Luminescence Dating of Sediments from the Luthern Valley, Central Switzerland, and Implications for the Chronology of the Last Glacial Cycle
2001; Cambridge University Press; Volume: 55; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1006/qres.2000.2208
ISSN1096-0287
AutoresFrank Preusser, Benjamin U. Müller, Christian Schlüchter,
Tópico(s)Methane Hydrates and Related Phenomena
ResumoAbstract The advancing glaciers of the last glacial maximum either eroded or deeply buried older sediments in the Swiss Alpine Foreland. However, part of the Swiss Plateau was not covered by ice and is therefore an excellent area for investigating climate and environmental change during the Upper Pleistocene. Repeated fluvial sequences can be studied in several pits along the Luthern Valley. The chronological framework is based on lithostratigraphy, pollen analysis, U/Th dating, and recently, heavy mineral analysis and luminescence dating. The oldest unit, the Untere Zeller Schotter braided river deposit, represents cold climate conditions and presumably a glaciation prior to the Eemian Interglaciation. The last interglacial period and the very beginning of the last glacial cycle is represented by the Mittlere Zeller Schotter, sediments of a meandering fluvial system. Younger braided river sediments, the Obere Zeller Schotter, seem to correlate with the cold climate of oxygen isotope stage (OIS) 4. Weathering of the top of the Obere Zeller Schotter is likely to represent the OIS 3. The advancing Reuss glacier caused erosion of the recent Luthern Valley, cutting into older sediments, with local loess accumulation during the last glacial maximum as indicated by cover sediments on top of the fluvial sequence.
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