The study of geological archives of dust is of great relevance as they are directly linked to past atmospheric circulation and bear the potential to reconstruct dust provenance and flux relative to climate changes. Among the dust sinks, loess–palaeosol sequences (LPSs) represent the only continental and non-aquatic archives that are predominantly built up by dust deposits close to source areas, providing detailed information on Quaternary climatic and terrestrial environmental changes. Upper Pleistocene LPSs of western central Europe have been investigated in great detail showing their linkage to millennial-scale northern hemispheric climate oscillations, but comprehensive data on dust composition and potential source–sink relationships as well as inferred past atmospheric circulation patterns for this region are still fragmentary. Here, we present an integrative approach that systematically combines sedimentological, rock magnetic, and bulk geochemical data, as well as information on Sr and Nd isotope composition, enabling a synthetic interpretation of LPS formation. We focus on the Schwalbenberg RP1 profile in the Middle Rhine Valley in Germany and integrate our data into a robust age model that has recently been established based on high-resolution radiocarbon dating of earthworm calcite granules. We show that Schwalbenberg RP1 is subdivided into a lower section corresponding to late oxygen isotope stage 3 (OIS; ∼ 40–30 ka) and an upper section dating into the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ∼ 24–22 ka), separated by a major stratigraphic unconformity. Sedimentological proxies of wind dynamics (U ratio) and pedogenesis (finest clay) of the lower section attest to comparable and largely synchronous patterns of northern hemispheric climatic changes supporting the overall synchronicity of climatic changes in and around the North Atlantic region. The anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) reveals a clear correlation between finer grain size and increasing AMS foliation within interstadials, possibly owing to continuous accumulation of dust during pedogenic phases. Such a clear negative correlation has so far not been described for any LPS on stadial–interstadial scales. Distinct shifts in several proxy data supported by changes in isotope composition (${}^{\mathrm{87}}\mathrm{Sr}{/}^{\mathrm{86}}\mathrm{Sr}$ and εNd) within the lower section are interpreted as changes in provenance and decreasing weathering simultaneously with an overall cooling and aridification towards the end of OIS 3 (after ∼ 35 ka) and enhanced wind activity with significant input of coarse-grained material recycled from local sources related to increased landscape instability (after ∼ 31.5 ka). We find that environmental conditions within the upper section, most likely dominated by local to regional environmental signals, significantly differ from those in the lower section. In addition, AMS-based reconstructions of near-surface wind trends may indicate the influence of north-easterly winds beside the overall dominance of westerlies. The integrative approach contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of LPS formation including changes in dust composition and associated circulation patterns during Quaternary climate changes.

The Upper Pleistocene geoarchives in the south‐eastern Carpathian Basin are represented predominantly by loess–palaeosol records. In 2015, a 10 m sediment core composed of clay‐rich lacustrine sediments was recovered by vibracoring a dry lake basin located between the Vršac Mountains (Serbia) and the Banat Sands in the south‐eastern Carpathian Basin; a location relevant for placing regional archaeological results in a palaeoenvironmental context. Here, we present results from geoelectrical prospection and a lithostratigraphic interpretation of this sequence supported by a detailed granulometric study supplemented by ostracod analysis. An age model based on luminescence dating is discussed against sedimentological proxy data and its implication for palaeoenvironmental change. The cores show a stratigraphy of lighter ochre‐coloured and darker greyish sediment, related to the deposition of clay and silt trapped in an aquatic environment. Geophysical measurements show ~20 m thick lacustrine sediments. The grain‐size distributions including the variability in fine clay are indicative of a lacustrine environment. Fine particles were brought into the depositional environments by aquatic input and settled from suspension; also, direct dust input is constrained by grain‐size results. Riverine input and aeolian dust input interplayed at the locality.