Upper Pleistocene environmental dynamics in central Europe: multidisciplinary research of loess/paleosols sequences and lacustrine sediments

The principal goal of this thesis was to provide relevant information on the spatiotemporal dynamics of erosion-sedimentation and weathering processes in the last climatic cycle and to interpret the obtained data in the context of European paleoenvironmental development. Representative sequences of loess, paleosols and lacustrine sediments from the area of the Bohemian Massif, the Carpathian Foredeep, the the Vienna Basin and the northern edge of the Panno-nian Basin were investigated using a wide range of instru-mental tools and paleontological methods. A uniform analytical approach applied to these sedimentary facies has provided ample new information about the paleoclimatolog-ical and paleoenvironmental development of East-Central Europe - an important region in the transition zone from oceanic to continental macro-climatic settings. The individu-al studies included in this PhD thesis cover the complete period of the Upper Pleistocene (MIS 5-2; ~130-12.7 ky BP) and are presented as separate chapters in the order of the superposition of strata. Chapters III/1-3 deal with the results of research into six loess/paleosol sequences (LPSs) situated in the Central Bohemian Massif, throughout the Moravian Valleys, and at the northwest and north edge of the Pannonian Basin. A detailed paleoenvironmental..