Gunz, Günz or Gunz Complex is a timespan in the glacial history of the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...

. 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
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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 Albrecht Penck (25 September 1858 – 7 March 1945) was a German geographer and geologist and the father of Walther Penck. Biography Born in Reudnitz near Leipzig, Penck became a university professor in Vienna, Austria, from 1885 to 1906, a ...

and Eduard Brückner, who named this ice age after the River Günz 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 The Iller-Lech Plateau (german: Donau-Iller-Lech-Platte), also known as the Upper Swabian Plateau (''Oberschwäbische Hochebene''), is one of the natural regions of Germany. Boundaries In the northwest the Iller-Lech Plateau borders on the Sw ...

. It is the oldest

glaciation A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate be ...

of the Pleistocene in the traditional, quadripartite glacial classification of the Alps. The Günz was thought to follow the Danube-Günz interglacial and was ended by the Günz-Haslach interglacial. The 2016 version of the detailed stratigraphic table by the German Stratigraphic Commission puts the start of Gunz in the late Calabrian (approximately one million years ago, earlier than MIS 19) and shows a continuity of glacial cycles with the following Mindel stage, with the border arbitrarily put at the start of MIS 10 (approximately 374 000 years ago). Gunz corresponds roughly to the

Cromerian stage The Cromerian Stage or Cromerian Complex, also called the Cromerian (german: Cromerium), is a stage in the Pleistocene glacial history of north-western Europe, mostly occurring more than half a million years ago. It is named after the East Anglian t ...

in the glacial history of Northern Europe.

Glacial cycles

Deep sea core samples have identified approximately 10

marine isotope stage Marine isotope stages (MIS), marine oxygen-isotope stages, or oxygen isotope stages (OIS), are alternating warm and cool periods in the Earth's paleoclimate, deduced from oxygen isotope data reflecting changes in temperature derived from data f ...

s (at least MIS 21 to MIS 11) during Gunz. Thus, there have probably been about 5 glacial cycles of varying intensity during Gunz. During Gunz the 41 000 year glacial cycle of previous stages ( Biber and

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...

) had been replaced by a dominance of a 100,000-year cycle ( Mid-Pleistocene Transition). The most intense glacials of Gunz (

MIS 16 The Don Glaciation, also known as the Donian Glaciation and the Donian Stage, was the major glaciation of the East European Plain, 0.5–0.8 million years ago, during the Cromerian Stage of the Middle Pleistocene. It is correlated to Marine Isotop ...

and MIS 12) reached similar extents to those of the more recent Riss 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 The Don Glaciation, also known as the Donian Glaciation and the Donian Stage, was the major glaciation of the East European Plain, 0.5–0.8 million years ago, during the Cromerian Stage of the Middle Pleistocene. It is correlated to Marine Isotop ...

of Eastern Europe. The strong glacial MIS 12 has been problematic, and has sometimes been identified with the

Mindel glaciation The Mindel glaciation (german: Mindel-Kaltzeit, also ''Mindel-Glazial'', ''Mindel-Komplex'' or, colloquially, ''Mindel-Eiszeit'') is the third youngest glacial stage in the Alps. Its name was coined by Albrecht Penck and Eduard Brückner, who nam ...

, which would imply an end to Gunz already after MIS 13 (480 000 years ago).

References

Literature

* * * (3 volumes) {{DEFAULTSORT:Gunz glaciation Pleistocene events Ice ages Geology of the Alps

History of the term

Glacial cycles

See also

References

Literature