The twelve contributions in this volume represent the results of a ten year interdisciplinary workshop on "desert margins" - concerned with the geomorphological, geochemica, mineralogical, sedimentological, soil scientific characterisation of (semi-) deserts in Spain, Africa, Arabia and China. Desert sediments and soils as well as processes and characteristics of their formation are regarded from different geoscientific perspectives. The subjects of research include the development of desert soils and landscapes, the formation of (alluvial) loess, swamp ores, fulgurites and floodout sediments and focus on the reconstruction of palaeoecological events and changes. A critical study of dating methods rounds off the book.

Introduction: The importance of desert margins as indicators of global climatic flucutations.- The geochemistry of play-like sediments as a tool for the reconstruction of Holocene environmetanl conditions.- Environmental changes in the Central Sahara during the Holocene.- Genesis and paleo-ecological interpretation of swamp ore deposits at Sahara paleo-lakes of East Niger.- Fulgurites as palaeoclimatic indicators - the proof of fulgurite fragments in sand samples.- Alluvial loss in the Central Sinai, Egypt, origin and paleoclimatological consideration.- The reconstruction of palaeoclimatological changes from mineralogical and geochemical compositions of loess and aluvial loess profiles.- Geochemical implications for changing dust supply by the Indian Monsoon system to the Arabian Sea during the last glacier cycle.- Little Ice Age climatic fluctuations in the Namib Desert, Namibia and adjacent areas.- The transition from last glacial maximum to Holocene altithermal enviroments in the Monsoonal influenced Namibia - preliminary chronlogy, based on optical dated sediments.- Aeolian sedimentation in arid and semi-arid environments of Western Mongolia.- Ostracod ecology of alluvial loess deposits in an eastern Tian Shan palaeo lake (NW China).- Critical remarks on the interpretation and publication of physical age data and on the problem of teleconnections in the comparison of global climatic events.