@misc{May2002,
  type      = {Master Thesis},
  author    = {May, Jan-Hendrik},
  title     = {The Quebrada de Purmamarca, Juyuj, NW-Argentina : Landscape Evolution and Morphodynamics in the Semi-Arid Andes},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-34416},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2002},
  abstract  = {This study aims at reconstructing landscape evolution in the Quebrada de Purmamarca, NW-Argentina. Thorough mapping of the existing landforms and present morphodynamic situation was conducted on the base of intensive field work and the interpretation of remote sensing imagery. Aside from geomorphological mapping, field work focused on the description of numerous sedimentological and pedological profiles. The analysis of these profiles was supported by laboratory data from field samples (granulometry, CaCO3 content) but also by a 14C age date. With particular regard to pedological questions, several samples from soil crust were micromorphologically analysed and interpreted. The resulting data allowed the reconstruction of several phases of landscape evolution in the Quebrada de Purmamarca back to the Miocene. During this phase, the Andes were still a landscape of relatively low relief being subject to processes of planation under conditions markedly more humid than today. Highly faulted and deformed fanglomerates are the first evidence of a progressing uplift coupled under an increasingly arid climate. As a consequence of continued uplift and alternating phases of erosion and aggradation, large terrace systems have formed. Particularly the youngest terrace level shows good preservation. Against the background of the intense climatic changes characteristic for the Pleistocene, these terraces have been the major focus of this study. They are built up almost entirely from coarse debris-flow sediments which are thought to be the result of a significant drop of the periglacial belt of more than 1,000 meters. This interpretation is confirmed by a variety of relict periglacial landforms like "glatthang" morphology (smooth topography), sheets of frost debris and asymmetric valleys. As sediment supply from periglacial debris production exceeded the transport capacity of the drainage system leading to the dominance of depositional processes. Aggradation has been interrupted or at least weakened several times as reflected by two lacustrine to fluvial intervals within the terrace deposits. In this context, particularly the younger interval might announce a shift in morphodynamics around 49 ka BP (14C age), when the phase of terrace aggradation grades into a phase of dominant alluvial fan activity. On the terrace surfaces a well-developed reddish soil has developed. It is interpreted to indicate a phase of increased humidity possibly in relation with the "Minchin" wet phase between 40 ka BP and 25 ka BP. At many places, this reddish soil is overlain by a markedly cemented sand crust. Based on the good sorting of medium and fine sand, this sand crust could be interpreted as fluvio-eolian sediment. Its deposition under very arid and cold climatic conditions may be attributed to the Late Glacial Maximum (LGM). However, the sand crust shows signs of erosion at many places and has not been observed anywhere below the level of the terrace surface. Therefore the onset of severe erosion and incision resulting in the evacuation of enormous quantities of sediment from the study area is assumed to postdate the LGM, possibly due to increased discharge rates during a wetter Lateglacial. Regardless of its timing, the intense incision is likely to have cut down to below the present floodplain evidently causing several mass wasting events in the study area. Since the early Holocene a number of short-term changes seem to have been responsible for the landscape evolution of the Quebrada de Purmamarca. More humid phases of pronounced slope smoothing have alternated with semi-arid phases of longer duration. The well-developed, polycyclic calcretes on top of the inactive terraces and alluvial fans give evidence for these changes. At present, the marked desert pavement on top of most terraces and alluvial fan surfaces prevent soil. The concentration of runoff on these pavements amplifies badland formation and alluvial fan activity along the terrace slopes. The presently observed floodplain aggradation may be attributed to these processes but considering the severe gullying reaching far into the upper study area, the aggradation may as well reflect a more general and regional trend.},
