo to Amersfoort + Brørup – Saint-Germain 1 (105-95 ka BP); Streletsk – Odderade to Saint-Germain 2 (about 85-75 ka BP); Aleksandrov to Oerel (56-53 ka BP); Hydrouzel to Moershoofd – Poperinge (44-45 ka BP) and Hengelo (40-38 ka BP); and Bryansk (33-27 ka BP) to Stillfried B, Denekamp or Grand Bois interstadials. The reconstructed Late Pleistocene loess-paleosol sequence has the most similar structure with loess-paleosol sequences of Ukraine, with sequence Dolní Věstonice in Moravia (Czech Republik), Stillfried in Austria and Mainz-Weisenau in the Rhenish area (Germany), and other archives. <strong>This work was supported by RFBR, grant N19-29-05024 mk. </strong></p>

Multi-proxy studies of the Late Glacial fluvio-aeolian succession in the type site Mierzyn, central Poland 

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moska Piotr ◽  
Sokołowski Robert ◽  
Jary Zdzisław ◽  
Zieliński Paweł ◽  
Raczyk Jerzy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Luminescence Dating ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Central Poland ◽  
Depositional Processes ◽  
Dating Methods ◽  
Absolute Dating ◽  
Absolute Age ◽  
Pedogenic Processes

<p>Multi-proxy studies (including sedimentological, pedological, radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating methods) were used to establish origin and chronology of depositional processes in the type section Mierzyn, central Poland. The investigated key site is located in the extraglacial zone of the Last Glaciation, ca. 130 km to the south from the Last Glacial Maximum in the Luciąża river valley area. In the studied profile (16 m thick) two lithofacial complexes were identified. The lower, fluvio-aeolian complex consists of silty-sandy sediments (1.6 m) deposited. The final phase of fluvio-aeolian deposition is expressed by initial pedogenic processes. Above is located aeolian complex (13 m of thickness). Three aeolian units are separated by two palaeosols.</p><p>To establish stratigraphic framework of depositional and pedogenic processes, four samples for radiocarbon dating from palaeosols and twelve samples for OSL dating from sandy units were collected. The obtained results reveal very good agreement of both absolute dating methods. It led to reconstruct chronology of main palaeoenvironmental changes. The fluvio-aeolian complex and the lowermost part of aeolian complex (below the lower palaeosol) were deposited in the Oldest Dryas in relatively cool and dry climate conditions. The amelioration of climate in the Bølling interstadial caused development of pedogenic processes expressed by 0.3 m thick palaeosol. Main part of aeolian complex (10 m of thickness) was deposited in the Older Dryas. The upper palaeosol developed in the Allerød interstadial as a result of the next amelioration of the climate. During the Younger Dryas was deposited the uppermost part of aeolian complex.</p><p>Classic development of fluvial to- aeolian succession in the Mierzyn site as well as detailed chronology based on two independent absolute age methods reveal that it can be treated as stratotype for the Late Glacial and correlated with other type sections in the Central and Western Europe.</p><p><strong>Ackowledgments</strong></p><p>Presented results were obtained with support of Polish National Science Centre, contract number 2018/30/E/ST10/00616.</p><p> </p>

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