TIME FOR PARADIGM SHIFT IN THE CLASSIFICATION OF QUATERNARY GLACIAL DEPOSITS

Glacial deposits of Quaternary age cover lithified bedrock in about one half of northern North-America and one fourth of Eurasia. This overburden is relatively thin, non-lithified, lithologically in small scale variable and has a preserved depositional topography. Due to these geologically unic characteristics it has been traditionally treated differently in geological research, than the older lithified pre-Quaternary geological formations. In Europe, it's investigation has even becomed part of physical geography research.

These developments have caused, that successfully in geology applied stratigraphic classifications and ways to build regional stratigraphic frameworks have not been transmitted into the classification of Quaternary glacial deposits. This causes severe inefficiency in the use of Quaternary geological data in densely populated societies.

The few existing countrywide Quaternary stratigraphic frameworks are based on traditional lithostratigraphy. However, they are here considered unsatisfactory and a new classification system based on the combined use of allo- and lithostratigraphy is proposed.