  subject      = {Quart{\"a}r},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Buedel2020,
  author    = {B{\"u}del, Christian},
  title     = {Quaternary alluvial fan morphodynamics and basin sedimentation in North Iran},
  edition   = {1. Auflage},
  publisher = {W{\"u}rzburg University Press},
  address   = {W{\"u}rzburg},
  isbn      = {978-3-95826-114-3},
  issn      = {0510-9833},
  doi       = {10.25972/WUP-978-3-95826-115-0},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-184508},
  school      = {W{\"u}rzburg University Press},
  pages     = {XI, 124},
  year      = {2020},
  abstract  = {Several hundred meter thick alluvial fans are dominating the landscape of semiarid plains of north-eastern Iranian mountain-talus. These fans developed since Miocene times and are still prograding today. They are storing and transporting major amount of weathered debris from the mountain ranges and sediments are directed to the depressions of the endorheic basins. In this course, the debris gets increasingly weathered and abraded to sand silt and clay fractions, which finally constitute the fine loamy layers of the typical central playa lakes and playas. The study focused on the detailed investigation of a characteristic section of this prominent sediment cascades. The sediments were planned be comprehensively documented by using a fully analytical geomorphological mapping approach, also suitable for the classification of the sediment's geomorphological system contexts. Therefore, a geodatabase structure was developed, which is capable of managing and analyzing geomorphological data. The corresponding data was acquired using remote sensing imagery, digital elevation models and field mapping campaigns. Additionally, mapped sediments were selected and analyzed to reveal representative stratigraphic and sedimentologic characteristics. The fieldwork was conducted in Damghan Basin on sections in geomorphologically subdivided alluvial apron sediments. The corresponding, more regularly layered and partly laminated sediments from the central playa, were also investigated and comparably described. Attending to the preparation of profile sections and the percussion core probing, samples from both origins were taken. Detailed lithostratigraphical and geochemical analyses were carried out in the laboratory, in order to develop sound comparable sediment and sediment alteration indices. In addition, OSL sampling was done on distinct alluvial fan surfaces, and the samples were measured and dated in the laboratory in order to develop a functional chronostratigraphy. The results of the geomorphological and stratigraphical investigations reveal five classes of surface ages on the alluvial apron. Parallel to that observation, the ramming core samples exhibit four main phases of sediment development in the playa, each with internal differentiation. This brings up opportunities for a valid correlation of continuously deposited playa sediments, with widespread alluvial surfaces. By considering the OSL ages of selected terrestrial and lacustrine layers, the stratigraphy and relative chronological order of the studied sediments, are aligned to Pleistocene and mid to late Holocene periods. This is also confirmed by proxy ages from the chronological framework of the landscape development, within the basin. Geophysical and geochemical data reveals roughly cyclic sedimentation and sediment alteration that can also be observed in genetically differing geoarchives from alluvial fan surfaces to the playa sediments. These parallel developments are confirmed by the sequence-stratigraphic order of the archives which is derived from geomorphological mapping. We postulate a time span covered by the playa sediments from today to late Pleistocene times. Drying and Lake level retreat at the end of Pleistocene is documented in parallel geoarchives of terrestrial and lacustrine origin. Thus, geomorphologic landform-succession and alluvial fan morphogenesis, as well as geochemical and geophysical fingerprinting data of playa sediments characterize this development. Therefore, it is present in the two youngest generations of alluvial fans, which deposited at the toe of the alluvial apron and which incorporate reworked still water deposits of a former lake level terrace. The geochemical parameters, like pH-value and Ca/S-ratio, in both, sediments of a former lake