Vol. 60 No 1: Loess in Europe

The papers of this Special Issue give remarkable new results and conclusions on loess from Europe underlining the excellence of loess archives for past climate and environment reconstructions from a local and regional perspective and their relationship to a more global interpretation (Frechen 2011 a, b). Loess is a clastic predominantly silt-sized sediment, which is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. According to Pye (1995) four fundamental requirements are necessary for it formation: a dust source, adequate wind energy to transport the dust, a suitable accumulation area, and a sufficient amount of time. During the Quaternary, loess and loess-like sediments were formed in periglacial environments on mid-continental shield areas in Europe and Siberia, on the margins of high mountain ranges like in Tajikistan and on semi-arid margins of some lowland deserts like in China.