Gunz, Günz or Gunz Complex is a timespan in the glacial history of the
Alps. It started approximately one million years ago and ended about 370 000 years ago. Some sources put the end at 480 000 years ago. Deep sea core samples have identified approximately 5 glacial cycles of varying intensity during Gunz.
[German Stratigraphic Commission: Stratigraphische Tabelle von Deutschland 2016](_blank)
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History of the term
The name Gunz glaciation, Gunzian glaciation or Günz glacial stage (german: Günz-Kaltzeit, also ''Günz-Glazial'', ''Günz-Komplex'' and ''Günz-Eiszeit'') goes back to Albrecht Penck and Eduard Brückner
Eduard Brückner (29 July 1862 – 20 May 1927) was a geographer, glaciologist and climatologist.
Biography
He was born in Jena, the son of the Baltic-German historian Alexander Brückner and Lucie Schiele. After an education at the Karlsruhe gym ...
, who named this ice age after the River Günz
The Günz is a river in Bavaria, Germany.
It is formed near Lauben by the confluence of its two source rivers: the Östliche Günz (eastern Günz) and the Westliche Günz (western Günz). It is approx. long (including its western source river) ...
in their multi-volume work, ''Die Alpen im Eiszeitalter'' ("The Alps in the Ice Age Period") which was published between 1901 and 1909. Its type region is the Iller-Lech Plateau. It is the oldest glaciation of the Pleistocene in the traditional, quadripartite glacial classification of the Alps. The Günz was thought to follow the Danube-Günz interglacial The Danube-Gunz interglacial (german: Donau-Günz-Interglazial), Danube-Gunz warm period (''Donau-Günz-Warmzeit''), often just Danube-Gunz, or also Uhlenberg interglacial (''Uhlenberg-Warmzeit'') are historical terms for a hypothetical warm period ...
and was ended by the Günz-Haslach interglacial The Gunz-Haslach interglacial (german: Günz-Haslach-Interglazial) and the Gunz-Haslach warm period (''Günz-Haslach-Warmzeit'') are historical terms for a hypothetical warm period of the Pleistocene in the Alpine region, between the Gunz and Hasla ...
.Mindel
The Mindel () is a river in Bavaria, southern Germany. The Mindel originates west of Kaufbeuren, in the Allgäu region, and flows generally north. It flows into the Danube (right tributary) in Gundremmingen, east of Günzburg. The towns Mindelhei ...
stage, with the border arbitrarily put at the start of MIS 10 (approximately 374 000 years ago). Gunz corresponds roughly to the Cromerian stage in the glacial history of Northern Europe.
Glacial cycles
Deep sea core samples have identified approximately 10 marine isotope stages (at least MIS 21 to MIS 11) during Gunz.Mid-Pleistocene Transition
The Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT), also known as the Mid-Pleistocene Revolution (MPR), is a fundamental change in the behaviour of glacial cycles during the Quaternary glaciations. The transition happened approximately 1.25–0.7 milli ...
). The most intense glacials of Gunz ( MIS 16 and MIS 12
The Anglian Stage is the name used in the British Isles for a middle Pleistocene glaciation. It precedes the Hoxnian Stage and follows the Cromerian Stage in the British Isles. The Anglian Stage is correlated to Marine Isotope Stage 12 (MIS 12), ...
) reached similar extents to those of the more recent Riss
The Riss (german: Riß) is a small river in Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, right tributary of the Danube. Its source is in Upper Swabia, between Bad Waldsee and Bad Schussenried. It flows north, through the town of Biberach an der Ris ...
and Wurm glacials. These have not been easy to identify in the geological record of the Alps, but MIS 16 has been identified with the Don Glaciation of Eastern Europe. The strong glacial MIS 12 has been problematic, and has sometimes been identified with the Mindel glaciation, which would imply an end to Gunz already after MIS 13 (480 000 years ago).
See also
* Timeline of glaciation
References
Literature
*
*
* (3 volumes)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunz glaciation
Pleistocene events
Ice ages
Geology of the Alps