level and those from the recent playa extent exhibit a similar development. In addition, Ti/Al-ratio shows the potential for quantifying lake level retreat, as it seems to be tightly depending on lake level and increasing transportation distances along the sediment cascade. Major Findings - Analytical geomorphological mapping is a key tool for understanding the sedimentation history of the Iranian Quaternary and for describing Quaternary stratigraphic units of North Iran. - The younger playa deposits in Damghan Basin cover a time span from today to late Pleistocene. They are 10 meters thick and reveal very low organic matter contents throughout the core. - Drying and Lake level retreat is documented in parallel geoarchives (1) in geomorphologic landform-succession and alluvial fan morphogenesis and (2) in geochemical and geophysical fingerprinting data of playa sediments - Sequences of torrential sedimentation are detectable signals and can be correlated in both: playa sediments and landform morphology},
  subject      = {Quart{\"a}rgeomorphologie},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Sprafke2016,
  author    = {Sprafke, Tobias},
  title     = {L{\"o}ss in Nieder{\"o}sterreich - Archiv quart{\"a}rer Klima- und Landschaftsver{\"a}nderungen},
  publisher = {W{\"u}rzburg University Press},
  address   = {W{\"u}rzburg},
  isbn      = {978-3-95826-038-2 (print)},
  doi       = {10.25972/WUP-978-3-95826-039-9},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-127787},
  school      = {W{\"u}rzburg University Press},
  pages     = {272},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {Diese Arbeit widmet sich detaillierten stratigraphischen und pal{\"a}opedologischen Studien an L{\"o}ss-Pal{\"a}oboden Sequenzen (LPS) im kontinentalen Nordosten {\"O}sterreichs, im Lee der B{\"o}hmischen Masse relativ zur Westwindzone. Neben methodischen Erkenntnissen ergeben sich allgemeine Schlussfolgerungen {\"u}ber die Klima- und Landschaftsentwicklung w{\"a}hrend der letzten Million Jahre. Die untersuchten Aufschl{\"u}sse liegen in der Region um Krems (Krems-Schießst{\"a}tte, Paudorf, Stiefern) und in Stillfried. Einige sind weithin bekannt als ehemalige Typuslokalit{\"a}ten der Quart{\"a}rstratigraphie, aber nach fundamentalen Revisionen in den 1970er Jahren schwand das Interesse an diesen merklich. Die LPS befinden sich in Hanglage, so sind polygenetische Einheiten und Erosionsl{\"u}cken {\"u}blich. Als Archive einer komplexen geomorphologischen Entwicklung sind sie nicht geeignet f{\"u}r die Anwendung {\"u}blicher pal{\"a}oklimatischer Proxies. Um die Entstehung der untersuchten LPS zu verstehen, wurde ein multimethodischer Ansatz entwickelt, der detaillierte Untersuchungen von der Landschafts- bis auf die Mikroebene umfasst. Innovativ ist die Verwendung quantitativer Farbmessungen in hoher Aufl{\"o}sung zum Zwecke einer standardisierten Klassifikation von Profileinheiten. Detaillierte mikromorphologische Untersuchungen sind Basis f{\"u}r die Rekonstruktion des Wechselspiels aus {\"a}olischer Sedimentation, Pedogenese und Hangprozessen. Die Korrelation der LPS basiert auf mehreren geochronologischen Ankerpunkten und ist zugleich Hinweis auf tiefgreifende morphologische Ver{\"a}nderungen in der Region Krems w{\"a}hrend des Pleistoz{\"a}ns. Im chronologischen Rahmen ergeben sich unter Anwendung des Konzepts der klimaphytomorphen B{\"o}den qualitative pal{\"a}oklimatische Schlussfolgerungen: Kr{\"a}ftig verwitterte Bodenhorizonte sind polygenetisch und nicht das Resultat feuchterer Klimabedingungen w{\"a}hrend dezidierter Entwicklungsphasen. Die Kontinentalit{\"a}t des Untersuchungsgebiets blieb w{\"a}hrenden der letzten Million Jahre weitgehend bestehen, teils mit erh{\"o}htem mediterranem Einfluss. Eine Dominanz atlantischer Feuchte beschr{\"a}nkt(e) sich auf die Regionen westlich der B{\"o}hmischen Masse. Die Pal{\"a}oklimate des Untersuchungs-gebiets waren eher vergleichbar mit jenen des Pannonischen Beckens, obgleich die untersuchten Sequenzen keinen Hinweis auf den dort vermuteten Gradienten zunehmender Aridit{\"a}t zeigen. Interessant sind ferner zahlreiche gebleichte Horizonte innerhalb der L{\"o}sssedimente, die als Reste von Tundragleyen interpretiert werden. Diese sind im L{\"o}ss des Pannonischen Becken nicht nachweisbar. Hieraus wird ein mitteleurop{\"a}ischer Charakter kaltzeitlichen Klimas innerhalb des untersuchten Zeitrahmens gefolgert.},
  subject      = {L{\"o}ss},
  language  = {de}
}