Institute of Geography and Geology

The study area is located in the abandoned brick-yard of Langenlois, 8 km NE to the city of Krems in Lower Austria where thick fluvial sediments from the Pliocene and Pleistocene loess and loess-like deposits on top of the Upper Pliocene or Early Pleistocene gravel are present. J. Fink (1976) investigated the older S exposed sections of the brick-yard and described several fluvial layers at the base of the exposure, followed by two brownish paleosols, a reddish and well-developed paleosol complex which in the upper part is overlain by loess. In the upper south-eastern part of the section described by Fink (1976) an intense erosional phase represented by a fluvial channel refilled with reddish sands is visible. This study presents the results from the W exposed section of the brick-yard, where five upper Pliocene and Pleistocene sedimentary units could be documented. The sequences show a thickness of 5 m in average and extend about a distance of 100 m. Within these sequences a gradua...

Despite the widespread application of landslide susceptibility analyses, there is hardly any information about whether or not the occurrence of recent landslide events was correctly predicted by the relevant susceptibility maps. Hence, the objective of this study is to evaluate four landslide susceptibility maps retrospectively in a landslide-prone area of the Swabian Alb (Germany). The predictive performance of each susceptibility map is evaluated based on a landslide event triggered by heavy rainfalls in the year 2013. The retrospective evaluation revealed significant variations in the predictive accuracy of the analyzed studies. Both completely erroneous as well as very precise predictions were observed. These differences are less attributed to the applied statistical method and more to the quality and comprehensiveness of the used input data. Furthermore, a literature review of 50 peer-reviewed articles showed that most landslide susceptibility analyses achieve very high validat...

The freeze-thaw cycles in periglacial areas during the Quaternary glacials increased frost weathering, leading to a disintegration of rock formations. Transported downslope, clasts allowed in some areas the formation of stratified slope deposits known as "grèzes litées". This study reviews the existing theories and investigates the grèzes litées deposits of Enscherange and Rodershausen in Luxembourg. This process was reinforced by the lithostructural control of the parent material expressed by the dip of schistosity (66°) and its orientation parallel to the main slopes in the area. This gave opportunities to activate the frost-weathering process on top of the ridge where the parent material outcropped. As the stratified slope deposits have a dip of 23° and as there is no significant lateral variation in rock fragment size, slope processes that involve only gravity are excluded and transportation in solifluction lobes with significant slopewash and sorting processes is hypo...

The upper Pleistocene loess-paleosol sequence of Val Sorda (northeastern Italy) is investigated with paleopedological, micromorphological, and mineralogical methods. Special emphasis is placed on magnetic parameters and analysis of clay minerals. The base of the sequence ...

On top of a fluvioglacial terrace belonging to the Traun-Enns-plate near Wels/Aschet, a complex loess/paleosol sequence has been investigated. So far, the terrace is classified as a classical Günz unit. Sedimentological and mineralogical analyses were carried out on the basis of paleopedological field data. The results show that in terms of composition, the paleosols can clearly be differentiated and are characterised throughout by interglacial weathering intensity. Bulk mineralogical as well as clay mineralogical data allow a ranking of weathering intensity based on indicator minerals. From the bulk mineralogical perspective, slightly weathered loess still contains carbonate minerals and primary chlorite, whereas the intensely weathered soil horizons are characterised by the total absence of carbonate minerals and primary chlorite and the near absence of micas and feldspars. In clay mineralogical analyses, chlorite and the relation of 14Å-and 18Ŭvermiculites, as well as mixed laye...

Investigations on paleopedology and Quaternary stratigraphy were carried out in the area of fluvioglacial terraces of the rivers Inn and Traun/Enns. Research projects have been financed by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the ICSU Grant Programme. Detailed studies were carried out on paleosols and loess sequences of different ages. The investigations of the research group were focused on loess/paleosol sequences located on top of Riss terraces (OIS 6 and older) as well as in areas with Mindel and Gunz terraces.

RESUMEN La porcion central de la Altiplanicie Mexicana Central aun carece de un escenario consistente de evolucion ambiental del Cuaternario, especialmente para el periodo previo al ultimo ciclo glacial/interglacial. En este trabajo se presenta una amplia secuencia tefra-paleosuelos (11 paleosuelos agrupados en tres unidades: Gris, Parda y Roja) cerca de la ciudad de Tlaxcala, en dos localidades (Tlalpan y Mamut) para obtener un proxy paleoclimatico del Pleistoceno medio y del Holoceno. A partir de los datos de la localidad Tlalpan, se ha interpretado una tendencia paleoclimatica general para los ultimos 900,000 anos (la base de la secuencia se fecho por el metodo de K/Ar), mientras que de la localidad del Mamut se obtuvo un registro mas detallado, que comienza a partir de la etapa isotopica marina 3 (EIM 3), proporcionada por una serie de fechamientos de radiocarbon. Las caracteristicas fisicoquimicas y mineralogicas de todos los paleosuelos sepultados evidencian los procesos pedog...

Landslide research chiefly relies on digital inventories for a multitude of spatial, temporal, and/or process analyses. In respect thereof, many landslide inventories are populated with information from textual documents (e.g., news articles, technical reports) due to effectiveness. However, information detail can vary greatly in these documents and the question arises whether such textual information is suitable for landslide inventories. The present work proposes to define the usefulness of textual source types as a probability to find landslide information, weighted with adaptable parameter requirements. To illustrate the method with practical results, a German landslide dataset has been examined. It was found that three combined source types (administrative documents, expert opinions, and news articles) give an 89 % chance to detect useful information on three defined parameters (location, date, and process type). In conclusion, the definition of usefulness as a probability make...

Sedimentological, palaeopedological and palaeoecological investigations were carried out on the periglacial loess deposits of Duttendorf (Austria) in the forefield of the Pleistocene Salzach glacier. In the re-investigations presented here, first analysis of pollen and macro remains content of the loess deposit is presented. The upper loess section was positioned into the Last Glacial Maximum (OIS 2) by an earlier radiocarbon date of mollusc shells, which is confirmed by a recent OSL date. The pollen content of eight selected samples shows the picture of an open grassland, especially in the upper loess section, with several herbal taxa. The presence of hygrophilous plant species points to more humid high glacial conditions than previously supposed and the (at least) temporal presence of open water bodies. The sedimentological account and especially the malacofauna underpin this picture.

Abstract Slope deposits, which veil entire slopes or large parts of them in a rather uniform manner (cover beds), are ubiquitous in the subdued mountains of Central Europe. Here we provide an overview of the current state of knowledge on these deposits. The Central European cover beds are divided into (1) the upper layer that is ubiquitously distributed and displays a relatively constant thickness; (2) the intermediate layer the distribution of which is mainly restricted to flat relief, to slope depressions, and to lee-ward facing slopes; and (3) the basal layer, which is rather widespread again. Both the upper and intermediate layer contain intermixed loess, whereas the basal layer is free of loess and typically has a high bulk density. Aside from the loess content, the composition of the layers differs, reflecting varying portions of crushed and chemically weathered rock allocated from up-slope. This causes notable diversity depending on bedrock and, thus, induces remarkable regional differences. Cover beds were mainly formed by periglacial gelifluction. The upper layer formed in the Late Glacial possibly during several short episodes of activity. In contrast, the underlying layers may be diachronous; nevertheless, they display recurring vertical sequences. This is probably due to the fact that loess-free layers usually could not deposit as long as there was loess in the environs, which may have been inherited from older deposits. Thus, the last phase of surface wash, during which older loess was removed, determines the age of the lower layers.