Field trip 7, Friday 27^th September 2024 (Full day)

Brunhes to burials – the Loess region Krems, Lower Austria

Guides: Tobias Sprafke, Robert Peticzka

This excursion is dedicated to loess, paleosols, and to Quaternary research history in the region around Krems a.d. Donau. The landscape at the eastern exit of the picturesque Wachau valley, carved by the Danube into crystalline basement rocks, is covered by thick loess and has a more than 100-year-long research history. World-famous are Late Paleolithic findings (e.g., the Venus of Willendorf and Stratzing, Wachtberg infant burials). We will pass Krems-Wachtberg, with a last glacial high-resolution loess record, which we have studied in detail before the closure of the excavation site. We visit still accessible, but almost forgotten tremendous loess outcrops known from literature. The loess-paleosol sequences Paudorf, Göttweig, and Krems have been type localities of the Quaternary until the 1970s. Our recent studies have identified the complex nature of these profiles, with marked discontinuities and polygenetic units. Transport will be by train. Train ride, packed lunch and the excursion guide (including all Deuqua field trips) are included in the price.