2014 Articles

Abrupt Climate changes Recorded in Loess Sequences

Rousseau, Denis-Didier; Sima, Adriana

The terrestrial sediments known as "loess" represent an important archive of paleoclimatic variability. Mineral material mobilized by wind at the ground surface was transported over distances from a few hundred to thousands of kilometers and deposited back on the ground where it underwent a gradual transformation into loess sediment. The largest loess deposits are found in the Northern Hemisphere, primarily because the continental surface is much larger than the Southern Hemisphere. Depending on their location on the globe, the deposits have formed under the influence of different climate factors, and contain more or less detailed records of regional climate change. here we review the current knowledge about the three main loess regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The many underlying references are provided in an extensive online archive of references, listed by regions.