Elster glaciation

The Elster glaciation (German: Elster-Kaltzeit, Elster-Glazial or Elster-Zeit) or, less commonly, the Elsterian glaciation, in the older and popular scientific literature also called the Elster Ice Age (Elster-Eiszeit), is the oldest known ice age that resulted in the large-scale glaciation of North Germany and other parts of Europe.

It succeeded a long period of rather warmer average temperatures, the Cromerian Complex.

The glacial period is named after the White Elster, a right tributary of the Saale.

Analysis in the 1950s of oxygen isotopes in deep sea core samples introduced a global glacial history, with warm and cold phases identified by marine isotope stages (MIS).

A lack of suitable isotopes for dating the glacial deposits has made it difficult to resolve the ambiguity.

Maximum extent of the ice sheet in Europe
Schematic diagram of the maximum glaciation of the last three cold periods on the North German Plain :
red line = extent of the Weichselian glaciation ;
yellow line = extent of the Saale glaciation ;
blue line = extent of the Elster glaciation
Graph showing the timing of the Elsterian glaciation in relation to other glacial cycles