Beschreibung:
<jats:p>Abstract. Loess–palaeosol sequences (LPSs) are key archives for the
reconstruction of Quaternary environmental conditions, but there is a lack
of investigated records from the southern Upper Rhine Graben (southwestern Germany).
To close this gap, a LPS at Bahlingen-Schönenberg was investigated at
high resolution using a multi-method approach. Infrared stimulated
luminescence screening reveals a major hiatus in the lower part of the LPS
that according to luminescence dating is older than marine isotope stage
(MIS) 4. The section above the hiatus formed by quasi-continuous loess
sedimentation between ca. 34 and 27 ka, interrupted by phases of weak
reductive pedogenesis. The fact that this pedogenesis is much weaker
compared to corresponding horizons in the more northerly part of the Upper
Rhine Graben could be due to regionally drier conditions caused by a
different atmospheric circulation pattern at the time of deposition. Our
results reinforce earlier notions that the major environmental shifts
leading into the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) of southern Central Europe
significantly predate the transition of MIS 3 to 2 (ca. 29 ka). In
particular, the last massive phase of loess accumulation started several
thousand years prior to the arrival of glaciers in the foreland of the Alps,
which raises questions regarding the source and transport paths of the dust.
It is also noted that no loess dating to the LGM or the time thereafter was
observed due to either a lack of deposition or later erosion.
</jats:p>