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End of the Last Interglacial in the Loess Record1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

George J. Kukla  and
Alois Kočí
George J. Kukla
Affiliation:
Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Geological Institute, Trojanova 13, Praha 2, Czechoslovakia.
Alois Kočí
Affiliation:
Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Geophysical Institute, Boční II, Praha-Spořilov, Czechoslovakia.
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Abstract

In the loess series of Central Europe the last interglacial is recorded by the parabrownearth soil accompanied by land snails and pollen of thermophilous deciduous forests. The termination of forest environment is marked by restricted eolian sedimentation and development of chernozemic steppe soil, followed in turn by rapid deposition of calcareous air-borne silt in the so called “Marker” horizon. Hillwash loams and loess interrupted by the weak rendzina-type soil B1f were then formed. The sequence is overlain by the interstadial soil complex which is correlated with the Barbados II Terrace because of its stratigraphic position and warmth-loving snail fauna. Through most of the section bracketed by the interglacial and interstadial soils, the sediments display the reversed declination but positive inclination. The top of the reversed interval is here informally called the Brno magnetostratigraphic horizon. It correlates reasonably well with the upper boundary of the Blake event estimated to be 108,000 yr old.

The vertebrate and the snail faunas of chernozemic soil and of the loess together with the pedogenetic character of strata point to the harsh continental climate with the large temperature variation, dry seasons and partly, with torrential summer rains.

If the remarkably periodic deposition of loess series has to continue, following the pattern observed through the last 350,000 yr or so, then the shift to expressed continental climate in this part of Europe is to be expected soon.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 2 , Issue 3 , November 1972 , pp. 374 - 383
Copyright
Academic Press, Inc.

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Footnotes

At present: Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, Palisades, N.Y. 10964.
1

Lamont Doherty Geological Observatory contribution No. 1837.

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