Loess-like and palaeosol sediments from Lanzarote (Canary Islands/Spain) — Indicators of palaeoenvironmental change during the Late Quaternary

Abstract

abstract:On Lanzarote (Canary Islands) Quaternary Saharan dust and weathered local volcanic material were trapped in Miocence to Pliocene valleys dammed by younger volcanic edifices.These sediments show sequences of alternating reddish/clayey and loess-like yellowish/silty material. In order to investigate if reddish/clayey layers contain material derived from local pedogenesis and if so, which pedogenetic processes were active, we performed sedimentological, micromorphological and environmental magnetic analyses. The analyses demonstrate that these layers contain material derived from local soils. These soils were characterised by clay formation, rubefication and the formation of superparamagnetic particles during periods of enhanced soil moisture. Thus, they can serve as natural archives in order to reconstruct the terrestrial palaeoclimatic history of Lanzarote. The distribution of soil material in the profiles shows that cold periods of the Late Quaternary were characterised by more humid conditions than today. Using palaeontological remains and a comparison with recent soils on Tenerife, we can roughly estimate maximal palaeoprecipitation values during more humid periods.

A contribution to the understanding of late Pleistocene dune sand-paleosol-sequences in Fuerteventura (Canary Islands)

“…Likewise, published data from Lanzarote (Suchodoletz et al, 2010(Suchodoletz et al, , 2009) also point to wetter conditions than today during much of the Pleistocene. Hence, even though air temperatures were cooler, snapshots of enhanced humidity and high exposure time permitted soil development during the middle and late Pleistocene on this subtropical island.…”

“…The intensity degree of soil formation processes can be linked to the duration of the soil formation phase. From our previous studies on Lanzarote Island (Suchodoletz et al, 2010(Suchodoletz et al, , 2009 …”

The role of climate and aeolian dust input in calcrete formation in volcanic islands (Lanzarote and Fuerteventura, Spain)

“…Both islands have a mean annual precipitation of 105 mm. Marine trade winds affect the Canary Islands during most of the year and the scarce precipitation is mostly brought by westerly cyclones occasionally following southern tracks (Damnati, 1997;von Suchodoletz et al, 2009). At present the islands receive important amounts of Saharian dust.…”

“…A south-to-north component of flow can occur in the lee of an easterly wave (Pye, 1987;Muhs et al, 2010). Part of the dust carried by the SAL sinks into the lower atmosphere and is transported to the islands by northeast trade winds (Bozzano et al, 2002;von Suchodoletz et al, 2009;von Suchodoletz et al, 2010).…”

Environmental history recorded in aeolian deposits under stone pavements, Mojave Desert, USA

“…However, they usually cover only narrow time windows, suffer from truncation and reworking during new activity periods and can sometimes be ambiguous to interpret in terms of type and timing of constructing processes (Bateman et al, 2012). Specific components of the environmental history have been retrieved from special archives, such as rock varnish micro-laminations (eg., Liu, 2003;Liu and Broecker, 2007), packrat-midden remains (Koehler et al, 2005), calcium carbonate formations * corresponding author Email address: mdietze@gfz-potsdam.de (Michael Dietze) (Winograd et al, 2006) and soil-sediment successions (von Suchodoletz et al, 2009). However, most of these archive types also can be discontinuous, cover only small time windows or are prone to reworking and erosion.…”