The origin of deep buried channels of Elsterian age in Northwest Germany

• Published in: Journal of Quaternary Science
• Main Authors: Ehlers, Jürgen, Linke, Gerhard
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1989
• Subjects: Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3390040306; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fjqs.3390040306; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jqs.3390040306

Abstract Buried channels cut to a depth of over 100m into the underlying substratum of North Germany are almost exclusively of Elsterian age. Evaluation of geophysical well logs in the Hamburg area for the first time allows the construction of detailed longitudinal and transverse profiles. It can be shown that an apparently chaotic infill known from borehole records in some cases is actually a regular sedimentary sequence, fining from proximal to distal. Channel formation seems to have been the result of catastrophic meltwater release in the marginal parts of the ice sheet. The channel infill reflects these episodic outbursts of meltwater. During deglaciation, the channel remnants became infilled with fine sediments. The channels ceased to exist as morphologically detectable forms at the end of the Holsteinian Stage.