Last Glacial loess in Europe: luminescence database and chronology of deposition

• Main Authors: Bosq, Mathieu, Kreutzer, Sebastian, Bertran, Pascal, Lanos, Philippe, Dufresne, Philippe, Schmidt, Christoph
• Other Authors: De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel : Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie (PACEA), Université de Bordeaux (UB)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Universität Heidelberg Heidelberg = Heidelberg University, Archéosciences Bordeaux, Université de Bordeaux (UB)-Université Bordeaux Montaigne (UBM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Géosciences Rennes (GR), Université de Rennes (UR)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Rennes (OSUR), Université de Rennes (UR)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics, Université de Lausanne = University of Lausanne (UNIL), DFG Heisenberg programme (project id: 505822867)Institut National de Recherches Archéologiques Préventives, ANR-10-LABX-0052,LaScArBx,Using the world in ancient societies : processes and forms of appropriation of space in Long Time(2010), European Project: 844457,CREDit
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2023
• Subjects: Geochronology; Loess deposits; Luminescence dating; [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences; Fennoscandian; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04115632; https://hal.science/hal-04115632/document; https://hal.science/hal-04115632/file/2023%20ESSD%20Last%20Glacial%20Loess%20Europe_preprint.pdf; https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2023-105

International audience Abstract. During the last glacial period, the climate shift to cold conditions associated with changes in atmospheric circulation and vegetation cover resulted in the development of large aeolian systems in Europe. On a regional scale, many factors may have influenced dust dynamics, such as the latitudinal difference between the various aeolian systems and the variability of the sources of wind-transported particles. Therefore, the assumption that the timing of aeolian deposition is strictly synchronous in Europe does not seem to be the most plausible hypothesis and needs to be evaluated. To test this assumption, the chronology of loess deposition in different European regions was investigated by studying 93 luminescence-dated loess-palaeosol sequences with their data recalculated and compiled in a single CSV file: the ChronoLoess database. Our study shows that the two major aeolian systems, the Northern European Loess Belt (NELB) on the one hand and the systems associated with the rivers draining the Alpine Ice Sheet on the other hand, developed asynchronously. The significant deposition started at about 32 ka for the NELB vs 40 ka for the perialpine loess and peaked about two millennia later for the former (21.8 ka vs 23.9 ka, respectively). This shift resulted mainly from the time lag between the maxima of the Alpine and Fennoscandian ice sheets, which acted as the primary sources of fine-grained particles through glacial abrasion. The major geomorphic changes that resulted from the development and decay of the Fennoscandian and British-Irish ice sheets also played an important role. Particularly, ice sheet coalescence during the LGM diverted meltwater fluxes through the Manche River and provided vast amounts of glacial particles available for deflation in the western NELB. The period during which the maximum Mass Accumulation Rate was reached for each loess-palaeosol sequence is relatively homogeneous in the NELB and ranges from 30 ka to 19 ka, whereas it is more scattered in the ...