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There have been five or six major ice ages in the history of Earth over the past 3 billion years. The Late Cenozoic Ice Age began 34 million years ago, its latest phase being the Quaternary glaciation, in progress since 2.58 million years ago.
The Würm glaciation or Würm stage, usually referred to in the literature as the Würm, was the last glacial period in the Alpine region. It is the youngest of the major glaciations of the region that extended beyond the Alps themselves. Like most of the other ice ages of the Pleistocene epoch, it is named after a river, in this case the Würm in Bavaria, a tributary of the Amper.
The Cromerian Stage or Cromerian Complex, also called the Cromerian, is a stage in the Pleistocene glacial history of north-western Europe, mostly occurring more than half a million years ago. It is named after the East Anglian town of Cromer in Great Britain where interglacial deposits that accumulated during part of this stage were first discovered. The stratotype for this interglacial is the Cromer Forest Bed situated at the bottom of the coastal cliff near West Runton. The Cromerian stage preceded the Anglian and Elsterian glacials and show an absence of glacial deposits in western Europe, which led to the historical terms Cromerian interglacial and the Cromerian warm period. It is now known that the Cromerian consisted of multiple glacial and interglacial periods.
The Elster glaciation or, less commonly, the Elsterian glaciation, in the older and popular scientific literature also called the Elster Ice Age (Elster-Eiszeit), is the oldest known ice age that resulted in the large-scale glaciation of North Germany. It took place 500,000–300,000 years ago. It succeeded a long period of rather warmer average temperatures, the Cromerian Complex. The Elster was followed by the Holstein interglacial and the Saale glaciation. The glacial period is named after the White Elster, a right tributary of the Saale.
The Mindel glaciation is the third youngest glacial stage in the Alps. Its name was coined by Albrecht Penck and Eduard Brückner, who named it after the Swabian river, the Mindel. The Mindel glacial occurred in the Middle Pleistocene; it was preceded by the Haslach-Mindel interglacial and succeeded by the Mindel-Riss interglacial.
The Riss glaciation, Riss Glaciation, Riss ice age, Riss Ice Age, Riss glacial or Riss Glacial is the second youngest glaciation of the Pleistocene epoch in the traditional, quadripartite glacial classification of the Alps. The literature variously dates it to between about 300,000 to 130,000 years ago and 347,000 to 128,000 years ago. It coincides with the Saale glaciation of North Germany. The name goes back to Albrecht Penck and Eduard Brückner who named this cold period after the river Riss in Upper Swabia in their three-volume work Die Alpen im Eiszeitalter published between 1901 and 1909.
The Gelasian is an age in the international geologic timescale or a stage in chronostratigraphy, being the earliest or lowest subdivision of the Quaternary Period/System and Pleistocene Epoch/Series. It spans the time between 2.58 Ma and 1.80 Ma. It follows the Piacenzian Stage and is followed by the Calabrian Stage.
The Holstein interglacial, also called the Mindel-Riss interglacial (Mindel-Riß-Interglazial) in the Alpine region, is the third to last major interglacial before the Holocene, the present warm period. It followed directly after the Elster glaciation and came before the Saale glaciation, during the Middle Pleistocene. The more precise timing is controversial since Holstein is commonly correlated to two different marine isotope stages, MIS 11 and MIS 9. This ambiguity is much related to the correlation problem described in more detail in the article 'Elster glaciation'.
The Saale glaciation or Saale Glaciation, sometimes referred to as the Saalian glaciation, Saale cold period, Saale complex (Saale-Komplex) or Saale glacial stage, covers the middle of the three large glaciations in Northern Europe and the northern parts of Eastern Europe, Central Europe and Western Europe by the Scandinavian Inland Ice Sheet. It follows the Holstein interglacial and precedes the Eemian interglacial. There is no agreement on the start date, with dates varying between 400,000 and 300,000 years ago, whereas the end is closely dated to around 130,000 years ago.
Gunz, Günz or Gunz Complex is a timespan in the glacial history of the Alps. It started approximately one million years ago and ended about 370 000 years ago. Some sources put the end at 480 000 years ago. Deep sea core samples have identified approximately 5 glacial cycles of varying intensity during Gunz.
The Lias Group or Lias is a lithostratigraphic unit found in a large area of western Europe, including the British Isles, the North Sea, the Low Countries and the north of Germany. It consists of marine limestones, shales, marls and clays.
The Weichselian glaciation was the last glacial period and its associated glaciation in northern parts of Europe. In the Alpine region it corresponds to the Würm glaciation. It was characterized by a large ice sheet that spread out from the Scandinavian Mountains and extended as far as the east coast of Schleswig-Holstein, northern Poland and Northwest Russia. This glaciation is also known as the Weichselian ice age, Vistulian glaciation, Weichsel or, less commonly, the Weichsel glaciation, Weichselian cold period (Weichsel-Kaltzeit), Weichselian glacial (Weichsel-Glazial), Weichselian Stage or, rarely, the Weichselian complex (Weichsel-Komplex).
