Sárga föld, lősz, lösz: Short historical overview of loess research and lithostratigraphy in Hungary

Abstract

The over 150 years of Hungarian loess research can be divided into three main phases. (1) The first phase is the early times of the Hungarian loess research from the 1850s until the beginning of the 20th century. This was the time of recognition, definition of loess, and the birth of the first ideas about the origin of loess, following the international scientific trends. However, independent ideas were developed in Hungary, inspired by the main trends. One of the most complex ideas was Koch's ‘loess-sea’-idea, which describes the origin and deposition of the material of loess from the denudation processes to glaciers, fluvial transport, and the accumulation of the fine grained material in a giant freshwater lake located in the middle of the Carpathian Basin.(2) The second phase, the golden age of loess research, is separated into two periods. The first period was the investigation and classification of the material of loess (e.g. studies of source area of loess) finishing with the definition of the paleosols, and their connection to the polyglacial interpretation of the ice age (from the start of the 20th century until the 1930s). The first and detailed lithostratigraphical subdivision of Hungarian loess was in the spotlight of the second period of the second phase. The aim of the studies was the correlation of the layers of some key sections, and the glacial and interglacial phase of the Pleistocene (e.g. correlation of different proxies with the ‘astrocyclostratigraphical’ Milanković curve, or later with the oxygen isotope curves).(3) Nowadays, some studies try to advance a deeper understanding the complex mechanism working in the glacial (stadial), interglacial (interstadial), or transition periods of the Pleistocene. Recent studies are part of the beginning of the third phase.