Abstract
Abstract. Recently exposed loess–palaeosol sequences in the northern Alpine foreland close to Bobingen (southern Germany) were investigated with a multi-proxy approach combining isotopic, geochemical, lithological, and micropalaeontological methods. Luminescence ages date the sections into the Middle and Upper Würmian periods corresponding to Marine Isotope Stages 3 and 2. A gleyic soil horizon at the base was dated to 45 ka and provided a palynoflora dominated by Poaceae, Cyperaceae, and Pinus, as well as frequent aquatic taxa. Lacustrine conditions prevailed after the gley formation until 30 ka, providing a comparatively diverse lacustrine fauna dominated by aquatic gastropods and the ostracod species Candona candida. At the transition to the Upper Würm, climatic conditions became harsh, indicated by accelerated deposition of more coarse-grained loess, organic geochemical indicators, and scarceness of biotic remains. Two tundra-gley horizons in the Upper Würm point to short phases of climatic amelioration with higher humidity also evidenced by reoccurrence of ostracod and aquatic gastropod remains. We propose that these climatic ameliorations were coincident with the Greenland interstadials 4 and 2.
Highlights
Despite a long research history, starting with Penck (1882) and Penck and Brückner (1901–1909), large gaps still exist in our knowledge of glacial palaeoenvironments in the northern Alpine foreland mainly due to the fragmentary and discontinuous preservation of natural climate archives in this region
The lithological features changed along the southwest–northeast-oriented transect of the sequence, several sedimentary and pedogenic units could be unambiguously traced through the sections and were labelled a to j (Fig. 3)
The Bobingen outcrop contains a Middle and Late Würmian LPS intercalated by lacustrine layers
Summary
Despite a long research history, starting with Penck (1882) and Penck and Brückner (1901–1909), large gaps still exist in our knowledge of glacial palaeoenvironments in the northern Alpine foreland mainly due to the fragmentary and discontinuous preservation of natural climate archives in this region. Recent studies of speleothems and inner-Alpine lacustrine sequences (Moseley et al, 2014; Heiri et al, 2014, and references therein) have substantially enlarged our knowledge of regional Würmian climate and environments. Loess sequences provide another archive of Quaternary palaeoenvironments in southern Germany, which has been investigated chronostratigraphically and sedimentologically in detail since the 1950s The Bobingen site provides one of the very few lacustrine records in a loess landscape of Middle Würmian age in the Northern Alps and their foreland (Starnberger et al, 2009; Heiri et al, 2014). Together with new optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dates, this multiproxy approach aims to shed new light on the palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironment during the Middle and Upper Würm in the northern foreland of the Alps
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