The Haslach-Mindel interglacial (German: Haslach-Mindel-Interglazial), also called the Haslach-Mindel warm period (Haslach-Mindel-Warmzeit), is a warm period of the Pleistocene in the Alpine region. It lies between the Haslach and Mindel glacial stages.
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Classification
The Haslach interglacial is defined as that erosion phase which follows the Haslach and precedes the Mindel glacial stage. It thus corresponds to the stratigraphic gap between the Haslach beds (Haslacher Schotter) and the Tannheim-Laupheim gravels (Tannheim-Laupheimer Schotter) northeast of the Rhine Glacier. Evidence of erosion during this interglacial is not greatly marked.
The interglacial may possibly correlate to MIS 13. In this case it would be about 480,000 years old. The Haslach-Mindel interglacial would correspond in this instance at least partly to the time frame in which the major Swiss glaciations occurred.
The definition of this interglacial throws up problems because it places the Haslach glacial, which is defined on the basis of gravel depositions, in relation to the Mindel glaciation, which was defined on the basis of depositions that were definitely caused by glaciers. As far as the gravels are concerned, it is not clear that they were deposited as part of a glacial series, because the moraines of the Haslach glacial cannot be clearly identified. The low height differences between the terrace gravels and the Mindel gravels in the type region and the aforementioned uncertainty about the relationship of the Haslach gravels to the glacial depositions - tectonic causes such as an uplift phase of the Alps may be a factor - have resulted in the name Haslach-Mindel Complex (Haslach-Mindel-Komplex) - based on the naming of the Cromerian Complex - being proposed for the whole sequence of landforms and depositions of the Haslach and Mindel stages.
Literature
Stratigraphische Begriffe für das Quartär des süddeutschen Alpenvorlandes - E&G – Quaternary Science Journal
quaternary, south germany, stratotypes