Saale

A division of Pleistocene deposits and time in northern Europe which followed the Holstein Interglacial Stage and preceded the Eemian Interglacial Stage. It was the penultimate cold stage in northern Europe, c 200,000-125,000 BP. The extensive and complex Saale deposits are correlated with the Wolstonian (or Gipping) Glacial Stage of Britain and the Riss Glacial Stage of the European Alpine region. The Saale is roughly contemporaneous with the Illinoian Glacial Stage of North America. The Saale has three complex phases: the Drente, Treene, and Warthe substages. The Drente and Warthe represent periods of glacial advance, or maxima, whereas the Treene represents an interstadial period of glacial retreat between the early Drente and the late Warthe. In the region of central Europe, the Saale is represented by three glacial maxima separated by two periods, or interstadials, of moderating climatic conditions. One of the main features is a complex series of end-moraines, demarcating the maximum extent of ice sheets. These ice sheets flowed out from centers in Scandinavia, across the Baltic Sea and into northern Europe and Russia. The end-moraines are split into two sets: one called the Drenthe moraines (or Dnieper), and the Warthe moraines (Moscow in the USSR). These formations are complex and each seems to represent several 'pulses' of the ice-sheet edge. The Saale Glacial Stage was named for the German river, a tributary of the Elbe.

A group of Quaternary glacial deposits in northwest Europe. One of the main features is a complex series of end-MORAiNES, demarcating the maximum extent of icesheets. These ice-sheets flowed out from centres in Scandinavia, across the bed of the Baltic Sea and into northern Europe and the USSR. The end-moraines are split into two sets: one more eroded and sometimes called the Drenthe moraines (or Dnieper in the USSR), and the other more freshly defined and called the Warthe moraines (Moscow in the USSR). These formations are complex and each seems to represent several ‘pulses’ of the ice-sheet edge. A bore-hole in northern Germany has shown Warthe deposits to be sandwiched between two sets of marine Eemian interglacial deposits. So it appears that the Eemian represents more than one interglacial stage and that the Warthe represents a separate cold stage. The Drenthe deposits may represent two cold stages, separated by a third division of Eemian interglacial sediments. The exact age of the Saale deposits is unknown, but they are older than the extreme range of radiocarbon dating (70,000 bp) and can be shown by palaeomagnetism to be younger than 700,000 BP (see Table 5, page 418).