Distribution and pattern morphology of pseudomorphs of thermal-conctraction-cracks features in Austria

During the cold Pleistocene episodes, the territory of Austria was at the forefront of nearby Alpine glaciation. The unglaciated area of Austria was part of the Central European periglacial zone, in which permafrost developed. The distribution of Upper Pleistocene permafrost, its character, but also its time classification in the western part of the Pannonian Basin is still unclear. It is also because ideas about the characteristics of Upper Pleistocene permafrost in this area have so far been based mainly on indirect biological or lithological records such as pollen grains, malacofauna snails, or loess-paleosol sequences. Until now, the evidence of direct geo-indicators of paleo-permafrost has been relatively limited, with unique relict frost-wedges, cryoturbations, or sporadic remains of thermokarst lakes depressions and pingos. The results present a new database of relict frost-wedges in Austria, which was created based on published literary sources, but mainly based on aerial imaginary available on Google Earth Pro. The results significantly expand (by hundreds of localities) the existing knowledge about the occurrence of relict frost-wedges, which have so far been located in Austria purely on the basis of excavated profiles and soil probes. The found polygons of frost-wedge pseudomorphs are an..