Holstein

North European Middle Pleistocene warm phase occurring between the Elsterian and Saalian cold stages, c 300,000-200,000 BP. These deposits are stratified above Elster Glacial deposits and are overlain by Saale glacial deposits. The Alpine equivalent is the Mindel-Riss and the North American equivalent is the Yarmouth. In Britain, it was the Hoxnian.

Group of Quaternary interglacial deposits in northwest Europe. They are stratified above Elster glacial deposits and are overlain by Saale glacial deposits (see Table 5, page 418). Their exact age is unknown, but they are older than the extreme range of radiocarbon dating (70,000 bp) and can be shown by palaeomagnetism to be younger than 700,000 bp. In the Netherlands and around the Baltic, a sea level rise caused the deposition of Holstein marine sediments. The Holstein deposits appear to represent two interglacial stages, the younger being distinguished as the Wacken or Domnitz interglacial. This in turn implies that the underlying Elster deposits represent two cold stages. In spite of all this, the term ‘Holstein’ is still used by some to imply only one interglacial stage, the ‘penultimate’ interglacial.