Danube or Donau is a timespan in the glacial history of the Alps. Danube is currently regarded to have started approximately 1.8 million years ago, at the start of the Calabrian age of the international geochronology. It ended approximately one million years ago. Deep sea core samples have identified approximately 20 glacial cycles during Danube.
The Haslach glaciation, Haslach Glacial Stage (Haslach-Glazial), Haslach Complex (Haslach-Komplex) and Haslach Ice Age (Haslach-Eiszeit) are historical terms for a cold period of the Pleistocene epoch. Haslach was not included in the traditional glacial schema of the Alps by Albrecht Penck and Eduard Brückner. The glacial stage was first described around 1981 by A. Schreiner and R. Ebel. Its type region is the Haslach Gravels (Haslach-Schotter) in the area of the Riss-Iller-Lech Plateau. The Haslach cold period was thought to be preceded by the Günz-Haslach interglacial and followed by the Haslach-Mindel Interglacial.
Biber or the Biber Complex is a timespan approximately 2.6–1.8 million years ago in the glacial history of the Alps. Biber corresponds to the Gelasian age in the international geochronology, which since 2009 is regarded as the first age of the Quaternary period. Deep sea core samples have identified approximately 20 glacial cycles of varying intensity during Biber.
The Danube-Gunz interglacial, Danube-Gunz warm period (Donau-Günz-Warmzeit), often just Danube-Gunz, or also Uhlenberg interglacial (Uhlenberg-Warmzeit) are historical terms for a hypothetical warm period of the Pleistocene in the Alps, between the Danube and Gunz glacials. The interglacial was defined as the erosion phase that followed the Danube glacial and preceded the Gunz stage. It is therefore represented by the gap between the two depositions that are attributed to the two cold periods; in the type regions of the two glacial there are various depositions. In the area of the Iller-Lech Plateau they lie between the Lower Deckschotter of the Zusam Plateau and the Intermediate Deckschotter (Zwischenschottern); in the region of the Salzach Glacier between the Eichwald Schotter and the Older Deckenschotter ; and the area of Traun and Enns between the Prägünz Schotter and the Older Deckenschotter. The erosion phase linked with this interglacial is very distinct and the composition of the gravels (Schotter) in the area east of the Rhine Glacier changes markedly.
The Gunz-Haslach interglacial and the Gunz-Haslach warm period (Günz-Haslach-Warmzeit) are historical terms for a hypothetical warm period of the Pleistocene in the Alpine region, between the Gunz and Haslach glaciations. The interglacial was defined as the erosion phase which follows the Günz and precedes the Haslach Glacial Stage. It thus corresponds to the stratigraphic gap between the Zeil gravels in Swabia and Haslach gravels northeast of the Rhine Glacier.
The Haslach-Mindel interglacial and the Haslach-Mindel warm period (Haslach-Mindel-Warmzeit) are historical terms for a hypothetical warm period of the Pleistocene in the Alpine region, between the Haslach and Mindel glacial stages. The interglacial was defined as the erosion phase which follows the Haslach and precedes the Mindel glacial stage. It thus corresponds to the stratigraphic gap between the Haslach beds and the Tannheim-Laupheim gravels northeast of the Rhine Glacier.
The geology of Germany is heavily influenced by several phases of orogeny in the Paleozoic and the Cenozoic, by sedimentation in shelf seas and epicontinental seas and on plains in the Permian and Mesozoic as well as by the Quaternary glaciations.
The Tiglian, also referred to as the Tegelen, is a temperate complex stage in the glacial history of Northern Europe. It is preceded by the Praetiglian (stage). The stage was introduced by Zagwijn in 1957 based on geological formations in Tegelen in southern Netherlands. Originally, it was thought to be part of a sequence of glacials and interglacials, namely Praetiglian (cold), Tiglian (warm), Eburonian (cold), Waalian (warm), Menapian (cold), and Bavelian (warm).
References
- ↑ K.A. Habbe; Mitarbeit von D. Ellwanger; R. Becker-Haumann (2007), "Stratigraphische Begriffe für das Quartär des süddeutschen Alpenvorlandes", E&G Quaternary Science Journal (in German), 56: 66–83, doi: 10.3285/eg.56.1-2.03 , ISSN 0424-7116
- ↑ German Stratigraphic Commission: Stratigraphische Tabelle von Deutschland 2016
The cold and warm periods of the Quaternary in the Alpine region | ||
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