Riss glaciation


The Riss glaciation (German:Riß-Kaltzeit, Riß-Glazial, Riß-Komplex or (obs.) Riß-Eiszeit) is the second youngest glaciation of the Pleistocene epoch in the traditional, quadripartite glacial classification of the Alps. The literature variously dates it to between about 300,000 to 130,000 years ago and 347,000 to 128,000 years ago. It coincides with the Saale glaciation of North Germany. The name goes back to Albrecht Penck and Eduard Brückner who named this cold period after the river Riß in Upper Swabia in their 3 volume work Die Alpen im Eiszeitalter ("The Alps in the Ice Age") published between 1901 and 1909.