Loess paleoenvironmental reconstructions on regional to supra-regional scales have recently gained much attention. Geochemistry comparisons in relation to reference datasets, such as the Upper Continental Crust (UCC) data, have furthered our understanding of the climatic and geomorphological conditions under which terrestrial sites have developed. However, UCC data differs from loess, thereby obscuring important features, and the existing “average loess” datasets also are not sufficient for modern investigations.

In this study, we examine the youngest Polish loess (L1LL1 = MIS 2, ca. 26–15 ka) for its suitability as a new, loess-focused reference dataset. Eighty-nine samples from seven sites were analyzed, using inductively coupled plasma spectrometry. The loess had assumedly been homogenized during transportation and/or sedimentary recycling (LaN/SmN = 3.34–4.06, median 3.78; Eu/Eu* = 0.46–0.66, median 0.55; GdN/YbN = 1.08–1.49, median 1.26), and weakly affected by pre- or post-depositional weathering (CIA = 53.64–69.12, median 57.69). The statistically significant differences between sites in elemental medians were mostly conditioned by variations in grain size and in the “fresh” to “re-deposited” sediment ratio. Nonetheless, the overall geochemical composition homogeneity provided a basis for the estimation of Polish Median Loess (PML) data, as determined for 41 chemical elements. When used, PML data highlight differences between loess regions in Europe, thereby providing a tool for cross-continental comparisons.

Two phases of archaeological investigation were performed in the Novi Sad City Museum at Petrovaradin Fortress. In this study, we summarize the results of geo-archaeological investigations of the second period of excavation inside the Novi Sad City Museum building. The fortress is situated on a Danube terrace with the top of the bedrock at ca.123 m asl. The investigated section consists of undisturbed fine-sandy silt. The grain-size distribution of the sediments indicates clearly its alluvial reworking but shows also a general similarity with typical primary loess in the region. All analyzed proxies indicate slightly stronger weathering in the upper part of the profile. Luminescence ages suggest that the investigated sequence covers the last glacial period and the terrace presumably formed during MIS 4. Subsequently, the Danube started its incision at the start of the next warmer period (MIS 3) onward. This terrace age and elevation enable us to derive an uplift rate of the terrace of ca. 0.73 mm/a for the last 60 ka, which seems to increase towards the present. Basal loessic material, in which artifacts occur, likely in the reworked position, indicate that the area close to today's Petrovaradin Fortress was already inhabited in MIS 5.

Glacial and lacustrine sediments from the Mongolian Altai provide paleoclimatic information for the late Pleistocene in Mongolia, for which only a few sufficiently studied archives exist. Glacial stages referred to global cooling events are reported for the last glacial maximum (27–21 ka) and the late glacial period (18–16 ka). Sedimentary archives from the first part of the last glacial period are infrequent. We present proxy data for this period from two different archives (88–63 and 57–30 ka). Due to the limitation of effective moisture, an increase of precipitation is discussed as one trigger for glacier development in the cold-arid regions of central Asia. Our pollen analysis from periods of high paleolake levels in small catchments indicate that the vegetation was sparse and of dry desert type between 42–29 and 17–11 ka. This apparent contradiction between high lake levels and dry landscape conditions, the latter supported by intensified eolian processes, points to lower temperatures and cooler conditions causing reduced evaporation to be the main trigger for the high lake levels during glacier advances. Rising temperatures that cause melting of glacier and permafrost ice and geomorphological processes play a role in paleolake conditions. Interpreting lake-level changes as regional or global paleoclimate signals requires detailed investigation of geomorphological settings and mountain–basin relationships.

In September 2016, the annual meeting of the International Union for Quaternary Research’s Loess and Pedostratigraphy Focus Group, traditionally referred to as a LoessFest, met in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, USA. The 2016 LoessFest focused on “thin” loess deposits and loess transportation surfaces. This LoessFest included 75 registered participants from 10 countries. Almost half of the participants were from outside the United States, and 18 of the participants were students. This review is the introduction to the special issue for Quaternary Research that originated from presentations and discussions at the 2016 LoessFest. This introduction highlights current understanding and ongoing work on loess in various regions of the world and provides brief summaries of some of the current approaches/strategies used to study loess deposits.

Lake high-stand sediments are found in three onshore terraces at Lake Donggi Cona, northeastern Tibetan Plateau, and reveal characteristics of hydrological changes on lake shorelines triggered by climate change, geomorphological processes, and neo-tectonic movements. The terraces consist of fluvial–alluvial to littoral-lacustrine facies. End-member modeling of grain-size distributions allowed quantification of sediment transport processes and relative lake levels during times of deposition. Radiocarbon dating revealed higher than modern lake levels during the early and mid Holocene. Lake levels follow the trend of Asian monsoon dynamics, and are modified by local non-climatic drivers. Site-specific impacts explain fluctuations during the initial lake-level rise ~ 11 cal ka BP. Maximum lake extension reached ~ 9.2 cal ka BP, at ~ 16.5 m above present lake level (a.p.l.l.). Littoral and lacustrine sediment deposition paused during a phase of fluvial activity and post-depositional cryoturbations at ~ 8.5 cal ka BP, when the lake level fell to ~ 8 m a.p.l.l. After a second maximum at ~ 7.5 cal ka BP, lake level declined slightly at ~ 6.8 cal ka BP, probably due to a non-climatic pulse that caused lake opening. The level remained high until a transition towards drier conditions ~ 4.7 cal ka BP. Though discontinuous, high-stand sediments provide a unique, high-resolution archive.

