Paleoenvironmental reconstructions on a (supra-)regional scale have gained attention in Quaternary sciences during the last decades. In terrestrial realms, loess deposits and especially intercalations of loess and buried soils, so called loess-paleosol sequences (LPS) are important archives to unravel the terrestrial response to e.g. climatic fluctuations and reconstruct paleoenvironments during the Pleistocene. The analysis of LPS requires the knowledge of several key factors, such as the distribution of the aeolian sediments, their location relative to (potential) source areas, the climate conditions that led to their emplacement and the topography of the sink area. These factors strongly influence the sedimentological and paleoenvironmental characteristics of LPS and show broad variations throughout Europe, leading to a distinct distribution pattern throughout the continent.

We present a new map of the distribution of aeolian sediments (mainly loess) and major potential source areas for Europe. The map was compiled combining geodata of different mapping approaches. Most of the used geodata stems from accurate national maps of 27 different countries. Problematic aspects such as different nomenclatures across administrative borders were carefully investigated and revised. The result is a seamless map, which comprises pedological, geological, and geomorphological data and can be used for paleoenvironmental and archeological studies and other applications.

We use the resulting map and data from key geomorphological cross-sections to discuss the various influences of geomorphology and paleoenvironment on the deposition and preservation of Late Pleistocene loess throughout Europe. We divided the loess areas into 6 main loess domains and 17 subdomains to understand and explain the factors controlling their distribution and characteristics. For the subdivision we used the following criteria: (1) influence of silt production areas, (2) affiliation to subcatchments, as rivers are very important regional silt transport agents, (3) occurrence of past periglacial activity with characteristic overprinting of the deposits. Additionally, the sediment distribution is combined with elevation data, to investigate the loess distribution statistically as well as visually.

Throughout Europe, the variations, and differences of the loess domains are the results of a complex interplay of changing paleoenvironmental conditions and related geomorphologic processes, controlling dust sources, transport, accumulation, preservation, pedogenesis, alongside erosional and reworking events. Climatic, paleoclimatic, and pedoclimatic gradients are on the continental scale an additional important factor, since there are e.g. latitudinal differences of permafrost and periglacial processes, an increase in continentality from west to east and in aridity from northwest to southeast and south, strongly affecting regional sedimentary and geomorphic dynamics.

We propose three main depositional regimes for loess formation in Europe: (1.) periglacial and tundra loess formation with periglacial processes and permafrost in the high latitude and mountainous regions; (2.) steppe and desert margin loess formation in the (semi-)arid regions; and (3.) loess and soil formation in temperate and subtropical regions. Loess deposits of (1.) and (2.) show coarser, sandier particle distributions towards the glacial and desert regions. In the humid areas (3.) forest vegetation limited dust production and accumulation, therefore, there is an increase in finer grain sizes due to an increase in weathering.

在过去的几十年中，（超）区域规模的古环境重建在第四纪科学中得到了关注。在陆地领域中，黄土沉积物，特别是黄土和掩埋土壤的插层，所谓的黄土古土壤序列（LPS）是重要的档案资料，可用于揭示更新世期间地面对例如气候波动的响应并重建古环境。LPS的分析需要了解几个关键因素，例如风沙沉积物的分布，它们相对于（潜在）源区的位置，导致其沉积的气候条件以及汇区的地形。这些因素强烈影响LPS的沉积学和古环境特征，并在整个欧洲表现出很大的差异，

我们展示了欧洲风沙沉积物（主要是黄土）和主要潜在源区分布的新地图。结合不同地图方法的地理数据来编辑地图。大多数使用的地理数据都来自27个不同国家的准确国家地图。对诸如跨行政边界的不同术语之类的问题方面进行了仔细的调查和修订。结果是一个无缝的地图，其中包含了教育，地质和地貌数据，可用于古环境和考古研究以及其他应用。

我们使用从关键地貌断面得到的地图和数据来讨论地貌和古环境对整个欧洲晚更新世黄土的沉积和保存的各种影响。我们将黄土区分为6个主要的黄土域和17个子域，以了解和解释控制其分布和特征的因素。对于该细分，我们使用以下标准：（1）淤泥生产区域的影响；（2）隶属子汇水面积，因为河流是非常重要的区域淤泥运输媒介；（3）发生过去的沿冰川活动，且沉积物特征鲜明。此外，将沉积物分布与高程数据相结合，以统计和视觉方式研究黄土分布。

在整个欧洲，黄土区域的变化和差异是变化的古环境条件和相关地貌过程，控制粉尘源，运输，积累，保存，成岩作用以及侵蚀和返工事件相互作用的结果。气候，古气候和古气候梯度在大陆范围内是另一个重要因素，因为例如永久冻土和冰缘过程存在纬度差异，西向东的大陆性增加以及西北至东南和南部的干旱，这严重影响了区域沉积和地貌动力学。

我们提出了欧洲黄土形成的三种主要沉积制度：（1）在高纬度和山区具有冰晶过程和多年冻土的冰缘和苔原黄土形成；（2）（半）干旱地区的草原和沙漠边缘黄土的形成；（3）温带和亚热带地区的黄土和土壤形成。（1.）和（2.）的黄土沉积物向冰川和沙漠地区显示出更粗，更沙的颗粒分布。在潮湿地区（3.），森林植被限制了粉尘的产生和积累，因此，由于天气的增加，细颗粒的尺寸也增加了。