@ARTICLE{10.21494/ISTE.OP.2026.1471, 

TITLE={The “B sombre” or “B dark” horizon: a relict soil horizon on loess from the early Tardiglacial period (northern France, Belgium)}, 
  
AUTHOR={Fechner K.
, Deschodt L.
, Broes F.
, Adam P.
, Bailly L.
, Chevalier A.
, De Clercq C.
, Langohr R.
, Louwagie G.
, Schaeffer Ph.
, Van Vliet-Lanoë B, }, 
	
JOURNAL={Archaeology, Society and Environment}, 
	
VOLUME={5}, 

NUMBER={Issue 1}, 
	
YEAR={2026}, 

URL={https://openscience.fr/The-B-sombre-or-B-dark-horizon-a-relict-soil-horizon-on-loess-from-the-early}, 
	
DOI={10.21494/ISTE.OP.2026.1471}, 
	
ISSN={2752-4507}, 
	
ABSTRACT={In northern France and Belgium, a dark horizon enriched in organic matter is occasionally found within already well-known horizons developed on loess already attested, straddling the depleted and clay-enriched horizons. Discontinuous, preserved mainly at the lower points of the landscape, but in more or less well-drained conditions, it is interpreted as the local, basal, relic of a thicker humus horizon developed on calcareous loess at the beginning of the Tardiglacial period, forming a chernozem-type soil or similar, before decarbonation and clay migration. As it is always dissociated from the first valley-bottom deposits of the early Bølling period, we propose the hypothesis of a soil formed at the same time as these deposits, or even as early as the Oldest Dryas, before and/or during of the first decarbonation of the last loess deposits under a steppic vegetation cover.}}