Gunz

Gunz is an early Pleistocene glacial stage in the Alps, named after the Günz River in Germany. Its deposits record an early phase of Alpine glaciation.

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Pleistocene: An epoch from about 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago, marked by repeated glacial cycles. Gunz is classified as an early glacial stage within this epoch.
Glacial advance: The movement of a glacier’s margin into terrain it previously did not cover. An advance is the physical event that produces deposits attributed to a glacial stage.
Mindel glaciation: A traditional Alpine glacial stage placed after Gunz in older schemes of Pleistocene chronology. It is the next named stage in the traditional sequence that includes Gunz.
Glacial chronology: The ordering and dating of past glacial advances and retreats. Gunz’s placement depends on correlating Alpine deposits into a reliable chronology.
Alpine glaciation: The repeated expansion and retreat of glaciers across the Alps during the Quaternary. Gunz is one proposed stage in the region’s glacial history.
Glacial retreat: The withdrawal of a glacier’s margin as melting exceeds the supply of ice. Retreat follows an advance and reshapes or exposes its deposits.
Riss glaciation: A traditional Alpine glacial stage placed after Mindel and before Würm in older schemes. Its position later in the same sequence helps distinguish Gunz’s proposed age.
Marine isotope stages: A numbered framework of global climate intervals inferred chiefly from oxygen-isotope records in marine sediments. These intervals provide a broader comparison for dating glacial deposits such as those assigned to Gunz.
Glacial period: A sustained interval of cooler climate during which glaciers and ice sheets expand. The term describes the broad climatic condition represented by Gunz.
Till: Unsorted sediment deposited directly by glacier ice. Till can preserve evidence of the glacier activity assigned to Gunz.