Loess - / Palaeosol sequences - terrestrial climate archives

Loess -  / Palaeosol sequences are important Quaternary sediment archives all over the world. In contrast to other climate archives they store information about regional or temporal abrupt changes in much more detail. Regarding the Pleistocene they form the most complete, most continuous, and most widespread climate archives in mid latitudes. Loess- palaeosol deposits represent per se glacial periods and interglacials; therefore the definition of the geochronological frame is of special interest. Rock magnetic parameters can serve as additional proxy of environmental conditions manifold. Beyond the age window of loess dating by luminescence techniques the 230 Th/U method applied to peat deposits provides the opportunity to extend the geochronological frame towards older interglacials.