Janina Nett

I am a postdoc in in the field of paleoclimatology with a focus on loess landscapes and luminescence dating. Currently I am working at the RWTH Aachen University in Germany, where I also finished my PhD thesis in 2017. I am the editor-in-chief of the climate division’s blog of the EGU promoting scientific communication. In my free time, I enjoy travelling and everything outdoorsy.

What’s my age again? Comparing dating methods in loess

Janina Nett, Sonja Berg, Christian Zeeden and Stephanie Scheidt February 9, 2021

Figure 1: The investigated Balta Alba Kurgan loess-paleosol sequence in Romania with the partly preserved Kurgan on top (black dashed line). Sampled profiles are indicated by the white rectangles and the stratigraphically important tephra layer is highlighted in pink (adapted from [1]).

As you have learned from our previous posts, loess is a widespread terrestrial sediment, known to be an important archive for the changes of past environmental and climatic conditions. In order to use loess as a proxy, we first need to investigate the age of the sediments. In loess, different dating methods can be used, such as luminescence dating, radiocarbon dating, magnetic stratigraphy, and or ...[Read More]

Desert loess: formation, distribution, geoscientific value

Kamila Ryzner, Janina Nett and Christian Zeeden September 30, 2020

Image of desert loess from Tunisia, provided by Sascha Meszner, Maximilian Pachtmann and Georg Mettig (Institute for Geography, TU Dresden; Germany).

Loess is an aeolian (wind-driven) silty sediment covering over 10% of the Earth’s land surface; it occurs predominantly in the mid-latitudes. On a global scale, loess is among the most widespread unconsolidated sediments, and of crucial importance for agricultural regions where loess deposits are known to form fertile soils because of its ability to store water and retain nutrients. Loess is compr ...[Read More]