Biogeography of the Pleistocene pleniglacial malacofaunas in Europe. Stratigraphic and climatic implications

• Main Authors: Palaeogeograph~, Palaeoecolog Palaeochmatologi
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1990
• Subjects: Ice cap
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1074.1352; http://www.environnement.ens.fr/IMG/file/DenisPDF/DDR-PDF-papers/DDR-A13.pdf

As determined by Lozek, malacologlcal assocmtmns are slgmficant of a particular vegetal enwronment In Quaternary sequences, d~fferent types of assocmtmns are recogmzed which can be asslmdated to the present types of malacofaunas There are assocmtmns of grass group, of forest group and of the ecotone of these two bmgeographlcal entrees On the European scale, in Pleistocene sequences, the mterglacml faunas indicate slmdarly the same d~fferences as today, being of stratlgraphlc mterest On the contrary, plemglacml faunas, which are mainly preserved m the loess belt, seemed not interesting for stratigraphy since they indicate more generahzed and more homogeneous condlhons Moreover they are composed of few speoes which, for the most part, had their dlstnbutmn area destroyed by the ice-cap advance Yet, the global analysis of plemglaclal blome faunas, by ecological bmgeographlcal approach, prowdes a particular stratlgraphlc element which allows to determine stratlgraphlc entrees provinces or domains m accordance with sedimentary interpretations So, for Quaternary plemglacml faunas, the bmzone concept Is efficiently supphed by ecostratlgraphy Consequently to a rewew of European locahhes, Jt appears that the d~stnbutlon of plemglacml malacofaunas Is mainly controlled by preclpltatmns So the variations which are recorded m some pnwleged deposits, as x e Achenhelm sequence m Alsace (France), indicate vanatmns through time of eastern hmlt of oceamc faoes and western hmlt of continental faoes of the climate