Middle Pleistocene Glaciations in the northern Alpine Foreland - New insights from luminescence dating
Abstract
The Quaternary spans the last ~2.6 million years and is characterised by marked climatic fluctuations. Reconstructing these past fluctuations is a fundamental requirement for understanding present and future climate change. The northern Alpine Foreland is a classic area of Quaternary research, but profound gaps of knowledge exist concerning the timing and extent of its glaciations. This particularly concerns glaciations older than ~50 ka due to a lack of numerical ages constraining the deposition of glacier related sediments. The major objective of the proposed study is to establish luminescence chronologies of glaciofluvial terraces in the German and Austrian Alpine Foreland. The focus is set on older terraces (~130-300 ka) formed during the Middle Pleistocene. Their formation is mainly climatically driven and often, they can be correlated with terminal moraines. Thus, the age of the terraces can be used to reconstruct the extent and timing of former glaciations and of climatic conditions. The study proposes to make use of recent advances in luminescence dating which bear great potential to extend the terrace chronostratigraphy to around 300 ka. A large, cross-border study area will allow regional correlations of the dated sediments as well as the reconstruction of past climatic gradients and regional differences in glacier dynamics. Further, correlations with marine climatic records and with the N-European Saale glaciations will provide important insights into the impact of past global climate change on terrestrial environments.
keywords fluvial terraces luminescence dating chronostratigraphy northern Alpine Foreland Middle Pleistocene palaeoclimate
Publikationen
Fluvial terrace gravels of the "Hochterrasse" (N-Apine Foreland, Austria): luminescence characteristics of quartz and feldspar
Autoren: Bickel, L; Lomax, J; Fiebig, M Jahr: 2012
Journal articles
Project staff
Markus Fiebig
Univ.Prof. Dipl.Geol. Dr.rer.nat. Markus Fiebig
markus.fiebig@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-87212
Project Leader
01.05.2011 - 30.04.2014
BOKU partners
External partners
University Berne, Institute of Geology
Dr. Frank Preusser
partner
Universität Wien, Erdwissenschaftliches Zentrum
Prof. Lutz NASDALA
partner
Technical University Freiberg
Dr. Matthias Krbetschek
partner