OSL chronologies of paleoenvironmental dynamics recorded by loess-paleosol sequences from Europe: Case studies from the Rhine-Meuse area and the Neckar Basin

Loess-paleosol sequences (LPS) represent an important terrestrial archive for the reconstruction of the paleoenvironmental evolution during the Last Glacial cycle in Europe. In the Rhine-Meuse area and the southwestern Germany, there are only few numerical ages determined with state-of-the-art luminescence methods, which limits the robustness of established chronostratigraphies. This study presents a comparative dating approach using quartz and feldspar post-infrared (pIRIR290) optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) from fine- and medium-grained samples of five loess-paleosol sequences. Paleoenvironmental dynamics are reconstructed by high-resolution grain-size analysis.