Geomorphological mapping revealed five terminal moraines in the central Verkhoyansk Mountains. The youngest terminal moraine (I) was formed at least 50 ka ago according to new IRSL (infrared optically stimulated luminescence) dates. Older terminal moraines in the western foreland of the mountains are much more extensive in size. Although the smallest of these older moraines, moraine II, has not been dated, moraine III is 80 to 90 ka, moraine IV is 100 to 120 ka, and the outermost moraine V was deposited around 135 ka. This glaciation history is comparable to that of the Barents and Kara ice sheet and partly to that of the Polar Ural Mountains regarding the timing of the glaciations. However, no glaciation occurred during the global last glacial maximum (MIS 2). Based on cirque orientation and different glacier extent on the eastern and western flanks of the Verkhoyansk Mountains, local glaciations are mainly controlled by moisture transport from the west across the Eurasian continent. Thus glaciations in the Verkhoyansk Mountains not only express local climate changes but also are strongly influenced by the extent of the Eurasian ice sheets.

This study presents results from geomorphological mapping and cosmogenic radionuclide dating (10Be) of moraine sequences at Otgon Tenger (3905 m), the highest peak in the Khangai Mountains (central Mongolia). Our findings indicate that glaciers reached their last maximum extent between 40 and 35 ka during Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 3. Large ice advances also occurred during MIS-2 (at ~ 23 and 17–16 ka), but these advances did not exceed the limits reached during MIS-3. The results indicate that climatic conditions during MIS-3, characterized by a cool-wet climate with a greater-than-today input from winter precipitation, generated the most favorable setting for glaciation in the study region. Yet, glacial accumulation also responded positively to the far colder and drier conditions of MIS-2, and again during the last glacial–interglacial transition when precipitation levels increased. Viewed in context of other Pleistocene glacial records from High Asia, the pattern of glaciation in central Mongolia shares some features with records from southern Central Asia and NE-Tibet (i.e. ice maxima during interstadial wet phases), while other features of the Mongolian record (i.e. major ice expansion during the MIS-2 insolation minimum) are more in tune with glacier responses known from Siberia and western Central Asia.

We use numerical modelling of glacier mass balance combined with recent and past glacier extents to obtain information on Little Ice Age (LIA) climate in southeastern Tibet. We choose two glaciers that have been analysed in a previous study of equilibrium-line altitudes (ELA) and LIA glacier advances with remote-sensing approaches. We apply a physically based surface energy- and mass-balance model that is forced by dynamically downscaled global analysis data. The model is applied to two glacier stages mapped from satellite imagery, modern (1999) and LIA. Precipitation scaling factors (PSF) and air temperature offsets (ATO) are applied to reproduce recent ELA and glacier mass balance (MB) during the LIA. A sensitivity analysis is performed by applying seasonally varying gradients of precipitation and air temperature. The calculated glacier-wide MB estimate for the period 2000–12 is negative for both glaciers (–992±366 kgm–2 a–1 and –1053±258 kgm–2 a–1). Relating recent and LIA PSF/ATO sets suggests a LIA climate with ~8–25% increased precipitation and ~1–2.5°C lower mean air temperature than in the period 2000–12. The results only provide an order of magnitude because deviations in other input parameters are not considered.

Despite being a key location for paleoglaciological research in north-central Asia, with the largest number of modern and Pleistocene glaciers, and in the transition zone between the humid Russian Altai and dry Gobi Altai, little is known about the precise extent and timing of Holocene and late Pleistocene glaciations in western Mongolia. Here we present detailed information on the distribution of modern and late Holocene glaciers, and new results addressing the geomorphological differentiation and numerical dating (by optically stimulated luminescence, OSL) of Pleistocene glacial sequences in these areas. For the Mongolian Altai, geochronological results suggest large ice advances correlative to marine isotope stages (MIS) 4 and 2. This is in contrast to results from the Khangai mountains, central Mongolia, showing that significant ice advances additionally occurred during MIS3. During the Pleistocene, glacial equilibrium-line altitudes (ELAs) were ~500 to >1000m lower in the more humid portion of the Russian and western Mongolian Altai, compared to 300-600 m in the drier ranges of the eastern Mongolian Altai. Pleistocene ELAs in the Khangai mountains were depressed by 700-1000 m, suggesting more humid conditions at times of major glaciation than in the eastern Mongolian Altai. This paleo-ELA pattern reveals that the precipitation gradient from the drier to the more humid regions was more pronounced during glacial times than at present.