The depositional conditions of the fluvio-aeolian succession during the last climate minimum based on the examples from Poland and NW Ukraine Pawel Zieli  nski a , Robert J. Sokolowski b, * , Barbara Woronko c , Michal Jankowski d , Stanislaw Fedorowicz e , Iwan Zaleski f , Anatoly Molodkov g , Piotr Weckwerth h a Department of Geoecology and Palaeogeography, Maria Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin, Kra snicka 2 cd, 20-718 Lublin, Poland b Department of Marine Geology, Institute of Oceanography, University of Gda nsk, al. Pilsudskiego 46, 81-378 Gdynia, Poland c Department of Geomorphology, University of Warsaw, Krakowskie Przedmie scie 30, 00-927 Warszawa, Poland d Department of Soil Science, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Lwowska 1, 87-100 Toru n, Poland e Department of Geomorphology and Quaternary Geology, University of Gda nsk, Ba _ zy nskiego 4, 80-952 Gda nsk, Poland f Chair of Ecology, Rivne State Technical University, Soborna 11, 33000 Rivne, Ukraine g Research Laboratory for Quaternary Geochronology, Institute of Geology, Tallinn University of Technology, 5 Ehitajate Rd., Tallinn 19086, Estonia h Department of Geomorphology and Palaeogeography of the Quaternary, Lwowska 1, 87-100 Toru n, Poland article info Article history: Available online xxx Keywords: Changes of depositional environment Periglacial environment Fluvial and aeolian interactions Weichselian Aeolian sand belt abstract The object of the study was the fluvio-aeolian sedimentary succession in eight sites located in the central part of the European Sand Belt, in Poland and NW Ukraine. Based on the lithofacies, pedological and morphoscopic analyses, the analyses of frost structures and grain size as well as the TL, IR-OSL and 14 C dating, three lithofacies complexes deposited at the turn of the Weichselian and Holocene were docu- mented. The fluvial complex was deposited in the Pleniglacial within a sandbed braided river, which in the final stage of deposition of the complex was transformed into an anastomosing river. These rivers functioned in continuous permafrost coverage. The fluvio-aeolian complex was the result of aeolian deposition and fluvial redeposition, resulting from the degradation of continuous permafrost at the turn of the Pleni- and Late Glacial. These processes operated in the areas abandoned by regular flow. The aeolian complex was accumulated following the development of aeolian sand forms e sandy and silt covers as well as parabolic and longitudinal dunes, after the complete degradation of permafrost at the end of the Late Glacial and Holocene. Improving climatic conditions were expressed by the presence of fossil levels of initial gley soil in the roof of the fluvio-aeolian complex as well as poorly developed podzolic and colluvial soils in the aeolian complex. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Climate change at the end of the last glaciation had a significant impact on the course and nature of the depositional processes in the extraglacial area of advancing and melting Scandinavian Ice Sheet. These changes have been particularly well recorded in the loess-soil sequences that formed in the distal part of the extra- glacial zone (Rousseau et al., 2002; Jary, 2009; Fedorowicz et al., 2013; Jary and Ciszek, 2013). In the proximal zone, fluvio-aeolian sedimentation dominated, which has been noted in numerous sites of Western and Central Europe (Mol et al., 2000; Van Huissteden et al., 2000; Van Huissteden and Kasse, 2001; Kasse, 2002; Kasse et al., 2003; Kolstrup, 2007; Zieli  nski et al., 2013). Changes in the nature of sedimentation in this zone are the consequence of climate fluctuations at the end of the Weichselian Glaciation. However, variability of moisture conditions is debatable. Some authors indicate an increase in the continentality of climate in Europe towards the east in this period (B€ ose, 1991). In contrast, climate reconstructions performed on the basis of various sources tend to indicate the parallel layout of climate zones along the front of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet (Huijzer and Isarin, 1997; Huijzer and Vandenberghe, 1998; Isarin and Renssen, 1999). Local features also * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: pziel@umcs.pl (P. Zieli  nski), r.sokolowski@ug.gda.pl (R.J. Sokolowski), bworonko@uw.edu.pl (B. Woronko), mijank@umk.pl (M. Jankowski), geosf@univ.gda.pl (S. Fedorowicz), iwzales@rambler.ru (I. Zaleski), molodkov@gi.ee (A. Molodkov), pweck@umk.pl (P. Weckwerth). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Quaternary International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quaint http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2014.08.013 1040-6182/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved. Quaternary International xxx (2014) 1e12 Please cite this article in press as: Zieli  nski, P., et al., The depositional conditions of the fluvio-aeolian succession during the last climate minimum based on the examples from Poland and NW Ukraine, Quaternary International (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2014.08.013