Articles | Volume 75, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-75-69-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/egqsj-75-69-2026
Thesis abstract
 | 
26 Feb 2026
Thesis abstract |  | 26 Feb 2026

Decoding loess geochemical signals of the Schwalbenberg – a key to terrestrial system response to millennial-timescale Upper Pleistocene climate changes in western central Europe

Mathias Vinnepand

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Cited articles

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Fischer, P., Jöris, O., Fitzsimmons, K.E., Vinnepand, M., Prud'homme, C., Schulte, P., Hatté, C., Hambach, U., Lindauer, S., Zeeden, C., Peric, Z., Lehmkuhl, F., Wunderlich, T., Wilken, D., Schirmer, W., and Vött, A.: Millennial-scale terrestrial ecosystem responses to Upper Pleistocene climatic changes: 4D-reconstruction of the Schwalbenberg Loess-Palaeosol-Sequence (Middle Rhine Valley, Germany), Catena, 196, 104913, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2020.104913, 2021. 
Lehmkuhl, F., Nett, J. J., Pötter, S., Schulte, P., Sprafke, T., Jary, Z., Antoine, P., Wacha, L., Wolf, D., Zerboni, A., Hošek, J., Marković, S.B., Obreht, I., Sümegi, P., Veres, D., Zeeden, C., Boemke, B., Schaubert, V., Viehweger, J., and Hambach, U.: Loess landscapes of Europe – Mapping, geomorphology, and zonal differentiation, Earth-Sci. Rev., 215, 103496, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103496, 2021. 
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Short summary
This thesis abstract deals with strategies that have been developed to disentangle interfering geochemical signals in dust-based loess deposits, tested at the Schwalbenberg, Germany. Information on dust particle origin and that which has been obtained during their transport and post-depositional process make up the geochemical element composition. If this information can be decoded, loess deposits can be compared across continents, and the timing and nature of terrestrial system responses can be comprehended.
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